Someone pour me a tall one?

[clumsydancer]

Hi all, ok, what's the ruling on having a beer for the newbie (ie. me)? Is it ok to indulge in a beer or two or is that way too risky? I'm in no position to actually do so at the moment, 3 weeks out of surgery. But, I wanna be prepared for the future when no doubt the situation arises.

Thanks all!

 

[JimL]

I started homebrewing several years after surgery. Some of it tastes pretty good, but I do taste all of it. The problem comes with overindulging, but there is no problem with moderation.

 

[ski girl]

I may be a bit of a lush . . . but I had wine a week after each of my operations! Consistency in what you consume is important esp if you're on warfarin so it's better to have 1 or 2 a night than save it all up for a weekend binge, Enjoy!

 

[pellicle]

my surgeon has even (after my last debridement op) suggested I could go out and have a beer.

So anyone who says you cant is either a teatotaller with an anti alcohol barrow to push or knows something special and unique about you.

Red wine (in moderation) can act as an anticoagulant as I understood it.

Would not tell you to get 5h1tfaced every night, but a beer or a wine daily should be totally fine.

 

[Protimenow]

I don't see a problem with beer -- I'm not even sure that a six pack a day is bad for you.
If you have your own meter, you can tell the next day if the beer has had any impact on your INR.
Even if your INR drops below range - briefly - you should be okay. As others have already said - being consistent with your intake (and 'consistent' could mean the same number of beers each day), and you test your INR after any special binges, and weekly otherwise, you should be fine.

I don't think that any particular food or drink would be deadly - unless it's something that will kill your liver anyway.

 

[epstns]

Your profile doesn't state which type of valve you have. If you are not taking warfarin, then advice regarding alcohol is the same as for the general population. If you are taking warfarin, I will defer to those having specific knowledge and/or experience. I only used warfarin for a few months post-op, and wasn't really interested in alcohol until past that time.

 

[dick0236]

There is no reason not to live a normal life, including alcohol. I was prescribed a beer a day while IN the hospital post AVR surgery.....because it would help me get rid of body water. Nowadays meds are available to do that, so they don't have to use beer anymore. Like everything else after surgery, use common sense regarding alchohol.

 

[tom in MO]

Per my pharmacist teacher in the hospital, alcohol won't affect your INR to an appreciable extent. However, if you fall down drunk and hit your head, your high INR will cause problems. That's why people, especially the elderly, are told not to drink on warfarin.

I had my first drink as soon as I backed off the narcotics. I have two drinks most every day. I don't get drunk. My INR has not been affected.

 

[AgilityDog]

My rule on drinking is, if I'm too high out of range, no wine with dinner for a day or two (along with whatever adjustments are required). If I'm too low out of range, gee, have wine with LUNCH! And Dinner!

Seriously, 1-2 glasses of wine per day is ok. Equivalent beer is ok.

But Watch Out if you like gin and tonic because the quinine in the tonic water will almost certainly mess up your INR - no need to add gin to it for it to do that, according to MY personal experiments.

 

[pellicle]

I was prescribed a beer a day while IN the hospital post AVR surgery.....because it would help me get rid of body water. Nowadays meds are available to do that, so they don't have to use beer anymore. .

This does not sound like an advancement in medical science to me ;-)

 

[clumsydancer]

Awesome inputs! Thank you all. Dick, love the beer story! That's great!

 

[bocco]

I take warfarin and I usually have a couple of stiff ones every night. No problems.

 

[gerrychuck]

I drink wine every evening with dinner. My INR was a bit below range (for the first time in 3 months) this week, but I figure the 3 days of wine festival I am attending this weekend should take care of that no problem

 

[jarno1973]

I tested this quite a bit after surgery..the first few times I tested on the night I was drinking...after 2 beer..then 4 beer...then 6 beer..the inluence on my INR was minimal...Also testing the next day and a few days later did not have big effects...Now I dont test so much anymore...and although I party less often and maybe a little less extreme as I used to, I hardly think about my INR when drinking and sometime binge with my friends..I think drinking is more likely to influence the INR when you go from not drinking to drinking over 3-4 beers on regular basis...the effect on someone elses INR may be a bit different and it may not neccesarily be the best advice to not consider possible consequences of alchol consumption but this has been my experience..