Taking selenium supplements can affect your bleeding and clotting times. Selenium supplements can also have adverse reactions with a variety of medications, including blood thinners. Additionally, selenium can cause you to bleed more than normal during surgery. Tell your doctor about the dietary supplements you take that contain selenium before any medical tests or procedures.
Selenium
Your body requires selenium, an essential trace mineral, to function properly. You get most of the selenium you need from plant foods as well as crab, fish and poultry. The amount of selenium in food varies, depending on the amount of selenium in the soil. The Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database rates selenium supplements likely effective for preventing a selenium deficiency, possible effective for Hashimoto's thyroiditis and possibly ineffective for preventing cancer, slowing down heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis. A likely short-term safe dose of selenium is less than 400 micrograms per day, according to Medline Plus.
Blood Thinning Drugs
You may experience major adverse reactions when you combine selenium supplements with anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs, also known as blood thinners, warns Medline Plus. Selenium may increase your risk of bleeding and bruising when combined with certain drugs, including clopidogrel, warfarin, heparin and even over-the-counter aspirin, according to University of Maryland Medical Center. Adverse combination can also slow blood-clotting.
Surgery
Tell your doctor if you take selenium supplements before any surgical procedures. Elevated levels of selenium may increase your risk of bleeding both during surgery and post-procedure. Bleeding can increase your risk of surgical complications. Medline Plus recommends patients stop taking selenium supplements at least two weeks prior to scheduled surgery.
Eating Fish
Eating selenium-rich fish seems to have a modest effect on bleeding time, according to a study from the University of Oslo in Norway and published in the October – November 1994 issue of the journal “Biological Trace Element Research.” In the six-week study, 32 healthy participants consumed a healthy diet containing either 250 grams of fish per day, which provided approximately 115 micrograms of selenium, or a diet including enriched bread containing about the same amount of selenium. The researchers concluded that the selenium produced only a modest increase in bleeding time.
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