Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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LesaP 07/21/2010

My INR from yesterday (Tuesday) was 1.5, after being in the "good" range on Friday, and taking the same dose as I had been. The only changes I can think of are that I was in the sun for several hours at an amusement park on Saturday, and did not take my Zyrtec from Wednesday to Monday, as I ran out I ran out and was waiting for my new shipment (it's cheaper to order online).

Does anyone know if these factors could have affected this? Has anyone had a similiar experience?

Thanks!
Lesa

lakotajo2 07/21/2010

I haven't heard that the sun affects your INR, but I bet that the Zyrtec does, since just about every drug on the planet does. You just need to be consistent about taking it, and having your INR stabilized while you are on it. Good luck!
Jo

ldmendoza 07/21/2010

I had to take a z pack for a sinus infection about 3 weeks ago and my INR hasn't been stable since. I was at 1.8 for two weeks then went to 1.5 on Tuesday. Needless to say my warfin dose has been increased again. So the Zyrtec probably has affected your INR. Also my coumadin nurse said that because I'm becoming more active (walking and swimming each day now), that will affect INR too.

Take good care of yourself. :)

deleted_user 07/21/2010

My doctor actually told me that the sun does affect coumadin/warfain and therefore does affect your INR levels. I havent found anyone else that was told this though

deleted_user 07/21/2010

Lesa, sorry to hear this. I am not sure about the sun, but I am going through the same thing you are. I was nice and steady at 2 for pretty much my entire time since diagnosis until last week and then I dropped to 1.6. Got my dosage changed slightly and went up to 3.0. Dr. decreased the dosage and I was back to 1.8/1.7 this week, now the dosage has increased again. So, I'm interested to hear what people have to say.

deleted_user 07/22/2010

I have been around 2 for most of June but then this month my INR started falling and yesterday it was down to 1.4 despite increasing my dose twice over last couple of weeks. I've tried to keep my diet consistent but I'm sure as the weather gets hotter I eat less hot food and perhaps even alter the amounts I am eating so I'd bet that there is a relationship between the weather and INR changes but not directly because of the sun just because if the sun is out we eat differently and go out more which affects our INR results. Just my thoughts anyway.

deleted_user 07/22/2010

Hello all,
I have not found either sun or execercise (even prolonged or intense) to have any effect on my INR. As we all know by now, we react ddifferently to meds so what one person experieinces is not always true for another.

Robert

LesaP 07/23/2010

Thanks for the input. I'm not sure what's going on. Despite the increase in warfarin, I was still at 1.7 yesterday (Thursday). They increased my warfarin to 15mg (the highest I've ever been on) for 2 days, along w/ restarting the Lovenox injections twice per day for those 2 days, then having my level rechecked on Saturday, and paging the on-call PCP. That scares me. Most doctors don't like to be bothered over the weekend. I hope it's higher on Saturday...

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