I've been on warfarin for 4 weeks and slowly getting to my target of 2-3 (1.6 at last clinic). I want to know more about the interaction with alcohol. Does taking warfarin mean that I'm more at risk JUST BECAUSE I'M DRINKING or is it because if I have an accident I'm more likely to bleed more?
Thanks for reading this.
Hi there, I've been on warfarin for just over a year. What I was told about warfarin and drinking was that alcohol mixed with warfarin increases the rate at which you bleed, so if you cut yourself or have an accident you'd be in trouble. You can drink alcohol but only 3 units a day for men and 2 units for women. Getting drunk at the weekend is a definate no no. I hope I've been some help.
You should have had a booklet and discussion with a nurse when staring on Warfarin about things that can cause your INR to to vary.
With warfarin your alcohol and Vitamin K intake along with many other things needs to be very evenly moderate with no binging. Womens safe amounts are less than for men.
If you Google, warfarin and diet you will find a lot of articles.
Well that's my point - is it because you're more likely to have an accident BECAUSE you've been drinking? Anyway, thanks for your help :-)
Yes, I did have discussion etc but it is a lot to take in and to adjust to. I enjoy a drink at weekends and it's like I'm being told that I can't do that again. I just wondered about other people's thoughts/experiences and if it's really that vital that you don't have more than a couple of drinks ...
For what it's worth, Christine (and am in no way recommending this), I drink half a bottle of wine a night. I do dilute it 50/50 with water, but that's just my preference. It doesn't seem to have had any negative effect, though I'm sure it would be best for me to abstain. Life's been a pretty dire struggle with physical issues over recent years. I just decided I wanted to retain at least one 'pleasure'.
I have told the medics and got the impression that they believe it's more important to maintain dietary etc consistency, hence bingeing no/no, which I do.
NO! That is not the only factor alcohol affects your INR level so that you will never get a level reading. Drink over the limits and the next week your dosage will have to be adjusted and that will go on week after week if your intake fluctuates..
The whole point of Warfarin is to keep your INR reading constant to prevent you from having a clot form to cause you a stroke.
Does diluting it make any difference?
I stick to 200mls of wine a day.
Hi Christine. Were you at any time offered an alternative to Warfarin? I am lucky enough to have been offered one of the newer drugs, Apixaban. Does the same job as Warfarin but without the need for the regular INR checks apart from a blood test five days after starting on it. There is no restriction on what you eat but I am sure alcohol would be restricted. Worth looking it all up on NHS website.
No. That's why I said it's just my preference. Not deluding myself!
Which is why I'm consistent in my alcohol intake!
The French often do that at home.
I had a very old doctor many years ago who put his great age down to, 'Moderation in all things and an excess of Whisky'
Yes, I believe so. My reason was more prosaic. Many years ago, worried that I was possibly drinking more than I should, I came across the recommendation to have alternate glasses of wine and water. That seemed rather daft to me: I reasoned that, since it was all going to end up in the same place anyway, I'd simply combine them.
It didn't dilute my appreciation of the wine at all. I still have a very discerning palette; though I'm more than used to people regarding it as some sort of sacrilege.
Dont care. I'm happy to be a Philistine.
What does it do to the pleasure of dnking it?
Or can you get away with buying a cheaper rougher wine and making it blander.
Ha! Neither adds nor detracts; just makes it last twice as long. Though I guess someone trying it for first time would consider it bland.
Don't know about the second part of your question. I suppose that might work. For myself, I stick to medium-range stuff - red, usually Cabernet Sauvignon.
When I started on Warfarin about a year ago, the nurse at the anti-coagulant clinic who went through all the do's and don'ts said to me that the key words are consistency and moderation. No binge drinking. I drink half a bottle of wine two or three times a week, and have never had any problems with my INR. Alcohol acts as a blood thinner, so large amounts combined with the Warfarin are a very bad idea - hello cranial haemorrage! But then, large amounts of booze aren't very good for you anyway!
Cannot understand why they put you on waferin, My private cardiologist put me on one tiny tablet which is as good as waferin he said,
It is called Rivaroxaban taken once a day , no messing about having blood tested every week or two.
Hi Charles, like you I have not been put on Warfarin. I asked to be put on one of the new drugs, I was offered Apixaban and although that is taken twice a day, there is no messing about with regular blood tests. I think it all comes down to the fact that Warfarin has been around a long time and much cheaper!!! I was told that they prefer to put you on Warfarin because there is an antidote for it whereas with the new drugs there is not one! I think at the end of the day if we can have the choice, better to go for the one which I is less intrusive on our day to day lives!!
A matter of cost. Warfarin costs pennies plus about £10 for INR each check. Your drug:
rivaroxaban 2.5 mg (light yellow), net price 56-tab pack = £58.80; 10 mg (light red), 10-tab pack = £21.00, 30-tab pack = £63.00, 100-tab pack = £210.00; 15 mg (red), 14-tab pack = £29.40, 28-tab pack = £58.80, 42-tab pack = £88.20, 100-tab pack = £210.00; 20 mg (brown-red), 28-tab pack = £58.80, 100-tab pack = £210.00
If you are seeing the cardiologist privately how much are you paying for your prescription? Not every one is suitable for the new drugs including any patient like me who has had a heart valve replaced,
I agree with you Avril, we should be given the choice of what drug to take. Just last week, I asked my GP to switch to an alternative (rivaroxaban/apixaban) because there isn't any INR bloodtests as such but they refused point blank. I explained that I was made redundant last year because I had to go for regular INR checks and new employers don't like the idea of workers taking time off. I think the term "blood clot" scares them.