I use http://www.bitelog.com/ and find it very good.

I used to use bitelog until I found an error in the data and they ignored my request to fix it. I switched over to cronometer.com and like it better anyway. These places are free and great for keeping track of overall nutrition as well as vitamin K intake.

OK MY Bad i don't track my vitamin k usage at all. I eat healthy and normally and let the doctors regulate my Coumadin to my diet not the other way around.
Hugs Ferr

Thanks for the reply. My INR has been really bouncing around. Monday it was 4, my GP had me off coumadin for 2 days, and it went down to 1.7. I tried setting something up in Excel tracking units vitamin K manually but I think it's time to shift to another website.

I'm trying to be consistent, and I'm not ready to go on Xarelto yet. Are wide variations like that - I wanted to say possible, but usual is more fitting.

I'll let you guys know how it works.

Mike

Sometimes those big INR swings are from docs over correcting the dosage. I had a doctor who did that and my INR was all over place all the time, either too high or two low. I switched doctors because of it. My current doc makes small changes at a time and for me, that has been a game changer in staying in range for the most part. Not saying change docs but just that it may not be your vitamin k intake as much as you think.

Well, for me, holding warfarin (same as coumadin) for a day will drop it about 1 point. (So, from 4.0 to 3.0.) Being off two days would drop it 2 points. (So, from 4.0 to 2.0.) In my opinion, your INR dropping from 4.0 to 1.7 after holding for two days sounds perfectly normal. Keep that in mind. The next time you doc suggests holding for two days, note that the last time you did it, you dropped 2.3 points. Maybe you should have held one day and taken a half dose the other? It can be helpful to know these things. If you go to 3.5, for example, and he tells you to hold for two days, you can pretty solidly tell him that will drop you too low.

Here's the thing. Vitamin K makes your INR drop down. If you're running too high, it isn't because you're eating too much K. Tracking K intake should tell you what you already know from your numbers: you're not eating enough K to keep your INR a little lower, so you should probably try a lower warfarin dose. I wouldn't go all vegetarian to try to get your INR under control.... really, your dose should match your lifestyle.

Also, the problem could lie with your doctor. I think holding for two days is a good response to being at 4.0, but if he always makes large adjustments to your dose, that could be why you're swinging around. If, for example, you're too low and he doubles your dose, that'll probably make you too high next time and if you then hold for a couple of days, you'll drop too low again. I'd advocate for smaller dose changes (although, like I said, holding when you're at 4 is still a good idea).

Like I said, I'm not sure that tracking Vit K is going to help you out much when you're running too high. (And you have a clear reason for dropping too low.) Try making smaller adjustments in your dose and just eating the same diet you always eat. Trying to track every bit of food that has K in it can drive you to drink.

Hi everybody,

thanks for the advice. I'm trying to be consistent with my vitamin K. I was thinking that we are both trying to regulate it, and I will mention that next time I have an appointment. I like the cronometer we website. MyFitnessPal.com was good for tracking total calories. It has good calorie tracking capabilities. I could enter a subway sub quickly, and get a good idea of total calories. Today with Cronometer it was easy to piece together the sub I had for lunch. I'm sure I will eventually taper off, but for now I'm working on keeping track of what drives it down and what drives it up.

I'd like to say I'm being consistent with my vitamin K is the source of the variations, in addition to what the Dr. is doing.

About the Cronometer web site, are their tracking options worth the cost of an annual membership?

Mike