Recent content by kolyur

Thanks for the link, somehow I had missed that thread during my searching. In the 9 years I've been using the CoaguChek, I've always been able to get strips with expiration dates at least a year out, until now. It just makes me a little nervous considering the very few suppliers available to us...

With eBay out of the picture for obtaining CoaguChek XS strips, I'm aware of Reliaston and SelfCareDepot as reliable sources. There are many others in the US of course but they will only ship to healthcare providers. The latest expiration dates of the strips available from the two places I...

Interesting… thanks for clarifying. I have always purchased through eBay as I thought that was my only option. It sounds like a lot of us will have to be changing things up going forward.

I was under the impression that in order to get health insurance (including Medicare) to cover INR meters and supplies in the USA, you have to go through a coagulation clinic or similar service. eBay and these grey market companies are the only source for those of us who self-test/manage outside...

My last purchase of Coaguchek XS PT strips on eBay was from seller 'selfcare98'. I later received an email advising me to start buying direct from their website selfcaredepot.com due to listing restrictions. I haven't gone this route yet but it looks legit. They have InRange meters and strips.

Is anyone aware of new listing restrictions on eBay that would prevent XS test strips from being sold? I purchased my last box of 24 a few months ago and noticed that there were not many with a suitable expiration date... luckily I was able to snag one so I'm good through the end of the year...

I'll add to the consensus here that you shouldn't be worrying at this point. When I started with my XS a year ago my numbers were all over the place and it was really stressing me out. Like you, I thought I had a defective machine. Once I got a consistent testing procedure in place, however, the...

Any lancet is fine as long as you can get a good drop, but I can tell you that when I started with my Coaguchek about six months ago, I was using the Fast Clix and had an awful time with it. I was getting crazy results and it pretty much boiled down to not getting enough blood, in a short enough...

I'm glad you all encouraged me to stick it out with the Coaguchek--I'm having much better luck with it now. The bulk of my problem seemed to be related to the fact that I wasn't using a proper lancing tool. I had purchased one made by Roche but I think it was meant for glucose testing because...

I'm about ready to throw this thing out the window. To be fair, though, the problem is probably with me. My wife and I went through about 8 strips this morning and we were only able to get one good sample from me and none from her. In one case I was able to get a good hanging drop without the...

Great idea! I'll try it on my wife tomorrow.

Thanks... I will try calling the 800 number. I bought mine on Amazon from [what appeared to be] a reputable seller. When I received it, it looked to be in "new" condition as advertised. I could be mistaken but I don't think any ol' joe can buy these directly from Roche in the USA; you have to be...

So I used my Coaguchek XS for the first time this morning. Followed the instructions to the letter and got an INR of 4.4. This scared me since my INR had been hovering around 3 since I got home from the hospital. So I went to the hospital lab and had them do a blood draw test... 3.2, whew. Went...

pellicle, thanks for the link to your great blog post. I especially liked the tip about using a rubber band as a "finger tourniquet"--I will be doing this for sure. They were lancing my finger in the hospital to keep track of my blood glucose and I noticed that this never produced much...

Received my On-X aortic valve last week, now I'm home recovering and my mind has turned to INR testing. My surgeon is a big advocate of home testing and I purchased a Coaguchek unit based on this advice (still on the way). Initially I'm on 5mg of warfarin per day and he wants three INR tests...