Intracellular Calcium and Coumadin

I had an Exatest about 16 months ago. At that time I been on Coumadin for over four years. One of my few out of range Exatest results was a higher than normal intra cellular calcium reading. At that time I was not supplementing with calcium and ate very few dairy products. At about the same time I was diagnosed with osteopenia and a stress test showed the appearance of coronary artery calcification.

That all of these findings were closely related did not at first occur to me. Thanks to this forum and other web sources, I became aware of the role of vitamin K in mediating the deposition of calcium whether in soft tissue or bone. This seemed to answer all my questions. Coumadin works by perpetuating an abnormal deficiency in vitamin K. A deficiency in vitamin K promotes the deposition of calcium in soft tissue rather than in bone hence my arterial calcification and osteopenia. And since the Exatest assays soft tissue rather than bone, the coumadin induced vitamin K deficiency explains the abonormally high calcium measurement.

I've now been off coumadin for over a year during which time I've supplemented with vitamin k2. I look forward to another Exatest which I predict will indicate a normal intra cellular calcium result.

Josiah

Josiah - thank you for posting this. People who have mechanical valves and have been on warfarin for years have similar problems with calcifications. Now that there are new forms of blood thinning drugs, the soft tissue calcifications may be a thing of the past, but I've not studied the literature to learn whether or not that's true.

In any event, I'm glad you were able to get off warfarin and hope your next Exatest shows improvement.

As we age, using supplemental menaquinone 7 (K2MK7) is undoubtedly an important addition to our daily regimen. I know that I'll continue taking it myself and recommending it to others.

Calcifications aside, the risks from using blood thinning drugs as we age increase. When I practiced dental hygiene, I saw many elderly people on warfarin who suffered greatly from the side effects... these were visual... blood leaking along the fascia under the skin, hands and arms. One man told me he had that leaking from his groin down his right side. They managed to get that cleared up and it began on the other side. Old, friable tissue lacking collagen does not do well with warfarin.

Do keep us informed.

Jackie

Josiah,

Do bear in mind that IC calcium is not regulated by diet, but rather by the sodium/calcium exchanger pumps, which are driven by energy derived from activity of the sodium/potassium pumps. CR Session 72 relates AF to many such interactions, for example the direct effect of the cellular potassium/sodium ratio on cell membrane voltage, thereby cardiac refractory period, intracellular calcium level and Afib, also intracellular pH and cell proliferation, etc. These quotes on calcium regulation from Dr. Moore's book are excellent to repeat here:

"Remember, the electrochemical potential of the "sodium battery" [cell] comes from the stored energy of all that sodium pushed outside the cell by the Na/K pumps, but "wanting" to come back in because of its natural electrical tendency. One type of calcium pump acts by letting some of the sodium back into the cell; the energy that is released thereby drives calcium out of the cell. This type of calcium pump is called a sodium-calcium (Na+/Ca++) exchanger."

"The dissolved calcium inside a healthy living cell should be kept more than 10,000 times lower than outside. Keeping the calcium low is especially important in a muscle cell, because even a small rise in the calcium inside will cause the muscle to contract." [think depolarize - phase 0 of the cardiac action potential]. Also: "..there are atom-sized holes in the cell membrane, through which calcium can leak [in]. But these holes close when the membrane voltage is high enough, that is, when the "sodium battery" [cell] is fully charged. When the membrane voltage is slightly discharged these holes open, letting in calcium... Moreover, a decreased level of Mg++ inside cells may lead to a further decrease in the activity of the Na/K pumps, which will lower the charge on the [cell membrane voltage], leading to decreased activity of the Na/Ca exchange pump and thus compounding the problem."

"A diet with a low [K/Na ratio] should result in an increase in EDLS [endogenous digitalis-like substance] in the blood plasma. The... increase will decrease activity of the Na/K pumps... Inhibition of the Na/K pump by elevated EDLS and low serum K levels would increase the level of sodium within the cell and decrease the voltage across the cell membrane. ...as little as a 5% increase in sodium within the cell would be sufficient to elevate the level of calcium by at least 15% to 20%. ...the increase in calcium within the cell could possibly reach as much as 200%, although almost certainly it would be somewhat less."

So it all comes down to the activity of the many thousands of Na/K pumps in each cell. Anything that inhibits the activity of the Na/K pumps, such as a low dietary K-Na ratio, will lower the membrane voltage, thereby increasing intracellular calcium, also shortening the refractory period, thus encouraging Afib. For excellent background see: [www.vivo.colostate.edu].

Erling

Josiah,

Low Na/K pump activity also underlies osteopenia/ osteoporosis. Bone is active, living tissue requiring energy from Na/K pumps (in osteoblast and osteoclast cells) for continues remodeling -- formation and resorption.

Thank you Erling, I had no idea that intracellular calcium was directly connected to the K/Na ratio.

The Exatest result for my K/Na ratio was 38.8 which is at the very high end of the range. Does this indicated a very good or very poor result?

Josiah