Balancing Rx Medicine w/ Natural Medicine

John and I have been committed to our Plant Based Eating since January. As I have said before, I acknowledge that I have congenital heart defects, I know I won’t be able to reverse my “heart disease.”  However, knowing and learning about “how” the food we eat is medicine, a goal of mine is to see if I can reduce any medicines currently taking.

For the purposes of this story, I will tell you about a couple I take.

Warfarin/Coumadin. Medicine to aid in keeping the blood from clotting.

Coumadin is the common brand name for warfarin. To ensure that warfarin is effectively thinning your blood, it’s important to eat about the same amount of vitamin K every day. Vitamin K normally helps your blood clot so wounds don’t bleed too much. Warfarin works against vitamin K, making your blood clot more slowly. Warfarin is important because I have A-Fib and Factor 5 (a blood clotting disease). This medicine helps with the prevention of strokes by keeping the blood clotting level, called protime/INR within a certain range. Mine is within 2.0 and 3.0. The more pills taken, the thinner the blood becomes. Conversely, the less pills taken, can cause the blood too thick.

Vitamin K can change how warfarin works, which changes your INR. Vitamin K lowers your INR values. The lower your INR, the less time it takes for your blood to clot. A low INR means that warfarin isn’t working well enough to prevent a dangerous blood clot.

I started eating a lot more salads with Kale, Spinach, and other types of greens–almost everyday. There are some foods that have the opposite effect and help in the thinning of the blood. To compensate for this change, I had to adjust the amount of pills taken over a period of time. 

To know what level I am at, I have to get my blood drawn periodically (approx. every 2-3 weeks). Again, the higher the number, the thinner the blood. The lower the number, the thicker the blood. 

Another factor that can effect this number is alcohol and other medicines. Staying consistent is a lot more easier said than done. The goal is, of course, to  remain “therapeutic” (within the correct range) so there are no dosage adjustments. Usually, when you are out of range, I have to get tested more frequently until I’m within range again. 

When changes in doses need to be made, it’s almost like trying to predict the weather. You try and determine what the new dosages that will be needed to get you back into range and predict other changes, if any, will be needed based on what you are going to eat over the next several weeks to keep you in the range. I’ll admit that it does take some medical expertise, but really at this point, I can probably do it myself and be just as accurate as the medical professionals. I’ve proven it in the past since I’ve been on this road since 2006. However, a medical professional has the be the one that officially manages this process and documents it in my chart.

Diuretics. Medicine to aid in the reduction of fluid that accumulates within the body.

I also take a diuretic pills (better known as water pills) which helps reduce the amount of fluid that collects inside your body. For heart patients, that excess water can accumulate around a person’s ankles, heart or abdomen. Unfortunately, I collect fluid around my stomach. A lot of this is excess fluid comes on after I have consumed a lot of extra sodium. Over the years, I have tried to watch this, but no matter what I tried, I still seemed to fill up. Sometimes worse than others (usually after Chinese, or eating out). Although, lots of packaged food and processed foods contain a lot of sodium, I still tried to find items that were “Low Sodium,” but I felt that it was way too hard to stay under 1,500 mg a day. (However, most Americans eat too much of it—and they may not even know it. Americans eat on average about 3,400 mg of sodium per day. However, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting sodium intake to less than 2,300 mg per day—that’s equal to about 1 teaspoon of salt!.)

Spironolactone is used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure. Lowering high blood pressure helps prevent strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems. (I take 3/day)

Torsemide is used to reduce extra fluid in the body (edema) caused by conditions such as heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease. This can lessen symptoms such as shortness of breath and swelling in your arms, legs, and abdomen. This is also used to treat high blood pressure. This pill belongs to a class of loop diuretics where it blocks active reabsorption of sodium and chloride, resulting in diuresis (increased or excessive production of urine), and other effects. (I take 3/day)

Metolzone is a drug and is a “water pill” (diuretic) that increases the amount of urine you make, which causes your body to get rid of excess water. This drug is used to treat high blood pressure, which lowers the risk of strokes, heart attacks, and kidney problems. (I only take this periodically if I feel extra bloated and usually can loose 3-4 pounds overnight by only taking one small pill. I must say that I’ve never had blood pressure issues.) 

However, since we are eating basically fruits, legumes, grains and plants, plus we have significantly decreased the number of meats, dairy, boxed or processed foods and fast food, the only sodium I am getting is from boxed vegetable broth, sauces, or other seasoning for flavor. These are usually dispersed out into many servings so it’s not that much for one serving. 

My Foot Hurts!

On Monday, April 19, 2021, I started to develop a foot ache at the lower bottom section of my big toe and pad. It hurt to walk on and I figured that I needed new shoes since I hadn’t bought any in a few years. After buying these new shoes and inserts, I still was having trouble. So, I went to visit my doctor. He diagnosed me with Gout! I never have had Gout. I really wasn’t convinced, but he gave me a steroid to take for the pain and swelling and then suggested that after that was over, I should begin taking another pill to make prevent it from coming back. I didn’t want to take a new pill, I was trying to get rid of pills, not increase in number. 

His diagnosis was based on the fact that my “uric acid” was very elevated and it looked just like a “classic case” to him. Something just didn’t feel right, but I listened and took the steroid for about 4 days until my symptoms seemed to be gone. 

It came time for me to get my INR tested and I was way out of range. I was at 4.2, which was very thin. I knew I was thin because I had bruises all over. It seemed like just the slightest hit or nudge, I would get a bruise. This is my sign that I’m too thin. Apparently, the steroid I had taken and the fact that we went on a weekend get-a-way and didn’t maintain my regular eating pattern, caused the level to increase.

Now My Eye Hurts!

On Thursday, April 28, 2021, I had now developed a sore underneath my right eye. I had applied warm compresses, but later found out I should have used cold compresses for the swelling. It looked like a stye and maybe it appeared as a result of not getting all my makeup off in the evening or some kind of infection. On Friday, I went to visit my doctor again. He prescribed me some cream to rub around the sore area. We started to think that maybe somehow it wasn’t a stye or infection, it could have been a bruise. How it got there, who knows?

While I was there, I asked him if he knew much about Plant Based Eating and nutrition. As I had suspected, he did not have much knowledge of this and admitted that, as a doctor, they don’t get much nutritional training, let alone in a Plant Based eating and this can be more beneficial than pills. 

I mentioned that I had been drinking Hibiscus Tea and come to find out in my research, it is a natural diuretic. Diuretics increase your uric acid which can result in Gout. So, was I actually overdosing on diuretics now? It made sense. Because I’m not eating a traditional Western diet or Standard American Diet (SAD) and therefore, I wasn’t really retaining as much fluid as I had in the past. But now it seemed that it’s quite possible that I was taking too much diuretics and there isn’t the amount of fluid to flush out. So, after consulting with my cardiologist, I was able to eliminate one dose of my Torsemide a day. The scale is starting to tip ever so slightly. 

Natural Medicine vs. Prescribed Medicine

In summary, this can be complicated and it’s always been a balancing act for me with all my medicines anyway. My cardiologist said it’s like walking on a tight rope. One small change and tip me over the edge. We are about four months into changing the way we eat so, it’s possible, that my body may be adjusting. I took the steroid for the foot problem that seemed to come out of nowhere. By drinking the Hibiscus Tea, I seemed to have added a natural diuretic. As a result of the steroid, that caused my blood to become more thin. 

Crazy how the body reacts to food and then medicine can interfere with natural medicine of the food we eat. My family physician will be retiring in August. So, I’m in search of a Plant Based Physician that can walk this journey with me and help me avoid issues like this in the future and help me maintain balance of prescribed medicines and natural medicines.