Meme and the Coumadin....

Orient Point, NY

My mother-in-law (grandkids call her Meme instead of grandma) came to visit a week ago (she lives in FL). We LOVED having her. Her husband (my husband's dad) passed away in December and she wanted to come and see the grandchildren and children in the NY/PA area. We had a nice visit!

After a few days, though, she began coughing...she thought she was getting a cold...well we were at the Emergency Room 3 times in a week and the diagnosis finally was pneumonia. They sent her home from the Emergency Room with antibiotics, but the rough part is that she takes coumadin... and also and other medications for her high blood pressure, and atrial fibrillation (can cause blood clots) she takes about 5 medications in all. A great idea she had was to have a laminated card with all of her medications for the pharmacy (some she mail orders so the pharmacy doesn't have a record of those.) it was great for her to have this list of her medications to show the hospital staff as well.

Well it seems that the coumadin interacts with sooo many other medications and foods....
I asked her to get me a list of foods to keep track of from the Walk in Clinic that we took her to fiirst.

On that list is all the healthy  foods that I try to eat in BULK! If you are on Coumadin, all things that have high levels of Vitamin K  should be eaten in the same quantity each day to make sure that you don't affect your INR level(the number that shows how thin or thick your blood is)

All of the following  foods are high in Vitamin K (Vitamin K helps your blood clot)

Green Tea (also teas with sweet clover , sweet woodruff or tonka beans)

Canola Oil, Soybean oil, and mayonaise

Limit Wine, Beer and Hard Liquor to no more that 1-2 drinks a day

Asparagus, Avacado, Broccoli ,Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Coleslaw, Collard Greens, Endive, Garbanzo Beans, Kale, Lentils, Lettuce, Liver , Mustard Greens, Sauerkraut, Soybeans, Spinach, Swiss Chard and Turnip Greens

The kicker...these foods are some of the healthiest on earth and my mother in law is afraid to eat them ...she AVOIDS them almost all together because she is on coumadin!

Dr. Mercola said that Vitamin D3 is all the rage now but the next vitamin that is going to have a "hey day" is Vitamin K. Dr. Mercola said we will be hearing about Vitamin K from everyone in the near future and how important it is for your health. Dr. Sherry Rogers says to add on to the Cardio Ion test a Vitamin K2 test (I wished I had heard about this before I had theCardio Ion test..) Keep your eyes peeled for news on Vitamin K being the new "Wonder Vitamin".