I hear ya, I have been semi normal since december then I tested last week and was down to 1.49 I stayed on the same dose checked it today and I was 5.54! It's a never ending battle to get it right.

Laura-

I have had the same problem. I will be theraopuetic for three weeks then tank. Last week I was 4.1 and they had me skip a dose. Today I am 1.5 so they upped me to 15 mg 4 days then 12.5 two days. My diet is pretty consistent. Hopefully, you will get there before you leave on your cruise! Have fun!

It is always hard to get to a therapeutic level at the beginning. It took months before I got therapeutic and stayed there....I would go for a back up for your cruise as well. As much as giving yourself a shot everyday is a pain in the butt, rather have that than the fear of not being able to maintain a therapeutic level while on vacation. Enjoy and have fun. Bring us back some shells...:-)

Thanks. It really bummed me out yesterday, because I have been on warfarin for over 6 months and I can't get a steady INR, and feel like I've made no progress. I see my hemotologist in a couple of weeks, and will ask him for a scan (neither he nor my pcp have offered a follow up scan yet) They planned on having me on warfarin for a long time anyway, longer than 6 months and possibly/probably for life since I'm homozygous FVL, but I just want this existing clot to go away.
The good news is my insurance will cover me if I have issues on the ship and my husband has already planned my burial at sea by secretly dumping me over the balcony when no one is looking. He's always thinking ahead, bless his heart.

Laura,

two questions, are you on generic Warfarin or Coumadin brand warfarin?

Second questions, what type cruise. Last April I took my family on their first cruise (western Caribbean). They had a great time. For me, it was just nice doing a cruise and not having to work while at sea :)

Take care and have a great trip!

Regards,
Tom in Connecticut

L love your sense of humour Laura Lu! Have fun on your warm cruise while we freeze our butts of here in Georgia. It was 20 degrees this mroning with 35 mile an hour wind gusts and the real feel temp was 0...it's not supposed to be this cold in Georgia!

Have a blast on your cruise and watch out for those midinight buffetts!

I'm on the generic warfarin - can I ask the pharmacist to fill my next prescription with Coumadin or does my doc have to prescribe it? I should give it a shot.
Tom: We're taking off out of Miami and cruising to Samana (Dominican Republic), Tortolla,St. Thomas and Great Stirrup Cay (that's Norwegians private island in the Bahamas). This is our 6th cruise - it's a nice warm vacation that's still a good value. I saw inside cabins on this cruise for $499 INCLUDING AIR - can't afford not to go!
Peaches - why is it still so cold in GA? Is this unusual for you guys?

Laura,

Ask your physician to prescribe Coumadin brand. Even though scientifically, warfarin and Coumadin are suppose to be alike, I found that my INR just couldn't stabilize on generic Warfarin. Of course, there are people who can only keep a stable INR while on Warfarin and likewise for Coumadin. It's worth a try if the end results work in your favor.

Have a great cruise; I'm envious. Our winter/spring trip this year isn't going to happen since I took 6 weeks of post-hip surgery. I need to build some vacation time back up. The price definitely does seems right :)

Regard,
Tom in Connecticut

It took me forever (5 months) to finally reach a therapuetic level and then it was a constant battle. For the last several months, I've been steady, between 2.2-2.8 now that I'm on 15mgs a day. However, my INR suddenly is up to 3.9 this week. What's interesting is that I'm dieting, and while I'm not changing specifcially what I eat, I am eating less and smaller portions (fewer calories). I think this is having that big of an affect on my INR.

Do you think stress is making your INR haywire? I don't know that there's scientific data that shows stress impacts INR but I swear that's what made my INR so goofy for so long. I was just one big, anxious ball of stress.

NO LAURALU, Don't let him bury you at sea, I could use your body to train Maks, He is after all, a cadaver dog and I'm always looking for new subjects, How do you feel about living in a refrigerator in Idaho?
J/K You will be fine sister, My INR goes up and down too and I have been on Coumadin quite awhile, I am now on 7.5 one day and then 10 mg the next alternating every day. My therapeutic range is between 2.5 and 3.5 and I have a home monitor to check against the doctors tests. I just e-mail him with my INR results now and he e-mails me back and changes my dose if need be.

By the way LauraLu have a wonderful vacation, I am so jealous as I still live in Americas, freezer section, and the warmest we have seen since December has been 39,. This morning I woke up to a nice toasty 12 but its suppose to warm up and the sun is out.

Interesting - I've been dieting since before the holidays so that shouldn't be the reason BUT I have been working out with resistance bands and free weights - if muscle increases metabolism then maybe that's the culprit.
On a side note, my insurance didn't want to fill my warfarin today because it's too "soon" for me to be needing it according to their records. But their records still have my perscription at 5 mgs/day. My doc hasn't been changing my prescription to reflect the increased doses. I told the pharmacist that I could think of better drugs to abuse than anticoagulants, so he got insurance straightened out for me.

Ferr, don't give my husband any ideas - if there would be a way to make money off my decomposing body he may just take matters into his own hands.

Laura Lu-
I ran into the same problem with my pharmacy Monday. The prescription was worded "take as needed" so that defaulted to my insurance comapny as 1 pill aday. Since I am on 15 mg alot it is really 3 pills a day. So, I had to get my doctor to submit a new prescription that says "up to 3 pills a day". The pharmacist said that would take care of my running out too soon before the next fill date.
Now, if they only stocked the brand name Coumadin. They are always out so I have to be sure to give them 4 days notice to refill. They are good about giving me advance pills till they can get ir ordered-Walgreens.

Today is the first time in 6 months that I haven't been between 2 and 2.6. I'm with you LL - mine was 1.6! Nothing changed in my diet, exercise, or anything. This drug is weird.

Thanks - It's really good to know it's not just me. Going in this a.m. to see if my 2 day mega doses did anything....keep your fingers crossed!