Come on! What Next!

Any advice greatly appreciated please.

I have been on Warfarin for the past 5 years after two separate incidents of Pulmonary Embolisms.

I have to admit I found it quite daunting at first after leaving the hospital, especially working out which foods I should limit myself to per day in order to keep my INR level between the recommended 2-3 scale (ideal 2.5). But over time I became quite accustomed to what I could safely eat. Unfortunately, I had to work this out for myself via the website INR TRACKER, which I found excellent. From thenm I found that I should limit myself to no more than 90 MG per day for safety, plus what each foodstuff contains in vitamin K.
(A godsend to ignoramuses such as myself)

I don’t know why, but the NHS does not seem to place much importance on the dietary requirement when it comes to placing a patient on Warfarin indefinitely, and yet it is one of, if not the most important factors in protecting a patient’s health when taking Warfarin. (reading too high means a risk of life-threatening bleeding, too low means a risk of blood clots and/or heart attack.

Yes, I received a leaflet at the beginning of the treatment pointing out what food/drinks high in Vitamin K, but that was it! If it hadn’t been for INR Tracker, I would still be as ignorant about what I should and should not be eating, as well as how much, as the day I first left the hospital. I’ve tried several times over the years to make an appointment with a Dietician at our nearest hospital 18 miles away - Shrewsbury, as we don’t have one in Oswestry, but I can never seem to get one as always booked up. Now I couldn’t get to see one even if I could make an appointment.

Anyhow, for the last 5 years, I have managed to keep my reading steady. But at the end of February 20, after not needing to have an INR blood test for three months, when I did have one, it had shot up from my usual 2.4 to 2.6 steady reading, right up to 3.1. So instead of shielding as I should have been, I have been having INR blood tests almost every two to three weeks for the four months, to try and get my reading back on track, which thankfully, according to the last two tests, it now seems to be.

But, at my last appointment last Thursday, the Sister informed me that it was time for my annual check for all blood, Liver, Kidney, Sugar, etc.
Of course, with my luck, I received a phone call from the hospital this morning to tell me that they were not happy with my Blood Sugar level reading which now places me as pre-diabetic.

Then followed 30 minutes of questions, Weight, Height, What do I have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, how much portion of each, do I drink, how much do I have, how often, Hic! (Only kidding, I told her truthfully, one Gin & Tonic with Ice and a Slice on a Saturday evening ).then she asked did I use a proper measure for the Gin???? What? I’m not at the bar! It is a small crystal glass with a pattern ¼ of the way up the glass, which we use to measure the Gin! she even asked if the tonic water was low-calorie!
Do I smoke? NO! .Do I eat cereal, what fruit do I eat with it? BANANA! fruit juice? freshly squeezed or bottled? NO and YES.

Anything that I answered YES to, it was a case of STOP NOW! She even tutted at my weekly snack treat that the Doc himself told me was fine, a bar of Green & Black’s dark chocolate (a couple of blocks per day) plus a small bag of Walnut halves.

Sorry I could go on and on and on, but the upshot of all of this is …. All the foodstuffs and drinks that I have become used to eating after having to voluntarily give up all my favourite vegetables and salad ingredients on the Warfarin diet are now apparently not good for me as now classed as pre-diabetic if I want to get my reading of 43 (48 is the danger number) down to below the safety number of 40 which would mean no longer pre-diabetic.

I must admit to feeling really fed up about it all. The one enjoyment I seem to have left at my age is to enjoy my food. I watch my weight and diet carefully and am careful most of the time with what I eat. But I now have visions of me only eating endless eggs (and becoming egg bound) because it appears to be one of the only boring foods that both warfarin and pre-diabetic health advice seem to agree on, that I can safely eat!

Is there anyone out there who is taking Warfarin and is either diabetic or pre-diabetic? If so, I would be so grateful to know - how on earth do you manage with choosing the correct foods? I have tried to look it up online but cannot seem to find a website that deals with both ailments at the same time. It’s usually advice on one or the other only.
It seems there is nothing left that I can eat that isn’t bad for me in one form or another as one is batting against the other! How do others manage without worrying all the time?

Thank you for letting me waffle on about this and thank you for any advice or comments (good or bad). Best wishes to you all, Shroppie x