You shouldn't have to avoid any foods, it is true that vitamin K intake should stay consistent, although that doesn't mean that you shouldn't eat foods with it. I peronsally think it's better to maintain a good, healthy diet with lots of vegetables in it rather than worry about how much coumadin you take. Since I don't know how much you know, I'll explain - vitamin K is important in the process of blood clotting, and coumadin blocks some vitamin K absorption. There are lots of factors involved, but normally the more K you have in your diet, you may need a bit higher dose of coumadin to keep your INR in range. That's okay, it doesn't really matter how much you take, as long as your INR is in the range the doctors want, usually 2.0-3.0. Also, younger people tend to need higher dose than older people. So, consistency can go a long way in helping us not worry so much about where our INR is, if we eat consistently then we shouldn't have big fluctuations in our blood, and that seems to be the current school of thought. That said, I actually tend to kind of agree with the doctor that said no restrictions - I found that personally, the less I worried about what I ate, the more consistent my INR was. I think that generally we do naturally keep our diets somewhat consistent, have our own normal habits in diet. As long as we stay away from big spinach-salad binges or something, there isn't really a ton to worry about. You could make yourself insane looking at lists and trying to figure out how much of each thing you should eat - the first time I was on coumadin that was what happened to me, and I was constantly second-guessing every bite I ate and it was so stressful. I'm on coumadin again now, and I really never even bother to think about it, I just eat whatever I feel like eating, get my blood checked when I should and let the professionals adjust my dose as necessary to keep me where I need to be. And things have gone much, MUCH easier for me this second time on coumadin.

As to whether it's a medication for life, that's just a question of what the doctors think is best in her case, with a lot of different factors in play, including whether they find that she has a blood condition which predisposes her to abnormal clotting. But I think most people who get clots are only on coumadin for a period of months, depending on how extensive the clotting was. When she next sees her doctor she should be able to get some idea of what he's thinking in terms of her treatment if she asks.

I hope your daughter's recovery goes well, and hopefully as she feels better she may be able to get on the group here too. There is a lot of excellent support and help here, from people who are both new to this situation and those with more experience.

Hi,
There's a lot of antiquated thinking out there about how you can't eat this or that. It's really more about consistency.

For me, I eat generally what I want to eat, not so much restricting, but rather trying to be consistent with my diet. So if your daughter eats a lot of veggies, she should continue to do that. That way, they can get her warfarin dosage in line with her diet so that her INR is therapeutic.

Also, I am on warfarin for life, due to having two separate clotting events.

Many thanks to you for your replies. This really helps a lot. I will pass this info on to my daughter, and try to encourage her to join this group; she certainly needs the support as well as the information. Thanks! laurabp

I hope your daughter checks us out, even if just to read all the different posts. So many of us have similar experiences it's amazing.

Ditto what the other folks said. I do eat veggies ... I just don't go nuts at the all-you-can-eat salad bar. Consistency is key with anything in the diet with regards to warfarin.

I'm also a warfarin lifer ... but I've had three separate clotting events. (The first was when I was 30!) I don't think one clotting event generally dictates a lifetime on warfarin, but it depends on the circumstances, cause, and the patient. Most of us didn't become lifers until two or more events.

Best wishes to your daughter! I would also encourage her to stop by. I've found this site pivotal to my recovery!

Just don't eat like a half-pound of kale, and she should be ok. I am not the best to ask since I have been avoiding many veggies, but I have started working them back into my diet since I could be coming off coumadin in April as long as my D-Dimeter comes back clear.

FOr me it gets tough some times. My husband who is quite fit also has a family history of high blood pressure and high colesterol. So he likes to make "healthy" stews and casseroles and we eat those for a few days. FOr example we made a kale based soup after christmas and I had that for a couple days in a row. Well, as you would expect, it messed up my INR. Last Sunday, I made a lentil casserole. I go for my INR tomorrow and won't be surprised to see that it's low.

For me the hardest part is the consistency. Yes, I agree with eating whatever you want. But what about the times when you want to order the spinach salad off the menu because you haven't had a spinach salad in a while?

If I have endulged in the green, leafy veggies in a larger than normal quantity my doc said that I can up my warfarin dose by .5 mg that day. This has worked at keeping me within range for the past couple months.

Maintaining consistency does have it extenuating circumstances. Like, for me, I tend to eat more veggies during the summer months because they are either fresh from the local market or fresh out of our garden. In comparison, I eat less during the winter months because the foods are either forced rippened or tasteless. I don't see a increase or decrease in INR levels and this may be because I'm only on a once a month testing basis.

This may help also..

http://www.drgourmet.com/warfarin/

For me it doesnt seem to matter what I do. Even after 10 months we cannot keep my INR in range for more than a few weeks at a time

Oh believe me, I eat the spinach salad when I want it. But I don't eat plate after plate of it, and I won't eat the same vitamin K heavy meal for several days in a row (the freezer is my friend in these cases). Maybe it's easier on me because I always eat a lot of veggies, so even having a plate of spinach will probably only up me a little as long as I forego the other stuff. But just to give my example of how things went with me, when I was constantly worried about my diet and tried to use it to keep my INR steady, my INR was all over the place, usually too low, and had after 9 months all but eliminated most veggies from my diet, I was also in getting my INR checked about every 10 days because it was constantly up and down. When I came off coumadin after my first clotting event, it was like heaven to get to eat whatever I wanted again and not worry myself over it. Well, then I had a second clotting even and went back on coumadin, so I decided at the beginning that I wasn't going to stress over my INR and eat as I wanted and leave the dosing up to the professionals. Well, this time except that it took me a little while to get up into my range, my INR has been very consistent the entire time and I only have monthly checks. Much, much easier all the way around, and I don't get stressed out when I eat!!

Thank you all for your comments. It is helping me to know there are so many people with this health issue, and how you all are handling it. I have passed all the info to my daughter and encouraged her to come here and read your discussions. I hope all of you get your health back as much as possible; this has got to be a frustrating thing to deal with. laurabp

This is the best link I have found to-date pertaining to why it is prudent to eat a regular diet that includes Vitamin K:
http://www.clotcare.com/vitaminkandwarfarin.aspx

The key is consistency.