Bananas and Warfarin

[Kymm]

A question for you experts on warfarin. I had a visit from my cardiac nurse today and we were discussing warfarin and what it does and what i need to know about it. He said that i have to be careful of the amount of green veg that i eat which i already knew about, but he then said i need to watch out for bananas too because of the vitamin k in them When i was in hospital they told me to eat bananas because of the potassium they contain.

I know it doesnt take much but im now confused as to whether i should be eating them or not. So i thought i would ask for help from the experts

Kymm xxx

[Emma and Skye]

Just had a google and it seems to say that you shouldn't take the warfarin with bananas. Which sounds to me as if you shouldn't take them at the same time . Will keep googling

[Kymm]

Thanks hun i think

[Emma and Skye]

gawd reading all the blurb scares me and I am not even on it!!! Ok it all seems to say the same thing, that its ok to eat them as long as its at a moderate and consistent level. So no banana festivals for you missus

[Emma and Skye]

Usual disclaimer applies : Ring the cardiologist

[Emma & Chloe]

As far as I've ever been aware (ignoring a lot of doctors who really do not understand the drug or live with it on a day to day basis!) any food is fine with warfarin as long as it's consistently eaten and doesn't cause a major change in diet.

Cranberries aren't a great idea with warfarin but Chloe eats pretty much everything including the green veg which is high in vit K and her INR has always (touching that wood again!) been very stable - although I do test her weekly to make sure.

Binge drinking alcohol can cause some side effects with it but we've not got there yet with Clo. lol

Warfarin shouldn't stop you eating anything really as long as you keep an eye on the INR.

As for the bananas - Clo eats them almost daily and has been on warfarin 7 years now with no ill effect due to them.

Isn't warfarin a fun drug!!

Emma
xxx

[mumoft2]

I agree with Emma, apart from Cranberries there isn`t really any food you can`t have when on Warfarin as long as you do it considerably. Never heard anything about not having Banana`s. Sure as long as you keep an eye on your INR you can eat pretty much everything.

Love
Nicole

[Kymm]

As far as I've ever been aware (ignoring a lot of doctors who really do not understand the drug or live with it on a day to day basis!) any food is fine with warfarin as long as it's consistently eaten and doesn't cause a major change in diet.

Cranberries aren't a great idea with warfarin but Chloe eats pretty much everything including the green veg which is high in vit K and her INR has always (touching that wood again!) been very stable - although I do test her weekly to make sure.

Binge drinking alcohol can cause some side effects with it but we've not got there yet with Clo. lol

Warfarin shouldn't stop you eating anything really as long as you keep an eye on the INR.

As for the bananas - Clo eats them almost daily and has been on warfarin 7 years now with no ill effect due to them.

Isn't warfarin a fun drug!!

Emma
xxx

I think im learning its not actually the drug thats scarey just the conflicting information you can get, thanks for that i will stick for the everything in moderation rule xxxx

[Emma & Chloe]

I think im learning its not actually the drug thats scarey just the conflicting information you can get, thanks for that i will stick for the everything in moderation rule xxxx

Exactly Kymm! I very quickly learnt that although this drug IS a pain, can be hard to stabalise and can cause problems when it's not well monitored, in actual fact it seems more to be a drug that some (most!) doctors fear/don't completely understand and so put the fear of god into patients about.

I self-dosed and monitored Chloe's warfarin pretty fast too. She's only been in hospital a couple of times due to a screwy (technical term!) INR and 2 of those times were caused by doctors mis-dosing and not getting her warfarin right for her! Different people react differently to changes in dosage and you'll get to know how you react to it, and to various things you eat, pretty fast too. All fun!

xxx

[Anya]

yep I agree with everything Emma says.. You can eat what you like as long as you do so consistently, and then find what warfarin dose you need for what you eat IYKWIM.
How is your INR going?
Ax