Warfarin or Vitamin E?

[Guest guest]

Someone inquired about Warfarin on our message boards.

www.alternative-medicine-message-boards.info

 

I thought perhaps this info might be useful to someone here as well.

JoAnn

---

Warfarin or Vitamin E?

Oct 17, 2005 12:45 PDT

 

http://www.doctoryourself.com/drugalt.html

 

Drug Alternatives

 

 

There are a couple of hundred thousand drugs on the market, yet the

World Health Organization itself admits that two hundred would be

enough

to cover all the bases.

 

The extra tens of thousands are money makers, pure and simple.

 

There is a nutritional alternative for most drugs.

 

You have to dig a bit for the details, but the work has been done.

 

You will find very few negative effects from vitamins in the PDR,

but you will see column after column and page after

page of side effects, contraindications and warnings for drugs.

 

For example, I give you Coumadin (Warfarin sodium)

.. You can often use vitamin E instead.

 

Vitamin E potentiates the effects of Coumadin (Warfarin sodium), and

at

up to 3,200 IU or less daily, it can completely and " safely "

substitute

for the drug.

 

That is just plain true.I've seen it again and again.

The case of the Big Trucker stands out in particular.

 

Bob was a big guy: tall, wide and heavy. He had a lengthy history of

*thrombophlebitis* and most of its possible complications.

 

One day he came to see me, wondering what " options " he had to

forever

taking Coumadin.

 

" You need to lose weight, Bob. That's the first thing. You need to

stop

smoking, too. There's no way any therapy, drug or anything else is

going

to really work for you unless you do those things first. "

 

He listened thoughtfully. " OK, " he said. " I'll try. What else? "

 

Pleased that we'd even gotten this far without his wiping the floor

with

me, I proceeded to tell this man of few words about vitamin E as a

" blood thinner. "

 

Drs. Wilfrid and Evan Shute of London, Ontario, in Canada pioneered

such

use of the vitamin back in the 1940's.

 

Their medical society went berserk, blacklisted

them from meetings, and expelled any doctor that even attended a

lecture

by the Shute brothers.

 

Sometimes it would seem that you'd be better off with a bargain

bunk on death row than to advocate vitamin therapy in the face of

the

bunker mentality of our drug-and-surgery health establishment.

 

Vitamin E is vastly safer than warfarin, the generic name of

Coumadin.

 

Warfarin is the " active ingredient " in rat poison.

 

Rats are pretty smart, by the way.

 

They must be poisoned subtly and long-term, like patients.

 

A cumulative moderate overdose of Coumadin causes their blood to be

too

thin, and the little bastards hemorrhage and die.

 

A cumulative overdose of vitamin E, even extreme megadosing, has

never

killed anybody.

 

Check the US Poison Control Centers data, or the DAWN statistical

series

if you don't believe me.

 

So vitamin E has a Coumadin-like effect without a Coumadin-like

danger.

 

Bob's prothrombin (clotting) time was 16 seconds without medication.

His

doc wanted 20 to 22 seconds, and got it with the drug.

 

" Will I get the same results with vitamin E? " he asked.

" You might, " I said. " E is certainly safer than Coumadin. Ask your

doctor to try a gradual reduction dosage of the drug while gradually

increasing the vitamin dosage. I've seen that work well before. "

 

Weeks later I saw Big Bob again. He had stopped smoking and lost

weight.

He looked noticeably trimmer and was, in fact, nearly 20 pounds

lighter.

 

 

" How are you doing? " I asked him leadingly.

" Pretty good, " Bob admitted. " Still on the Coumadin. Not taking the

vitamin E yet. " " Why? " I asked. The answer really surprised me.

 

" Well, " Bob said, " I really don't want to talk to the doctor about

this.

He'll think I'm stupid and get upset if I question him about the

Coumadin. He says I have got to take it. "

 

" You can't talk to your doctor about this? "

" Nope. I didn't even finish high school, " Bob said, looking down and

to

the side past his knees. " He'll just make me feel like a jerk for

wanting to not take my medicine. "

 

In the quack business, you see a lot of things, but witnessing a big

strong man shrink childishly away from confronting his own doctor

was a

new one for me.

 

" You can talk to your doctor, Bob. You've got to be able to discuss

your

own body with your doctor. What did he say to you when he observed

that

you'd lost weight? "

 

" He said just keep doing what I'm doing. "

" And stopping the smoking? " I added.

" He said that was good, too, " Bob answered. " He never brought that

up

before, but he said it was good that I'd quit. "

 

The great majority of patients who smoke have never been told to

quit by

their doctor.

 

" But our credit isn't good enough for vitamin E, huh? "

I said with a half smile.

 

" You know, you're not offering anything foolish when you ask for a

tapering drug dosage schedule and willingly come in for regular

monitoring.

 

The safer alternative is always worth a therapeutic trial; any

doctor

should know that. "

 

Oddly enough, I wasn't getting anywhere with this argument.

Bob shook his head. He paused, then shook it again.

" No, " he said. " Don't want to bring it up with him. "

There was a pause.

 

" I'm just going to take the vitamin E anyway, " Bob said quietly.

 

" I'd prefer the doctor was in on this, " I responded, but if you are

going to do it, do it right. Increase the dose over a period of

weeks.

Most people start with 200 IU daily, and eventually get to between

1,200

and 2,400 IU daily.

 

Do it gradually, and here's a way to tell how you're coming: Go in

to

your doctor regularly, as you always do. Have him check your

protime, as

he always does.

If you get the numbers he wants, he won't care how you got them. "

 

" Could I increase the vitamin E and still stay on the Coumadin? " Bob

wondered.

 

" More or less, but the more E you taking, the stronger the

Coumadin's

effect.

 

You'll probably get to the point where your protime is too long, and

he'll have to cut back on the dosage of Coumadin. "

Bob thought about that for a bit.

 

" So I can just show him that I don't need the drug any more, " he

said.

 

" That's about it, " I said. " If your protime is on the long side,

he'll

cut you back on the medicine. "

 

Well over a month later I saw Bob for a follow-up visit.

 

" I did it, " he said. The last time I saw the doctor, my clotting

time

was 23 or so. So he asked me, 'What are you doing?' I told him I was

taking vitamin E.

 

He said, 'Stop taking that vitamin.

It is interfering with the Coumadin.''

 

The doctor preferred to " thin the blood " with rat poison

 

Dr. Andrew W. Saul.

..www.doctoryourself.com

 

=====================================================================

 

Coumadin (Warfarin) - a drug that blocks blood clotting by

interfering with the actions of vitamin K.

Coumadin® is an anticoagulant drug.

 

Coumadin® is based on a chemical known as warfarin sodium.

 

Warfarin causes its anti-clotting effect by " impairing " the

production of certain " blood clotting " proteins by the liver.

These proteins, called " cofactors " are necessary elements of a

complex series of proteins which the body uses to form a solid clot.

 

The proteins are the fundamental components of the " intrinsic

pathway " of clotting, in which many other proteins participate in

concert.

 

The specific action of warfarin is to block the production of

Factors VII, IX, X, and II by the liver.

 

Creation of these factors by the liver is normally controlled by

Vitamin K. This dietary vitamin is ingested with many different

green vegetables.

 

Administration of warfarin sodium blocks the action of vitamin K

within the liver.

 

The drug effectively competes for the same absorption sites within

the liver needed for vitamin K uptake. Thus the levels of vitamin K

within the liver " decrease " .

 

Reduced amounts of clotting factors VII, IX, X, and II are produced,

and the clotting action of the blood is " progressively impaired " .

 

All of the actions of Coumadin® are due to the drugs inhibition of

vitamin K.

 

Thus ingestion or administration of vitamin K can reverse the

effects of Coumadin.

 

-

 

Coumadin (Warfarin).......

Question: " Can vitamin E be a natural substitute for the blood-

thinning drug Coumadin? "

 

At appropriate doses, vitamin E has virtually the same

pharmacological properties as Coumadin. This means that

appropriately high doses of E can indeed be substituted for

Coumadin.

http://doctoryourself.com/drugalt.html

 

Vitamin E is very different from the (other) fat-soluble vitamins.

It is notoriously non-toxic (preemies have been safely given the

adult dose equivalent of several thousand IU daily).

 

Plentiful vitamin C and (a tiny bit of) selenium contribute to

recycling some vitamin E, but we still need it in daily quantities

of at least 200 IU and probably closer to 400 or even 800 IU.

 

I recall that Coumadin, or sodium warfarin, is the same ingredient

as used in " D-Con " rat poison.

There are no fewer than six columns of cautions, contraindications

and warnings about Coumadin in the PDR (physicians desk reference).

 

There is much reason to prefer the vitamin;

it is far safer, it is just as effective.

 

I have never seen a vitamin E based rat poison.

 

 

Aspirin and other related salicylates as well as anticoagulants like

Warfarin (di-coumerol) increase iodine excretion and induce mild

hypothyroidism as well.

--------------------------------

 

Delta-tocotrienol - The 21st Century Vitamin E?

Introduction

 

 

The vitamin E family consists of four tocopherols and four

tocotrienols each designated as alpha, beta, gamma, or delta based

upon slight differences in attached molecules. Of these naturally

occurring vitamin E compounds, alpha-tocopherol (alpha T) has

emerged has the most potent of these compounds in terms of vitamin E

activity.

 

However, newer information indicates that for other

activities including antioxidant, cholesterol lowering, and anti-

cancer effects that the tocotrienols (T3s), especially delta-

tocotrienol (delta T3) exert more profound effects.

 

So, while in terms of vitamin E activity the order of potency would

be:

 

alpha T > beta T > gamma T > alpha T3 > delta T > gamma T3 > delta

T3

 

The order of potency for acting as an antioxidant, cholesterol-

lowering agent, and in cancer prevention may be just the opposite:

 

delta T3 > gamma T3 > delta T > gamma T > alpha T3 > beta T > alpha

T

 

What is the difference between a tocopherol and a tocotrienol?

 

The difference is that the tocotrienol has 3 double bonds within the

main body of the molecule. Just like as in polyunsaturated oils, the

presence of these double bonds give the tocotrienols greater

fluidity and make it much easier for the body to incorporate them

into cell membranes, especially delta-tocotrienol.

 

Differences between the various individual members of the tocopherol

and

tocotrienol family are due to different molecules found at the R1,

R2, and R3 positions.

 

Compound R1 R2 R3

alpha-tocopherol

alpha-tocotrienol CH3 CH3 CH3

beta-tocopherol

beta-tocotrienol

CH3 H CH3

gamma-tocopherol

gamma-tocotrienol H CH3 CH3

delta-tocopherol

delta-tocotrienol H H CH3

 

What are the health benefits of tocotrienols?

 

In comparing the health benefits of the tocopherols vs. the

tocotrienols I will limit the discussion to the following areas:

 

antioxidant effects, anticancer effects, cholesterol lowering

effects, and effects on other aspects of cardiovascular disease.

 

Do not misunderstand me. I am NOT saying that vitamin E (alpha-

tocopherol) is not important. It possesses the greatest

physiological vitamin E activity and is an important component of

any nutritional supplementation plan.

 

However, when some specific or additional " support " is needed then

the

tocotrienols, especially delta- tocotrienol, appears to offer even

" greater benefit " .

 

Antioxidant activity

 

While vitamin E is generally regarded as the most important fat-

soluble antioxidant, alpha-tocotrienol has been shown to be 40 to 60

times more potent than alpha-tocopherol in the prevention of lipid

peroxidation.

 

Even more potent is delta-tocotrienol - by far the

most powerful antioxidant of the entire vitamin E family.

 

Tocotrienols may prove more valuable in protecting the interior cell

membranes, such as those that surround the cell nucleus and

mitochondria, because of their greater ease in being incorporated

into cellular membranes.1,2

 

Cholesterol reduction

 

Tocopherols have virtually no cholesterol-lowering activity, but

numerous clinical studies have shown tocotrienols, specifically

gamma-tocotrienol and delta-tocotrienol, to inhibit the manufacture

of cholesterol within the liver.3 Specifically, these tocotrienols

inhibit the liver enzyme HMG-CoA reductase - the same enzyme

inhibited by the statin drugs and red yeast rice. Although clinical

studies have yielded inconsistent results with tocotrienol

preparations in lowering cholesterol, that is easily explained by

taking a closer look at the types of tocotrienols used in the study

and their dosage.

 

Commercial sources of tocotrienols

 

There are three commercial sources of tocotrienols

- rice bran oil, and annatto bean .

-

- It is important to

understand the shortcomings of the first two to truly appreciate the

differences in the results achieved in the clinical trials on

lowering cholesterol.

 

 

There are a couple of very important points to make when looking at

the results:

 

The higher the level of tocopherols in a tocotrienol preparation,

the less effective the product is at lowering cholesterol levels.

-

Tocopherols block the ability of delta- and gamma-tocotrienol to

inhibit HMG-CoA reductase.

-

Proper dosage is also important. Since tocotrienols can be converted

to alpha-tocopherol in the body, taking too high a dosage of

tocotrienols actually reduces their ability to lower cholesterol

levels.5 Dosages of 25 to 100 mg may prove more effective than

dosages of 200 mg or more daily.

-

When these factors are taken into consideration it is easy to

explain why certain studies were positive and others were

negative.

- Tocotrienol concentrates with higher amounts of gamma-

and delta-tocotrienols, and lower alpha-tocopherol have produced

reductions of total cholesterol of 15% and an 8% reduction in LDL

levels within the first four weeks of use.

 

Additional cardiovascular benefits

 

Tocotrienols have been shown to exert additional benefits to the

cardiovascular system including an ability to decrease in the amount

of cholesterol plaque in arteries,

-

- lower the level of the extremely damaging lipoprotein (a),

- prevent the aggregation of platelets,

- and

inhibit the expression of cellular adhesion molecules.

-

- All of these factors are extremely important in the development

and

progression of atherosclerotic plaque.

-

- Delta-tocotrienol has been shown to be the most active of the

tocotrienols.

 

Summary of benefits of delta-tocotrienol

 

Most powerful antioxidant of the vitamin E family.

The most potent tocotrienol to activate anticancer effects.

More effective at accumulating in cells compared to other

tocotrienols.

-

Most effective member of the vitamin E for reducing endothelial

expression of adhesion molecules, thereby preventing the

accumulation of inflammatory cells within the arterial wall.

-

Most potent tocotrienol in inducing apoptosis (cell deaths) of human

breast cancer cells. Delta-tocotrienol was twice as potent as of

gamma-tocotrienol.

-

Inhibits the excessive aggregation of blood platelets much more

effectively than vitamin E or other tocotrienols.

-

Anticancer effects of tocotrienols

 

The anticancer effects of tocotrienols have garnered a lot of

attention. In addition to their important antioxidant effects,

several other mechanisms have been proposed. For example, one of the

innate protectors against cancer is a process known as " apoptosis. "

-

Basically, apoptosis is an encoded suicide program designed to

protect cells from becoming cancerous. When this process does not

work cancer develops. Tocotrienols are effective promoters of

apoptosis with delta-tocotrienol being twice as potent as gamma-

tocotrienol.

-

- Another anticancer mechanism involves inhibiting

enzymes within cancer cells that stimulate them to replicate.

-

- Gamma- tocotrienols was shown to be three times more potent in

inhibiting

growth of human breast cancer cultured cells than chemotherapy drug

tamoxifen.

 

What are the dosage, drug interactions, and safety information for

tocotrienols?

-

The effectiveness of tocotrienols for some specific indications

requires using tocopherol-free, high delta-tocotrienol products at a

proper dosage. For example, for lowering cholesterol, utilize the

90% delta-tocotrienol preparation and begin with a dosage of 50 mg

tocotrienols.

-

- Recheck cholesterol levels in four to six weeks and

alter dosage accordingly. If cholesterol levels drop into the normal

range, the dosage can be reduced. If cholesterol levels do not

change enough, the dosage can be increased to 100 mg per day. For

best results take the tocotrienols with food and at least one hour

away from any vitamin E.

 

Tocotrienols are extremely safe and no side effects have been

reported.13 Given the effects on platelet aggregation, you will need

to inform your physician of their use if you are going in for

surgery, or taking the blood thinning drug Coumadin® (warfarin) or

anti-platelet drugs like Ticlid® (ticlopidine).

 

Tocotrienols enhance the cholesterol-lowering effects of statin

drugs and, presumably, red yeast rice extract.

 

 

 

References:

 

Theriault A, Chao JT, Wang Q, Gapor A, Adeli K. Tocotrienol: a

review of its therapeutic potential. Clin Biochem 1999;32:309-19.

Yap SP, Yuen KH, Wong JW. Pharmacokinetics and bioavailability of

alpha-, gamma- and delta-tocotrienols under different food status. J

Pharm Pharmacol 2001;53:67-71.

Pearce BC, Parker RA, Deason ME, Qureshi AA, Wright JJ.

Hypocholesterolemic activity of synthetic and natural tocotrienols.

J Med Chem 1992;35: 526-541 and 3595-606.

Qureshi AA, Pearce BC, Nor RM, et al. Dietary alpha-tocopherol

attenuates the impact of gamma-tocotrienol on hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-

methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase activity in chickens. J Nutr

1996;126:389-94.

Qureshi AA, Sami SA, Salser WA, Khan FA. Dose-dependent suppression

of serum cholesterol by tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF25) of rice

bran in hypercholesterolemic humans. Atherosclerosis 2002;161:199-

207.

Mustad VA, Smith CA, Ruey PP, Edens NK, DeMichele SJ.

Supplementation with 3 compositionally different tocotrienol

supplements does not improve cardiovascular disease risk factors in

men and women with hypercholesterolemia. Am J Clin Nutr 2002;76:1237-

 

43.

Qureshi AA, Sami SA, Salser WA, Khan FA. Synergistic effect of

tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF(25)) of rice bran and lovastatin on

lipid parameters in hypercholesterolemic humans. J Nutr Biochem

2001;12:318-329.

Mensink RP, van Houwelingen AC, Kromhout D, Hornstra G. A vitamin E

concentrate rich in tocotrienols had no effect on serum lipids,

lipoproteins, or platelet function in men with mildly elevated serum

lipid concentrations. Am J Clin Nutr 1999;69:213-9.

Qureshi AA, Bradlow BA, Brace L, et al. Response of

hypercholesterolemic subjects to administration of tocotrienols.

Lipids 1995;30:1171-7.

Theriault A, Chao JT, Gapor A, et al. Tocotrienol is the most

effective vitamin E

 

www.doctormurray.com

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets