New member, old hand with QAS

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
M

mbalfour

New to the ValveReplacement.com. Old hand at the ProTime Monitor. I've been using it for the past 14 months with great results. I test 3 times weekly because my numbers have been all over the place. I am "empowered" to alter my dosage and have been doing it quite successfully. Congrats to the QAS staff; its been a pleasure dealing with you.
 
Hi Manny, Welcome

Hi Manny, Welcome

Hi Manny-

You've found a wonderful site, full of info. and great support. There's so much in the line of experience that we are able to fill in the gaps for each other.

Sounds as if things are going along very well for you. You'll be a good resource for those starting the journey.

Hope to see you often.
 
Hi Manny

Glad you found us.

Home testing is wonderful and convenient. Did I read correctly that you are testing 3 times a week? In any case, from my past experience.....the move I moved my dose around the more it fluctuated. Would be riding the roller coaster up and down. They key is to "try" to be consistent. Your levels will straighten out accordingly.

My MD would like testing myself with the Coaguchek to take place every two weeks. Insted I have been doing so weekly for almost a year now. Have only been out of range a handful of times. Usually higher than lower.

Anyway, welcome to the family. Please come back and share your experiences with us.

Take care.
ILNYC!:) God Bless you all.
 
Gina:

Yes, I take readings 3 times weekly and have been doing so for over a year. My metabolism is apparently very sensitive to diet and it does not take much to knock me out of the range of 3.0 to 4.0 INR. I agree with you that the dose changes have to be small and infrequent in order to stabilize the INR. I find I can compensate, to a first degree, by diet changes. If the INR moves a bit high, I'll eat a little bit of Brocolli and it will drop the INR. If it starts to move way out, I'll wait for one or two readings before adjusting the dose; invariably, it will return to normal without changing dosage. Its become a game and is certainly not an inconvenience. One has to look at the big picture . . . we're here, we're alive and enjoying life.
 
INR = It's Never Right

INR = It's Never Right

Manny,

I can really sympathize with you INR problems. It's been said that INR stands for "It?s Never Right". LOL

I've learned that EVERYTHING effects my INR. EVERYTHING. If I miss an exercise class, if I eat out more, if I?m outdoors more, if I travel, if I'm depressed or unhappy, if the dog is sleeping in the flower bed.... EVERYTHING!

It?s all about consistency... exercise, food, sunlight, attitude, your whole life in general. This is certainly true for me anyway. I test once a week and for the most part, do stay between 2.5 and 3.5. And Good Luck, you need plenty of that too. lol

Rain
 
Rain:

Yes, it is sensitive to everything. I agree. I am learning things here, however. Which way does the INR go when the dog is sleeping in the flower bed?

Seriously, lots of luck to you too. Thanks for the reply.
 
Hi Manny,

Welcome to our loving family of VR.com. You could not have wished for a friendlier group of people.
I've been using my Protime since January 2001, but couldn't get stable because my doctor's office had me on such crazy dosages, and my INR was all over the place. I was a nervous wreck all the time, because the numbers were usually on the low side. I like to be above 3 - 3.5 at all times. I also tested often but it did not matter. My INR would go up and down. Real scary at the time.
Then I switched doctors (actually he was fired) but the new doctor keeps me pretty much on the same dosage. I've been stable since the end of June, but it almost took a year. Now I am not as afraid of this Coumadin thing, and I know I could do it myself if I had too.
I try to be consistant in everything that I do. I eat everything in moderation and am not skipping vitamine K foods.

Christina
Aortic Stenosis
AVR's 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's Mechanical
Coumadin 20mg a day.
 
INR levels

INR levels

In the beginning I was taking different dosages on different days too.

Changing from warfarin to coumadin and keeping the same dosage daily....... REALLY helped in regulating my INR levels. I?m beginning to feel like I understand coumadin pretty darn well. lol Took about a year and a half...... but I think I almost have it figured out.

Ummm..... Simon .... it goes UP, when the dog is in the flowerbed! :eek: lol

Rain
 
ouch

ouch

OO, If I had to test 3 times a week my fingers would never recover, and I use the tenderlett jr!
For some strange reason, my INR has been so stable for at least 8 weeks. My range 2.5-3.0, and my tests have been 2.8-2.9 for so many weeks that if it changes I will have to look twice at the machine. I take 10mg/day except for 12.5mg on Thur. I test on Mon and if my inr is low, then I take the 12.5 that day. Even if it's 2.6 ( still within range) I take the extra warfarin that day. My MD wants to keep it as close to 3 as possible. This seems to work for me.
I also try to eat the salad or broccoli type food on the day I take 12.5. This is working and it only took almost 1 1/2 years after avr!
I have a new machine, replaced when I found that the one I got didn't hold the charge for more than 5 tests and then only said 1/2 charged after I had fully charged it. My new one works like it's supposed to. It was replaced with no problems, within the warranty.
Luckily my dear doggy doesn't lay in my flower beds! She prefers the sofa, or her agility table
when it's nice and hot from the sun.
TTFN, Gail
 
RE: Ouch!

RE: Ouch!

Gail,

Testing 3 times a week isn't all that bad. There are 5 fingers on each hand and you can lance on one side and then the other. If you rotate nothing gets sore.

Interesting you mention the battery charging situation. I was able to get about 5 tests on a charge until recently. Now I find that I get better performance by running the machine of the charger cord rather than relying on the battery. Battery perfomance seems to give flaky results. QA Services, are you hearing this?
 
ProTime Battery

ProTime Battery

On my current charge, I have done over 15 tests with my ProTime machine. The charge problems you speak of are not evident in my machine.
 
love all this information!

love all this information!

David & I just went to the cardio dr yesterday - david had AVR & MVR with porcine 18 years ago...just had 2 st jude put in oct 13 2001. - when he asked about this machine the dr said "oh no i dont think that is reliable, only when you draw blood is it reliable" well i tell you whats not reliable...3 different doctors in his office trying to prescibe dosages, when once they did so without even knowing the INR result and once one gave such a rediculous dosage that we called him back only to find he thought david had been taking TWICE as much warfarin than he really was!
Are there any good articles out there about its reliability? I think we can get his Internal doc to prescribe it.
David would like to get one this year because of insurance.
Any info you have would be great. thanks
 
Hi Manny,

I have been home testing with my Protime Unit since April. I love it, no problems, and like Hank, have tested many times prior to the battery running low.

I was told by QAS to charge the battery fully at first, then run off the battery until it got real real low on the read out before charging again. I find that the battery indicator on the unit is not very sensitive, and even though the unit is almost fully charged, it reads only half charged. You can go many tests before it actually does need a re-charge.

Perhaps QAS can provide some refresher advise to operating the unit properly for "Best" battery life on a post here.

Welcome to the group Manny.

Rob
 
Batteries

Batteries

I bought my machine almost a year ago..... I test every week. I think I?ve only recharged it three times including the first time. Like Rob says, my battery indicator reads about half full most of the time.... but I just keep going until it gets really low. I figure if it doesn?t have enough juice to do the test properly it?ll tell me. Is that a true story Lance?? Will it tell me??

I?m not sure, but I think I remember it flashing ?Low battery? at me one time, right before I charged it back up. Oh, I always let it charge like a full day.... with the lid up.

Rain
 
Hi Rain,

I did have one time that the battery went so low, the unit just shut off while running a test. So, I had to plug it in, and re-test.

I didn't notice the blinking. It may have, but in the early days of using it, I was so concerned about making the 2 minute dead-line, that I didn't look at much else. No problems now though. I think that once one gets used to using the unit and relaxes, there is no problem with obtaining the sample in time.

Hope all is well,

Rob
 
Last edited:
Yes, the two minutes were pretty intimidating at first, and I was sweating buckets trying to do it in the two minutes provided. But I have no problems anymore. At times though I find that the tenderlet doesn't produce a deep enough cut, so I am having quite a time trying to squeeze out enough blood.
I warm my hands in hot water beforehand, and massage them. That seems to work best for me. I always use my ring finger and try to make the cut on the side. Thin skin helps.

I hope this helps for the new protime machine owners.

Christina
Aortic Stenosis
AVR's 8/7/00 & 8/18/00
St.Jude's mechanical
Coumadin 20 mg a day.
 
Battery

Battery

I will give it a try and let it run down. We'll see what happens.
 
Getting the blood to flow.

Getting the blood to flow.

The technique that works the best for me is to strap on my gravity boots and hang my feet on a metal rod across my doorway. Then, hanging upside down, I reach my hands to the floor where I have a pot of almost scalding hot water and soak my fingers there for 10 minutes.

Then I have my wife take an ace bandage and starting around my shoulder, she wraps it super tight, going around and around my arm until she gets to my wrist. Then I take a rubber band and wrap it around my hand about fifty times until the tips of my fingers are about to explode.

By this time I am about to lose consciousness so I have to hurry, but I have the strength to take the tenderlett in my other hand. This technique gives you a choice of any of the five fingers to stick because they are all under quite high pressure.

Of course I always place a towel on the floor to catch the flow of blood after the cup is full and the test is started.

Just kidding :D

Seriously now - I just sit in a chair, prick my finger with the tenderlett, hold the tip of my finger below the level of my heart, and two drops come right out into the cup. It's a piece of cake!
 
Geeezzzz Hank,

Now wonder you almost pass out when doing it that way!!

You didn't read the instructions. IT clearly states that " When hanging upside-down from Gravity boots, You must draw your blood from either the middle or ring toes. Place the tenderlette between the 11:00 o'clock and 2:00 o'clock position on the toe to draw your sample, then proceed to Step Number 5 for those that are not drawing a sample from the inverted position".

I think you need to make a video demonstrating your new found techinique for our next reunion. ;)

Well, no more hanging around for me.... bye for now..

Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top