Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

1,102 Members

7,473 Posts

0 Online

Aussie38 10/03/2012

I finally bought my own coagucheck INR monitor in preparation for a trip to outback Australia to visit my parents later this month and also to use during my move to the USA next month, it cost me $670 but my health cover paying $536 of that bill so I am pleased I bought one, it'll make life so much easier. Twice a week Dr visit are tiresome after 6months

TossNTurn 10/03/2012

Congrats! The CoaguChek should make life a lot easier. It did for me! Felt like a miracle to get results in five minutes instead of having to wait for 24 hours and fight with the lab.

Still, I'm shocked you're still doing twice weekly blood draws after six months. Most folks go down to once a month after they're stable for a while. I don't remember ... maybe you've had a struggle getting your INR stable?

Jill1109 10/03/2012

As part of the requirement for my insurance to cover my CoaguChek I have to do weekly checks, which actually makes working with the coumadin and diet a lot easier!

Glad I decided to make the switch to home monitoring :)

Aussie38 10/03/2012

My INR is generally stable between 2 and 3 on a dosage of 2.5mg per day but my Dr is overly cautious I think, but the coagucheck was his idea, so i think he understands the struggle of twice weekly visits. The times it has fluctuated have been explained by other medical or lifestyle issues such as surgery, starting on vitamins, viruses etc. So I am confident I could go month without seeing a Dr now I have the machine, but he wants to see me weekly so that is what i will do for now.

Join the Conversation