ProTime Microcoagulation Machine

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I used my Protime today for the first time today. Was just a little anxious about it all. I produced more than enough blood from my pinkie in ~ 25 seconds with more blood left over. I even got the right sequence of operations and used only one cuvette.

This was my lucky day.

STRAYZE
 
Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Congratulations. I would expect this result from a biochemist!
 
they're all different!

they're all different!

Blanche,
When I got my avosure pt system (it is now out of
business, so I'm trying to get a pro-time unit to replace it)I tested myself at home with my unit, then I went to my lab and got a blood testwithin 45 minutes,
then to the coumadin clinic upstairs and did a check with their couaguchek. I got a different reading from each one! Who's to say the lab is correct any more than the machines?
Since my machine tested ok with the controls I made the decision to stick with my machines' results and adjust my inr accordingly. The error ratio of my machine could have been up to .5 off and always would be error on the low side, not high. It sounds to me like the pro time has a better error ratio than the machine I had, and I hope I get mine soon. Good Luck convincing your doc. My surgeon at Stanford Hospital, D. Craig Miller, recommended that I get my own and use it for my prolonged health!
Gail
 
The main point of your message was that you were not testing at that time. How can anyone blame a machine that was not being used. The PT is an inherently innacurate test. Your doctor is showing that he/she is not up to date with those comments. You can repeat the test with the same vial of blood in the lab and get a variation of 0.2 units either way easily.
Also consider that the guidelines are just that guidelines. As you all know they do not mean that if your INR is 3.6 blood will immediately squirt from both nostrils, or that you have a stroke the instant it hits 2.4. Remember that the guidelines were set by a committee. How do we know that the real results didn't show 2.4 to 3.4 but the committee said, "Nobody will remember that, let's make it 2.5 to 3.5."
I also know Marty (MATXR) and Jack Ansell and would strongly second what Marty wrote about contacting either of them or having your doctor contact them.
 
Re: Al Lodwick

Re: Al Lodwick

Al Lodwick is the webmaster at warfarinfo.com. He answers his Email promptly and authoritatively. He has a comprehensive knowledge of the literature including the pharmaceutical literature which most MD's don't read. Al has forgot more about
anticoagulation than most MD's( like myself) know. Hey Al, I've got questions!When do you think there will be widespread use of
Exanta and Arixtra? Will they put clinics like yours out of business?
 
I think you are correct about 2004, although it could be 2003. Did you meet Kate Sandman from AstraZeneca at the Anticoagulation Forum meeting? She is one of the head honchos on ximelagatran. She is looking at 2002, but I think that is too optimistic. I have been on one of their consultant panels. Yes, I'm sure that it will make warfarin obsolete. In animal tests, it did not matter what dose they gave (as long it met the minimum) and it caused no excess bleeding. So there will not be any need for monitoring. I was interested in you message that it passed its first test. Our hospital, being small, we were not included but some of my friends were in hospitals where it was being tested for DVTs. The indications for heart valves will probably follow soon. I'd guess that by 2006 or 2007 almost everyone will be converted. About the only thing left that could sidetrack it would be a wierd toxicity after long-term use. Thanks for your kind comments.
 
What is the likely cost of the expected newer anticoagulants? I'm already facing $70,000 per year in drug costs for essential drugs. Most of this is due to an orphan drug. This is wiping me out.

One can spend oneself into a negative income status and hope for the best and become a poster-girl for Medicare reform. Under the circumstances, I'll stick with the cheapest drugs (warfarin) till the cost comes down.
 
I haven't seen any cost data on Exantra -- I'm not far into the inner circle.

Have you tried qualifying for medication assistance programs that many pharmaceutical companies have?
 
Still hanging in there

Still hanging in there

Sincere thanks to all who keep posting suggestions and their experiences with anticoagulation monitors. You keep our spirits up and, perhaps one day, may help convince Al's doctor of the benefits and safety of home monitors. At this writing, nothing has changed the doctor's stance, that of relying on the lab.

QAS and Ms. Barrett continue to provide support. Technydine sent us a second machine to experiment with. Now, Al tests on both home monitors and has blood drawn at the dr's office to be tested at a lab. The doctor is sending the blood to a new lab. For now, we are taking data and hoping. I admit that at one point our confidence was shaken, but that is no longer the case. Everytime I visit this site or any of the many other related sites, I know, without a doubt, that in home testing with the ProTime machine is the way to go...superior to the testing that is available to us.

At the present time I am completely fed up with the options that are available (or, should I say, the options that are NOT available to us for lab testing). I have spoken with a neurosurgeon, a neurologist, a cardiologist, and internist (who regulates Al's coumadin), a family doctor, an eye doctor, a pathologist, three nurses, customer service people at three labs, a flabtomist, and EMT person, a radiologist, and my gynecologist, among others. Not one person can direct me to a lab where we can have the blood drawn and tested in the same location. When I talk to people at the nearby hospital outpatient, I'm told, "All you need to do is go next door to Sonora Labs. That's where everybody goes!!!" And , sadly, that is true. And, sadly, that is the problem.
I'm convinced that the lab results are inconsistent due to many uncontrolled variables, not the least of which is the length of time between the draw and the test. One draw was done at 11am in Mesa and was not tested at the hospiital lab in Phoenix until 9pm.
They don't even use the same reagent and they change reagents often. Grrrr. I'm so frustrated. Medicare will not pay for a STAT test, nor will they pay for out patient because neither is a medical necessity. Getting a STAT test is not, in their opinion, a medical necessity nor is going to outpatient when we could have the same test done at Sonra Labs for less. Incidentially, Medicare was billed for $50.50 for Albert's last test. I know from your replies that this is not the state of affairs in other places, but this is what we must contend with here in the Phoenix Metro area. So, when Al's doctor says, "This is the way it's done in this part of the world." he' right. It scares me to think that the a majority of the people in this area who are being monitored for anticoagulation are being serviced by one of the three labs I contacted--the labs that do not do a draw and a test on the same premises.

I'm going to look into Tuscon for lab work. Right now, I can't justify driving an ill man 100 miles in l00 degree weather. I'll wrap this up. My life story would be shorter. We won't give up. For now, we're collecting data, exploring possibilities, and preparing for that time when this will be resolved. My budget sheet shows that we are ordering a new box of supplies, 25 tests, in August. Guess that says it all for now.

Many, many thanks to all. Blanche
 
In Annapolis MD it's impossible to find anything other than an arrangement where blood is drawn, sent to an outside lab, results sent to "doctor" and patient eventually gets results later, sometimes much much later, even when those results are abnormal. It's even difficult to find a "doctor" willing to monitor Coumadin. My "doctor" refused to order an INR when I returned from surgery last summer, but billed Medicare and was paid by Medicare. That's the state of affairs for lots of unknowing people, some who've been harmed by this sloppiness. The local hospital "Ask a Nurse" knows of no Coumadin clinic in the area, referring people to hard to find doctors instead.
 
To find an anticoagulation clinic in your area look at www.acforum.org and click on clinic locations. They are in every state. Most either test while you are there or gets the results back to you the same day.
 
Thank you for the suggestion. That is where one would start looking. Been there done that long ago. The only Coumadin clinics in Annapolis are in certain private practices which one cannot get into because the practices have been filled for some time. One is for veterans which I am not. Another is at a cardiology practice where I am not a patient. The Coumadin nurse spoke to me there and was quite helpful in her assessment of the local situation.

The only alternative is INR testing at a distant site through local primary care offices which are hard to get into for beginners, and which I've found to be dangerously sloppy for reasons cited in previous posts.

My solution was to get a Protime (with a script from the sloppiest and most dangerous doc, which worked fine for I have the Protime and the heat is off the doc). This is a win-win situation. The docs here don't know of office or home testing, but I've done my bit in spreading the word to one.
 
I'm glad that you have the Pro Time. For an intelligent person who is going to be on warfarin long-term this is the way to go.
 
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