Help with INRatio?

[kerri73]

Ok so I've had my monitor for a few hours now and am struggling with getting enough blood to get a good reading...

Tips, suggestions, etc?

I had a blood draw today (and my INR was over 5, at that), so I'm trying to test the home machine to get a good baseline reading... You'd think with my INR so high I'd have no problems getting enough blood on this thing

Thanks!
Kerri

 

[Ross]

Run your hand under warm water for a few minutes and be sure to keep them lower then your heart. Set the deepth level on the lancing device to the highest setting and you should get a good poke. Doesn't take much blood at all to run the test.

Which finger are you using and are you trying to jab the side of it or off toward the center more?

 

[kerri73]

I did finally get it last night - switched the lancelet (they sent two different types with my unit - one was orange and one blue... the blue ended up getting a better poke). I also massaged my finger a little and that brought a little more blood to the surface.

I'm using my middle and ring fingers - off to the side near the tip. I'd had these tests done in my old cardio's office, so that was helpful to be familiar with it... just wasn't getting enough blood out for the unit to run a good test for some reason.

I'll try the warm water next time I have to run it! (I did that a little bit earlier when I tried, but probably not for long enough).

Thanks Ross!

 

[catwoman]

Kerri:

I use my middle two fingers; that's the way I was instructed when I got my first tester machine.

Did you machine come with an Auto-Lancet? (I think that's the brand that came with the machine.) I set the dial to 5 and press hard against the side of the tip of my finger. Sometimes I do a 2nd prick beside the first.

Running your hand under hot water helps, and also massaging the finger from your hand to the tip of your finger before pricking it and then "milking" the blood drops helps. I try to get about 2-3 big drops. With some experience, you'll know the size of sample needed.

Did you happen to get a video with your machine? I didn't with my INRatio, but I did with my ProTime 3.

 

[kerri73]

It did come with a disc (not sure if it has a video on it). However, Hemosense has an online tutorial that walks you through everything as well, which I watched last week. I'm sure with time it will be nothing - I just hate the idea of wasting tester strips while I get used to it. Since my INR is high and I'm just coming off of an antibiotic, though, I'm sure I will get lots of practice over the next couple of weeks!

Thanks!
Kerri

 

[catwoman]

It did come with a disc (not sure if it has a video on it). However, Hemosense has an online tutorial that walks you through everything as well, which I watched last week. I'm sure with time it will be nothing - I just hate the idea of wasting tester strips while I get used to it.

Kerri:

I just watched the tutorial. It's pretty good.

You'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. Are you required to take your tester to your doctor's office so someone can certify you can run a test?

 

[kerri73]

I think my doctors are just letting me do my own thing with it - we did a lab draw and I ran a home test yesterday and the INRatio was right on the money, so that's good!

Phillips told me I'd do a 30 minute phone tutorial with a nurse - but I don't know if that's with a nurse from my doctor's office or through Phillips. I didn't get any info about that, so we'll see. My cardio's office doesn't even use one of these, so I don't know if they'd be much help anyway.