Is that a home INR tester? I don't know anything about it but good luck TNT

The self-QC'ing meters have been out since 2005 but the world has been slow to adapt to them. With so many lawyers crawling around, it is little wonder.
The traditional way to keep tabs on INR has been those expensive AC clinics. As inconvenient as they are, there are long-term people who have been using them 30 years or more. Getting some freedom with a home tester is a blessing. The people at the AC clinic are like nazis too. Do this, don't do that, comply, comply; tell us exactly whay you ate the night before last, WE tell you your dose DO IT OUR WAY blah blah blah. They would not continue to handle my case if I went to the meter because, per their anecdotal stories, their patients were such idiots they could not be counted on to understand the INR or to make positive use of it under any kind of reasonalbe medical supervision.
When it got sorted out, it became settled that the insurance would buy the meter outright, I would own it, and there would be no accompanying formal arrangement to report the INR to some distant INR-recording place staffed by nazis. My PCP had no experience with self-testing but was willing to try my reporting INRs to his office. At first I called them in and counted on them to call me back if it went out-of-range. Later I created a simple Excel INR chart - date, time, INR, PT, and dose - and faxed it in every few weeks.
Out-of-range INRs have been on the high side, which I can bring down with a can of spinach. If they keep creeping up the doctor authorizes a dose change over the phone.
Every 7 to 10 days seems suitable for stretching the insurance-approved supplies. I've bought extras out of pocket to enable more frequent testing. Frequent testing is a good thing since it can catch a wandering INR before it wanders dangerously far. Think of how diabetics stay healthy if they keep their sugar in tight balance. Even if testing once a week or more, it takes minutes and involves a tiny fraction of the inconvenience of the traditional clinic.

I have an Alere INRatio2 meter. I haven't used it in months because my APS and/or anemia started screwing up the results. It matched perfectly for months though to my blood draw lab. I was able to get the meter on my own with a doctor's approval but no Nazi monitoring.

More2be, how much did your AC clinic charge for PT/INR blood draws? I'm curious because I just got health insurance and thought I'd try out the Coumadin clinic at Cleveland Clinic and have to meet a deductible first. But this sounds bad! If they're going to be like Nazis, I don't know if I could handle that. I might be better off staying with my community clinic that basically is easygoing about it all. I take my 11 mg, but because I have 10s and 1s, I can adjust as needed for 10s only if my INR gets too high.

I don't want my dose to have to change just because I skip my spinach salad or broccoli! That would drive me nuts.

Well, the meeting with the "nurse" went OK. She was useless pretty much and seemed completely clueless about warfarin and accompanying issues. But, she could work the machine and it seems pretty straightforward. We did a test and my INR posted at 4.8, which is a little highish. We'll hold my dose for a couple of days and see how it goes. Don't know if I trust it yet.

I'm excited about the machine, but not so psyched about the blood nazis. I'll keep y'all posted!

Hi,

I have a coaguchek meter and will share my early experiences with you.

When I first got mine and i tested myself I got a reading for 4.8. I tested again got 4.3. This had me concerned so I went to my Doc's and had a test. Results from this were 3.01.

For the next few tests, I had done by my phlebotonist but tested myself just before I went. It showed up the the meter results were 0.5, 0.5 and 0.6. I when I call my doctors with my readings i just take 0.5 of the reading from the meter.

I have read or been told, can't remember which, that INR figures will be slightly higher is capillery blood is tested.

I thought that I will be using this machine for a long time and brought it for my own peace of mind and I would only get this until a I trust it. After 3 months of use, all is good and I love it.

Should like a funny system that you have in states. I'm from the UK. I had to buy my meter however I can test whenever I want (the purpose of having a meter in my eyes). The only stipulation that they have given me is that I give the results to my phlebotonist on a regular basis.

Tell these people to give you some leeway whilst you get used to the machine. As you can see it took me a while to trust mine but, it is well worth it. If you are going to testing for life, as I saw it, take time and get it right.

I wouldn't live without a meter now,

i have had a coagucheck for nearly 3 years now,it is an excellent bit of kit,in the uk we get our test strips free on prescription,i just ring my anticoag clinic every six weeks,would suggest that you test for your own benefit once a week,if you consider that it is a back up you will be fine,good luck.

Well, tested again yesterday morning and was at 1.9. The annoyance of having to sort out my INR is totally tempered by how handy this machine is! It almost seems like magic to get results in about five minutes instead of waiting all day and calling the lab and/or docs office! After several years of blood draws, I am loving this!

Turns out when my INR is out of range (currently at 2.0 to 3.0), I can do a "retest" as necessary until I'm back in range. The blood nazis seem fine with this and it does make me feel better about being able to stay on top of things.

Just to be sure, I'll take the meter in to my docs on Monday and we'll do side-by-side tests and see how it compares with a normal blood draw. Curious to see how this will turn out.

Anyway, still excited about this machine and hoping the Monday results are comparable.

I too got a side-by-side test with a doctor's blood lab, and got another one a year and a half later. The two seem to run within 0.3 of each other. I was lucky to have a good training nurse who had a lot of experience in the field. She said you may get a noticeable difference if you use two blood labs, or even with two tests at the same lab, and that the difference between any two methods can sometimes by as much as 0.7 with nothing inherently wrong with either method. In most cases the thing to look for is trends over a series of tests.
ForGod, my health system charged $145 per visit, counting both the insurance company's share and my own, all for the luxury of while-u-wait results and instructions to go up 0.5 a week, go down, or stay the same. They made out on my visits. For the same rate, some elderly patients were being monitored while on a three-page list of possibly contraindicating meds. From what I gather, some people got the testing done more cheaply at a doctor's office or other alternative arrangements.

Even with the inherent resistance to self-testing, by the time I dumped the clinic they had been feeling some effects of change. For decades they had a rich and steady revenue source for highly specialized cookie-cutter work, but more recently they had been on a hiring freeze and not replacing people who had quit.