Waving Hi! I'm a spouse and right now.....!

[Ross]

If you have Coumadin problems, which just about everyone does, come see us in the anticoag forum.

 

[corrineinwa]

If you have Coumadin problems, which just about everyone does, come see us in the anticoag forum.

Coffee in hand, I'm heading over there right now to do some reading. Thanks for reminding me Ross.

 

[catwoman]

Those site are going to make life much easier for sure. I got notified of the low fat/low sodium/Coumadin diet thing 2 days ago so you have saved me a good bit of searching.

Corrine:

I don't know what you've been told about diet and vitamin K -- but ... if your husband normally enjoys broccoli, cole slaw, green salads, cooked cabbage, etc., don't worry about his eating them. He should eat the way he has always eaten. His Coumadin dosage will be adjusted accordingly for any affects his diet has on it -- and for any affects from any prescription or OTC drugs.

My husband was on warfarin for 7 months after his MV repair nearly 2 years ago. Because I have a mechanical valve, his being on warfarin was easy to adjust to. He ate just like he did before, as do I. I had boiled cabbage and broccoli salad with my lunch today.

A low-fat diet is fairly easy to achieve. It's the low-sodium that's more difficult, as Nancy has pointed out. She is a trove of great information.

 

[corrineinwa]

Corrine:

I don't know what you've been told about diet and vitamin K -- but ... if your husband normally enjoys broccoli, cole slaw, green salads, cooked cabbage, etc., don't worry about his eating them. He should eat the way he has always eaten. His Coumadin dosage will be adjusted accordingly for any affects his diet has on it -- and for any affects from any prescription or OTC drugs.

My husband was on warfarin for 7 months after his MV repair nearly 2 years ago. Because I have a mechanical valve, his being on warfarin was easy to adjust to. He ate just like he did before, as do I. I had boiled cabbage and broccoli salad with my lunch today.

A low-fat diet is fairly easy to achieve. It's the low-sodium that's more difficult, as Nancy has pointed out. She is a trove of great information.

Thank you!

Ross directed me to the Anti-Coagulation forum and I feel a little happier the more I read.

Peter has only just been put on Coumadin and I made the big mistake of telling friends/familiy. EVERYONE seems to know someone who has a friend who knows someone's uncle who bled to death because they were taking that "rat poison"!

I now understand it's more about being consistent with the diet and avoidance isn't necessary.

 

[Nancy]

Don't listen to all that (your friends' anecdotes). That's baloney!! Joe was on Coumadin for years and years and years. He didn't bleed to death. He ate a normal diet except for low sodium.

Yes, Coumadin takes careful monitoring, since it does fluctuate.

What I found with Joe was that the amount of fluid his body retained had much more to do with the fluctuation than his diet did.

So keeping your husband on his low sodium diet will help with the Coumadin too.

At the beginning, it will be trial and error until it finally levels off. So expect some frustrations with getting all the Coumadin ducks in order for a little while.

Whatever dosage is given will take 3 days (approx.) to register in the INR result. That is something you will have to wrap your head around.

Many medical people forget that too, and give inappropriate dosages because of the lag time.