First home test

[annie10]

I got my INRatio today. Marlene called to train me over the phone. We walked through the prodedure and my inr was.....drumroll please...6.5!!!
I ran a second test and it was 6.4. Hmmmmm--I think I will skip my coumadin tonight and call my PCP tomorrow. I can't help but think, I wasn't due for another lab check for 2 weeks...goodness knows where it would have been by then!

 

[Karlynn]

Well, isn't that a way to start of home testing!!! You may want to do a lab test and then do a home test to just compare.

What's your dosage?

 

[catwoman]

Anita:

When will you be taking your INRatio to your doctor's office? Don't know if it's still the case, but when I got mine, I had to demonstrate to someone at my doctor's office that I was able to perform a test -- in addition to doing one while I was being trained via phone.

 

[geebee]

I would try to do a lab test for comparison ASAP before messing with your dosage. It is not impossible that you could have a faulty machine or a bad batch of strips. It is unlikely but not impossible and you don't want to take the chance of getting too low.

 

[Blanche]

May I suggest that you do a test with your new monitor on someone who is not on anticoagulation. Their range should be between .09 and 1.2. It it is higher, you will know that the monitor is a problem. I used to offer myself as test subject for my husband 6 years ago when he got his monitor. Now that I too take Coumadin, we have to find a willing "test subject" from among our friends and neighbors. Everyone I have asked so far as thought it was an interesting thing to do....Good luck to you.
Blanche

 

[annie10]

Thanks for your responses and ideas. My son is taking a nap right now, but when he gets up I will check him on my machine. I have a call in to my PCP office to schedule a time to demonstrate my proficiency, they haven't called me back yet. I have been trying to figure out what could have caused such a jump in my INR--I ran out of glucophage and went without for several days before my refill arrived. Could that have done it? My normal dose of coumadin is 4 mg daily.

 

[doyo]

I would try to do a lab test for comparison ASAP before messing with your dosage. It is not impossible that you could have a faulty machine or a bad batch of strips. It is unlikely but not impossible and you don't want to take the chance of getting too low.

I ditto what Gina said. I would test at the lab and on InRatio at the same time ASAP before you change your dosage..

EJ

 

[annie10]

It took some persuasion, but I convinced my son to let me run a test on him. He came in at a perfect 1.0 so I guess I can't blame the machine My PCP office never called me back, so I will try again tomorrow.

 

[Ross]

If you have enough strips, take the machine with you to the lab. When they draw your blood, test yourself with the machine, then see what the result is in comparison. It's the only way to get half accurate results when comparing to a lab.

 

[Nan]

Keep after your PCP! I hate to hear that they don't call back! And I second all the other opinions about testing your strips at the same time as you have lab work. In the meantime, enjoy some spinach or broccoli etc!

Good luck.

 

[EVELYN]

Personally, I don't think it's your monitor....especially after your son tested perfectly. It really is scary how much out of whack you can get, and yet not be tested regularly ( you said you had two weeks to go before you were to test again). For us, testing weekly is the key.....but I would take that monitor to the hospital or your coumadin clinic for a comparison....why not?

We check about every 6 months with our cardio's coumadin clinic's monitor....last time, which was the first time with the INRatio, we were .2 different.....it definitely eases your mind.

MAKE that PCP call you back....it is his JOB.

Evelyn

 

[dick0236]

To: Annie 10

To: Annie 10

Today I did my first test with the INRatio. The Raytel nurse also walked me thru the test. My numbers were:
l. 10:00am Error message
2. 10:15am INR 5.0

Nurse told me she would call back around 5:00pm and we would retest.

At 10:45am, my wife, a Registered Nurse, tested herself, INR .8

At 5:20, Raytel nurse had not called so I decided to test myself.
3. 5:20pm INR 6.3
4. 5:45pm INR 7.0

Called my neighbor who has been on INRatio home testing since last fall. He came over and watched me test.
5. 6:15pm INR 5.9

I have been on warfarin for many, many years and I have a good log of past INR. I have seldom had numbers in the 4's and have NEVER had numbers in the 5's much less the 6's and 7's.

At 7:00 the Raytel nurse called and could not believe the numbers. She asked if I was having any symptons of high INR and I said "none". She is having Raytel send me new strips, thinking that it may be bad stripes.

I am not overly concerned because I have been on Warfarin for so long and these numbers have never shown up before. It is a new machine and new method, but it is a "tad" unerving.

 

[Ross]

Today I did my first test with the INRatio. The Raytel nurse also walked me thru the test. My numbers were:
l. 10:00am Error message
2. 10:15am INR 5.0

Nurse told me she would call back around 5:00pm and we would retest.

At 10:45am, my wife, a Registered Nurse, tested herself, INR .8

At 5:20, Raytel nurse had not called so I decided to test myself.
3. 5:20pm INR 6.3
4. 5:45pm INR 7.0

Called my neighbor who has been on INRatio home testing since last fall. He came over and watched me test.
5. 6:15pm INR 5.9

I have been on warfarin for many, many years and I have a good log of past INR. I have seldom had numbers in the 4's and have NEVER had numbers in the 5's much less the 6's and 7's.

At 7:00 the Raytel nurse called and could not believe the numbers. She asked if I was having any symptons of high INR and I said "none". She is having Raytel send me new strips, thinking that it may be bad stripes.

I am not overly concerned because I have been on Warfarin for so long and these numbers have never shown up before. It is a new machine and new method, but it is a "tad" unerving.

Your really going to be unnerved if you find out that you've been over anticoagulated for a long time now.

Dick is there any possiblitity that your hematocrit may be off a bit? When I get screwy tests like this, it's usually just before my hematocrit gets just far enough out of range that I can't test at all.

 

[dick0236]

To Ross
I went to my neighbors this morning and had him test himself using his INRatio and my strips. He got INR=3.5

I tested using his machine my strips. I got INR=5.5
I went to Dr. office and had lab draw about 30-45 after I did above home test. Test will be sent to LabCorp this afternoon.
Will see in morning what kind of INR lab comes up with. Also made appointment with PCP tommorow pm to review all results. In my memory I have never had results of 5.5 using lab vein draw or pro-time lab finger stick.

I am unfamilar with word "Hematocrit" Dick

 

[annie10]

I got my machine last Tuesday- inr 6.5 & 6.4. I had been taking 4 mg coumadin daily, so I skipped Tuesday night's dose, and took 2 mg on Wednesday and Thursday. I took my machine to PCP office Friday to demonstrate testing, and got inr 2.0 Doc said to take 3 mg each night. I took 4 mg Friday night then took 3 mg Saturday night. I tested again Sunday night, and got inr 1.7 I decided to go back to my previous 4 mg daily, and will test again Friday. I normally love roller coasters, but this one isn't much fun. Do the insurance companies complain when beginning testers use up a three months supply of strips in the first two weeks?

 

[geebee]

Anita,

When you test, do you have to "milk" your finger or does the blood flow freely? Sometimes milking will cause the INR to be off.

 

[Ross]

To Ross
I went to my neighbors this morning and had him test himself using his INRatio and my strips. He got INR=3.5

I tested using his machine my strips. I got INR=5.5
I went to Dr. office and had lab draw about 30-45 after I did above home test. Test will be sent to LabCorp this afternoon.
Will see in morning what kind of INR lab comes up with. Also made appointment with PCP tommorow pm to review all results. In my memory I have never had results of 5.5 using lab vein draw or pro-time lab finger stick.

I am unfamilar with word "Hematocrit" Dick

One other thing comes to mind, are you absolutely certain that the strip code is entered correctly before testing? Just looking for ideas. You don't normally see this at all. Another thing you might do, Take one of your strips over to your neighbors machine, enter your strip code and test again off of his machine or vice versa.

Hematocrit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hematocrit

Sometimes when my CHF acts up enough, I'm too water logged to be able to test by fingerstick.

 

[dick0236]

One other thing comes to mind, are you absolutely certain that the strip code is entered correctly before testing? Just looking for ideas. You don't normally see this at all. Another thing you might do, Take one of your strips over to your neighbors machine, enter your strip code and test again off of his machine or vice versa.

My neighbor and I are both working out of strips with strip code BD8YL and both machines are callibrated correctly. We even compared the "lot numbers" and we are both using strips out of the same lot, 060685A. I did test one of my strips in his machine and got 5.5. I should see the lab INR's tomorrow morning and we'll go from there. By coincedence my INR may actually have gotten that much out of control since 3.0 on 2/13/07 although that would be a first. Some food for thought. I am on the Board of Directors of a Patio Home Complex. For the past month I have been in charge of installing new patio enclosure fencing and have been catching h-ll from all quarters. If STRESS affects INR, then that may very well be the source of my problem. I'm not giving up on home testing just yet.

 

[Ross]

Stress does affect INR. Usually because your not eating right or much at all. I'm happy your not quick to jump to conclusions about home testing. If something is indeed wrong with your meter, Hemosense will make it right. I've never seen a company so driven toward customer satisfaction before.

 

[dick0236]

I received lab numbers Thursday morning. INR tested 4.3 whick was below the home test of 5.5. I talke with HemoSence Inc.(mfg. of INRatio) about discrepancy. I do not want to add any misinformation, but I understood as you get into the higher INR (above 4.3+)the machines' accuracy is affected and the INR numbers can become suspect. What you do learn with the seemingly very high numbers is that your INR is out of control to the high side. My PCP and I discussed this Thursday afternoon and agreed that this is a plausible explanation. We did agree that the home test identifed a problem INR early as I was not due for a lab test until mid-next week. Now we just need to find out why my INR have tended to run high since the beginning of 2007. Only new med is CoQ-10 which I started last fall. Have stopped CoQ-10 and will see if that was affecting INR. Anybody have experience with CoQ-10 ?