Teeter tottering again, INR down

[suerose]

Last week they upped me from 7.5 mg / daily to 10 mg to get my 1.4 up to a 3.0 by Sat May 9th.

Monday they had me take 7.5 mg then alternate w/ 10 mg. Only had one day of 7.5 because....
Wednesday I'm back down to 2.2 INR.

Taking 10 mg daily again, and test again Mon May 18th.

Would that ONE glass of wine Fri May 8th bump me up?

Not letting this fluster me this time, but just curious about the rapid fluctuation.

 

[Ross]

No, but have you been following the NORMAL DIET routine and not trying to control your Vit K? I think your drop is because your now or should be, eating like you should and this is going to be an additional adjustment period so that the diet is dosed, just like it should be.

Don't let it fluster you. It's not a big deal and you know full well that we'll help you get where you need to be, then you'll be an easy rider. By the way, INR is not a constant. It changes from minute to minute. Your lucky if you can test two times in a row and get the same result.

 

[suerose]

Yes, I'd say my diet is normal for me. No extremes. Oatmeal or bran & fruit for breakfast. Omelette on Mother's Day. Sandwich or salad or dinner leftovers for lunch.Chicken, beef or seafood, pasta, veg for dinners. Eating broccoli or a mixed salad when I feel like it, but not daily. Had a Lipton Green Tea bottle for lunch on Tuesday...that was something hadn't done in a long time. I have packed in a lot of home baked cookies the last two weeks (yum!) Like I said...normal for me.
Feeling like I SHOULD have a glass of wine daily, but that wasn't my previous normal...was more of a weekend drinker pre OHS.

See any points of dietary concern?

 

[Ross]

No, not really. Just watch the green tea. One bottle now and then isn't bad, but if you suddenly drink a 6 pack of them, your going to drop a little. You could have a daily glass of wine, just not a whole bottle.

Oh yeah, the Coumadin Cookbook.....It does have some good recipes, so keep it for those, but completely trash the idea of controlling Vit K intake in your normal diet. I still have my copy here. When I first started Coumadin, I was like everyone else. Had to try to measure my vit k intake. What a friggin joke! I sit here and laugh about it now, but some of these people can't get their head around that issue and it shouldn't even be an issue.

 

[catwoman]

Last week they upped me from 7.5 mg / daily to 10 mg to get my 1.4 up to a 3.0 by Sat May 9th.

Monday they had me take 7.5 mg then alternate w/ 10 mg. Only had one day of 7.5 because....
Wednesday I'm back down to 2.2 INR.

Taking 10 mg daily again, and test again Mon May 18th.

Would that ONE glass of wine Fri May 8th bump me up?

Not letting this fluster me this time, but just curious about the rapid fluctuation.

Sue:

How frequently are you having INR tests? You were tested on Saturday, May 9? And again on Wednesday, May 13? When was the test previous to 5/9?
What was your dosage on Sunday, May 10?
The wine didn't bump you up, unless that it was a 1-liter glass you were drinking from.
Why did they adjust your dosage downward? My guess is 10mgX7 will get you to 3.0 and that's fine. The INR range for an aortic valve is usually 2.0-3.0. Some people even expand that to 3.5.
Where are you going for INR testing? You might want to inquire about their training program, what algorithm chart they are using for dosing, etc.

 

[njean]

Do not despair if you can't get your INR into normal range for a while. We have all had issues with it & it's just trial & error. Whatever you do, don't deprieve yourself of the foods you like to eat or have been eating normally.

I will tell you though as Ross mentioned, I was drinking green tea after dinner for a while & I noticed a drop in my INR. Now, I just have a glass every now & then.

I have been on coumadin for 34 years & for 31 of those years, my INR was almost always between 2.5 - 3.0 & my long-time cardiologist never had a problem with that. After my 3rd OHS in 2006, I had a very hard time controlling & keeping it between 3.0 - 3.5 which is where my new cardios want.

I can also tell you that since I bought my own home monitor, everything changed for the better. I'm able to keep better control of my INR because I can test weekly or bi-weekly if I choose to. For 31 years, I too had to go to a lab & test sometimes, bi-weekly, sometimes monthly.

Good luck to you & like I said, don't get frustrated --- it will get better with time.

 

[Ross]

The green tea was only issue for me when I drank 6 of them in one day. Stupid, I know. I love that stuff though.

People bear in mind, Suerose was trying to limit her vit k intake before. She's not doing that now, which may well explain the drop. Now that we have her eating properly, it will be the diet that gets dosed and she won't be dieting the dose she was on, like before.

 

[suerose]

In range...2 weeks later!

In range...2 weeks later!

Just wanted to report in seeing how it's been 2 weeks since my last post & request for your expert advice.

Four weeks ago I was at 1.4 INR, taking 7.5 mg warfarin daily.
They upped me to 10 mg daily.

Glad they didn't "freak" and up my dose dramatically from this 7.5 original dose. From what I'm reading & learning here, small increments yield the best results over time.

Two weeks ago I was at 2.2.
My INR was 2.6 last week.
2.9 this week. Doc's office pleased with that. Me too.

They're holding me at this 10 mg warfarin daily for about 4 weeks now.

I've been eating what I want, including spinach salads, with no concern about the Vitamin K B.S. Just striving for consistency. The last two weeks I've been enjoying 1 or 2 glasses of wine EVERY day.

Honestly I think the wine's helping boost my INR too, but the doc's office gets all worked up about that. I reminded her that the goal was to be IN RANGE...how I got there and what I ate/drank was irrelevant! She couldn't argue with that! Nyaaahhh!

We decided to test again weekly ...one more time, then go every other week for a bit.

Feeling much more at peace with this. Thanks again.

Susie

PS that's a picture frame behind my head on the wall...not my crown!

 

[Ross]

The wine has little to nothing to do with your INR. It's simply that your now getting the diet dosed properly and not the other way around. Had you continued to play the game of watching/counting Vit K intake, you'd be bouncing all over the place.