Can You Take Magnesium with Warfarin?
Many times, people get Warfarin to thin their blood if they have blood clots. But these clots can happen when there is not enough magnesium in the body. Magnesium is very important for your heart to work well. It supports the heart in many ways. It can also help lower the risk of getting blood clots by working through different ways in the body. One important effect of magnesium is that it helps keep platelets from sticking together. Platelets in the blood may clump and make clots. Magnesium makes this less likely to happen, which helps stop clots from forming. It also helps blood vessels do their job well by helping the muscles in the walls relax and by lowering swelling. If your blood vessels stay healthy and soft, they are less able to get hurt. This means you have a lower risk of getting a clot, because clots often start where blood vessels get damaged.
Magnesium plays a key part in controlling calcium in the body. Calcium helps with blood clotting, but magnesium helps keep calcium in check. It stops calcium from doing too much. This can help control how the body clots blood.
When you have enough magnesium, your chance of blood clots goes down. It has a link to fewer cases of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and atrial fibrillation. These health problems can raise the risk of clots. This can happen because they affect the blood vessels or cause blood to flow in a way that can lead to clots.
What is warfarin and why is it prescribed?
Warfarin is a blood thinner that doctors often give to people who need help with blood clots. It works by stopping the body from using vitamin K the way it usually does. The body needs vitamin K to help the liver make several things in the blood that cause it to clot. When you take warfarin, it makes these clotting factors less active. This slows down how fast the blood can make clots. Because of this, it helps keep clots from getting bigger. It also helps stop new clots from showing up.
Doctors often give warfarin to people with atrial fibrillation (AFib). This is a condition where your heartbeat is not regular, and it can make clots form in your heart. These clots may travel to your brain and can cause a stroke.
Warfarin is also used to treat deep vein clots, which usually happen in the legs. Another use is for clots that move to the lungs, which can be very serious or even deadly. If you have had surgery on your hip or knee, you might get warfarin, because not moving much after surgery and getting hurt from the surgery can make clots more likely to happen.
People with mechanical heart valves often take warfarin for a long time. Artificial valves can make clots form, so warfarin helps stop this from happening.
All these problems, though, can get better with magnesium.
Can warfarin and magnesium be taken together?
Can they be taken together? Not exactly.
Warfarin and magnesium can affect each other, but this is usually not a big problem and happens in a roundabout way. One thing to watch out for is that magnesium supplements, especially the ones with magnesium oxide or magnesium hydroxide, can stop warfarin from working well if you take them together. When this happens, warfarin might not be taken in by the body as it should be. This could make warfarin work less, change your INR (International Normalized Ratio) level, and raise the chances of getting blood clots. To stop this, the best way is to take warfarin and magnesium at different times, at least two to four hours apart.
There is some evidence that magnesium may change INR levels, but not all studies say the same thing. Magnesium does not make the blood thin on its own. The way minerals like magnesium, calcium, and vitamin K move in the body can sometimes make it harder to keep warfarin working as it should. This may make INR numbers go up and down. These changes can raise the chance of having clots or bleeding, based on if the INR is higher or lower.
Thankfully, our Upgraded Magnesium is made without oxides. It has a 99% absorption rate. This means it should not get in the way of other compounds. We always say you should ask your doctor if you plan to take them together, or if you should take them a few hours apart. This way, you get the most out of magnesium and it can help you with your condition along with your medication.
Interested in this? You can look at our Upgraded Magnesium now!