Is it safe to drink small amounts of alcohol while taking warfarin?
Alcohol interacts with warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) to either raise or lower the INR depending upon how it is used. The best advice is to not drink alcohol while you are taking warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven). Since this is not practical for everyone, this discussion will let you know what your risks are. The easiest warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) patients to manage are those whose lives follow routines. Intermittent, occasional or binge drinking tends to raise the INR. This means that your body is acting as if you are taking more warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) than you really are. This increases your risk of having a rectal bleeding episode. Saving up all of the drinks you would have had for the week and having them all at a special occasion is one of the worst things you can do. A study of the use of alcohol in medications offers some insight as to how this works. The most common protein in the blood is albumin. Most of the warfarin that a person takes in a dose physically binds to albu
