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Have You Been Told That You Have Atrial Fibrillation?
What does this mean? Atrial Fibrillation is simply an abnormally fast heart that causes poor blood flow throughout your body. In a sense, the two upper chambers of your heart are out of synch or timing with the lower two chambers of your heart. The end result is that the heart begins to pump out an inadequate amount of blood to the body tissues. Your blood pressure may fall. This will cause you to feel lightheaded or dizzy, short of breath, confused or sometimes have a “floppy” sensation in your chest. Some people may also occasionally experience chest pain.
What causes Atrial Fibrillation to occur? Sometimes having a history of high blood pressure, abnormal heart valves, having had a previous heart attack, having an overactive thyroid gland, sick sinus syndrome ( a naturally malfunctioning pacemaker within your heart), viral infections, previous heart surgeries, sleep apnea or stress due to pneumonia. These are all possible illnesses that can lead to atrial fibrillation.
One of the most significant dangers for a person that has atrial fibrillation, is that they are at a higher risk for developing blood clots. Blood clots can be very serious and can block the blood flow to the heart or the brain. In order to prevent blood clots from forming, your doctor may prescribe a medication for you called Coumadin ( or warfarin). Normally, in order for a blood clot to form in your body, a series of chemical reactions occur that use Vitamin K. Coumadin works by slowing the activity of Vitamin K and causing it to take longer for a blood clot to form.
Once your medical provider has started you on Coumadin therapy, they will routinely check how well your medication is working by checking your PT (Prothrombin Time) and INR ( International Normailized Ratio) bloodwork. Based upon your results of your bloodwork, your doctor may decide to change your daily amount of Coumadin intake. In order to keep your PT/INR in the desired range, your medical provider will advise you to watch how often you eat foods that are high in vitamin K.
Generally, eat no more than 1 serving ( ½ cup) per day of foods that are high in vitamin K- such as fresh or boiled Spinach, Kale , Turnip or Collard greens, raw parsley( ¼ cup),or mustard greens.
Eat no more than 3 servings per day of foods that are moderately high in vitamin K-such as raw spinach, Brussels sprouts (1/2 cup frozen or boiled), broccoli raw/chopped (1 cup), Green leaf shredded or Romaine lettuce(1 cup).
For more information regarding a diet for Coumadin Users, please visit the webpage for our Park Forest Health Department at www.pfhealth.net. Look under the “physical health” tab and then “nutrition” for all diet information. Also feel free to call us at (708) 748-1118 or visit us on Facebook or Twitter.
Jenise Ervin RN, MSN
Director of Public Health, Nurses Plus-Park Forest Health Department