Anyone NEED a meter?

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Warrick

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 26, 2015
Messages
776
Location
New Zealand
When I had my AVR I was “gifted” a coaguchek xs meter by the NZ importer for St Jude, and I have never looked back with self testing and self management 100%.
Had I not received this meter (and the generous help of this forum) Im not sure where I would be with self management.
I have just purchased a secondhand xs meter that has only done one INR test for the bargain price of $10 and will send it to someone in need 100% free anywhere in the world.
Meter comes in the case with a lancing pen and some lancets.
 
I wish it was taken by someone who has no money.

And no prospect of insurance covering it later. I personally don’t think it should go to someone who just doesn’t want to wait six months for their insurance coverage to approve or their cardiologist to prescribe.

But, that can’t easily be vetted. Just have to count on the integrity of individuals. Lots of good people post and read these forums.

Certainly don’t let any Hollanders have it. We can usually afford it. We’re just cheap. 😂
 
I
When I had my AVR I was “gifted” a coaguchek xs meter by the NZ importer for St Jude, and I have never looked back with self testing and self management 100%.
Had I not received this meter (and the generous help of this forum) Im not sure where I would be with self management.
I have just purchased a secondhand xs meter that has only done one INR test for the bargain price of $10 and will send it to someone in need 100% free anywhere in the world.
Meter comes in the case with a lancing pen and some lancets.
I need one pretty please, it’s so hard to find one in RSA
 
I got my first meter in 2009 - a Protime meter. It was used, but the person gave it to me for what, at that time, was like a gift price - $35. It was worth a lot more.

The meter required that the strips be kept in the refrigerator, but I was able to run tests with it.

Over the years, I've given a meter or two to people who didn't have the ability to afford it at that time -- along with a few strips to get them started.

BTW - I have a Coag-Sense meter that I'm not using, and that probably only has a few tests on it. Right now, I need money, but I'm willing to sell it, at a reasonable price, to someone needing it. If you're interested, send me a private message.
 
Problems of the first world and those of the third. A meter is just as useful as the ability to get regular and unexpired test strips.
One without the other does not work.
 
will send it to someone in need 100% free anywhere in the world.

That is so very kind of you to offer that!

I'll share my experience that hopefully sheds some light on why I believe it is important to not only self check, but best to own your own meter than to borrow it from your insurance company.

As many here know, upon release from the hospital I was put on amiodarone, which caused my INR to shoot from 3.1 to 9.7 in 3 days following my release.

How this happened.

I was supposed to be tested 2 days after my release, but was dependent on a blood draw from a home visit 3rd party nurse, who ended up being truly incompetent- did not draw enough blood on said day and Quest rejected the sample when he turned it over later in the day. So now, on day 3 after release he comes again, and this time could not get more than a drop of blood- for some reason he was trying to draw it from the backside of my hand. The Coumadin Clinic says not to worry, and, as I had been so stable in the hospital, it was ok if we wait a few days before I get tested at Quest. I did not feel ok with this, and asked them to send the lab order in that day. They sent the order to Quest and even though I was not supposed to drive yet, drove myself down to get blood drawn. Glad I did INR= 9.7. I document my wild ride here beginning midway down on this page and in the couple pages that follow. You will note that I indicate my INR was 9.6 in the thread, not 9.7. Not a typo- the clinic verbally told me 9.6, but the lab reported actually indicated 9.7 FWIW.

https://www.valvereplacement.org/th...re-and-need-to-make-a-decision.887879/page-15
So, my wild week was 3.1 to 9.7; down to 1.6 with vitamin K, then two days later at 5.0 and in range a few days later.

Pellicle steered me towards an auction on Ebay and I was able to buy my own lightly used meter in the midst of all this for $220, which is actually a very good value. The meter arrived soon, and I was able to take control of my testing and with guidance from Pellicle was soon in range.

Here are the advantages of having my own meter:

1. First, if I had it sooner, I would have tested right out of the hospital and would have been alerted to the amiodarone driven INR spike sooner, well before it hit 9.7 and could have probably started correcting the ship before it reached the level at which I had to take vitamin k.

2. It was a pain going to the lab daily, even twice daily at one point, and to have control over when I tested.

3. Once vitamin K overcorrected my INR down to 1.6, the next day was Sunday, the clinic agreed with me that it would have been ideal if I had my home testing device to see if vitamin K was still pushing it down, so that this info could be incorporated into warfarin dosing for Sunday. If I had my own device, I could test any day, even if the lab is closed.

Here is another reason why I believe it is important to buy and own your own device rather than wait several months for your insurance company to approve to let you borrow one that they own:

So, here I was testing and staying in range for the previous 6 weeks, now 8 weeks out of surgery and self dosing my warfarin. The Coumadin Clinic has me call them weekly with my INR results and each time tells me: "Good job, keep doing the same." Then, I start checking the Explanation of Benefits reports from my insurance provider and discover that each time I call the clinic to give them my results, they were billing my insurance $ 500. The insurance paid it and I felt none of the financial impact, as I was way beyond my deductible. But, I feel this is over billing in the extreme. My insurance provider is a small cost sharing group, not a billion dollar company, and if I am being over billed, this hurts other members ultimately by resulting in higher premiums. Regardless, I feel it is morally wrong to allow for this type of over billing to occur. So, I cut the clinic off and stopped calling them with my results.

Four weeks pass and I get a call from the C. Clinic. I was honest with them and told them that I could no longer give them my results in good conscience, now that I know that they charge my cost sharing group $500 each time I do. Here it comes:

Coumadin Clinic assistant: "If you don't keep giving us the results, we are obligated to inform your insurance company and they will take back your home testing device."

Me: "They can do no such thing because they don't own it. I do."

So, if you own your own device, you will not need to yield to any threat from anyone, the Coumadin Clinic, or your insurance carrier, that they will take it away from you.

I get why some people don't want to come out of pocket and are willing to wait months to have it approved by their insurance. In my view, it was well worth the $ 220 to take control of my testing and INR right away. $ 220 was an excellent value to have this control. But, a device for $10? That is the deal of the century.

So good of you to pay it forward and give such a gift to someone who can't afford to buy their own! Well done sir!
 
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If you were told about a dose on Saturday (or was it Sunday) as if it would correct your INR that same day, whoever told you this was ignorant of the way Warfarin works.
It's not like aspirin, antibiotics, or many other medications that get almost immediate results. With Warfarin, it usually takes 3 days to see the results of any dose. The effect of the Warfarin I take tonight (Saturday) won't show up until Tuesday.

It's interesting that Amiodarone raised your INR. Last year, when my heart rhythms went haywire (three arrhythmias occurring simultaneously), my then-cardiologist gave me amiodarone - with full knowledge that I was taking warfarin.

I don't know if it changed my INR, but it turned my intestinal contents into concrete.
 
Not specifically to Chuck:
Here are the advantages of having my own meter:

here are the disadvantages of having your own meter
  • you must learn to use it (and properly)
  • you should store the strips properly (as written on the packet)
  • you need to be using it regularly (you know, like weekly) because stips go out of date
  • if you can't do anything about dosing (inadequate knowledge or inappropriate assessment of ability, you are in a contract with your insurance company && a testing clinic ...) there is no point
  • if you make wild and inappropriate changes to your dose and try to chase your tail you will set up a huge Yo-Yo effect and come to harm
Personally I would not live without a meter, but then that's me (or more accurately this is me):
http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2014/09/managing-my-inr.html
to me and my way of thinking, my commitment to doing it right and doing it consistently the advantages make the disadvantages insignificant (nay, verging on non-existant).

YMMV
 
If you were told about a dose on Saturday (or was it Sunday) as if it would correct your INR that same day, whoever told you this was ignorant of the way Warfarin works.
This was not the reason for the daily testing. No one was believing that it would correct my INR in the same day. But, giving that it had huge momentum going up, from the amiodarone, then downward momentum from taking vitamin K , it was important to know which direction it was moving, thus the daily testing. For example, INR of 9.7 Thursday. Vitamin k dose Thursday evening. It was important to see if the vitamin K did the job and how well it did the job- so testing about 9am Friday morning. Good news it was about 2.4. Then they actually had me test just 3 hours later, as INR had dropped like a rock from the vitamin K and they wanted to see if INR was still dropping from the vitamin K. I tested at 2.2, which is a sizable move in just 3 hours. So, they used that info to help decide how big of a warfarin dose to take Friday. Tested again on Saturday morning and INR had continued to fall- now down to 1.6. So, this told us that the vitamin K was still pushing it down, despite a decent sized warfarin dose on Friday. Knowing that I was that far under range helped determine the size of the warfarin dose on Saturday and Sunday. We all vary in how effective vitamin K works to drop INR, as well as how quickly we clear warfarin. It would not have been a surprise if my Saturday reading was higher than Friday, given it had been over 36 hours since taking vitamin K and had a good warfarin dose Friday. Had INR shown to be rebounding back, the dosing would have been different than it was when it was discovered to be 1.6, and possibly still on the way down.

And, we do all clear warfarin at different rates, but personally, I see a reaction the next day when I alter my warfarin dose. Given the long half life of warfarin, I am very aware that any dose will affect me for several days, but when I alter my dose in either direction, I see measurable movement in my INR the next day.

I would say it is a bit like giving a boat a push. I can measure how far it went from my push after one minute, but the energy from my push will continue to move the boat for a considerable amount of time after the minute has passed.
 
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Not specifically to Chuck:


here are the disadvantages of having your own meter
  • you must learn to use it (and properly)
  • you should store the strips properly (as written on the packet)
  • you need to be using it regularly (you know, like weekly) because stips go out of date
  • if you can't do anything about dosing (inadequate knowledge or inappropriate assessment of ability, you are in a contract with your insurance company && a testing clinic ...) there is no point
  • if you make wild and inappropriate changes to your dose and try to chase your tail you will set up a huge Yo-Yo effect and come to harm
Personally I would not live without a meter, but then that's me (or more accurately this is me):
http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/2014/09/managing-my-inr.html
to me and my way of thinking, my commitment to doing it right and doing it consistently the advantages make the disadvantages insignificant (nay, verging on non-existant).

YMMV
First of all sorry for the mistake I made about your nickname in a previous post.
I would like to ask to find the standard deviation in a data sheet I use the STDEV function for the entire population of the cell area or other function ?
 

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