4.1 & 3.4 huh?

[Freddie]

As most of you know, I received my home monitor last week.
On Thursday (yesterday) I tested at the lab with my monitor and got the reading of 4.1. The lab results came back as 3.4 (my range is 2.5 - 3.5)
When I got home from the lab, I retested with the monitor - thinking I did something wrong. Nope, my monitor once again showed up as 4.1

So, who or what should I believe? Should I poke someone dear to me to check to see if this 2 week old monitor is out of whack?

 

[dick0236]

So, who or what should I believe? Should I poke someone dear to me to check to see if this 2 week old monitor is out of whack?

That was my first thought. Check someone who should be around 1.0.

 

[Karlynn]

You're right on - grab someone you love and jab them! I think anything from .9 - 1.2 is considered normal.

 

[Bina]

Freddie, is your lab test a vein draw that sits around for a few hours??
Trust the monitor....stab hubby or the kid.

 

[Freddie]

Bina, I get the lab results within 3 hours after the vein draw.

I only got the lab results today because I had to call the doctor back, he called me this morning at home and I'm out of town and I wanted to double check with the lab with what the doctor said about my INR

 

[Philip B]

Lab Results

Lab Results

Lab results can vary widely. In late June, I ended-up doing some prolonged time in two different emergency rooms after a hit & run accident. The first ER ran an INR check on me and determined that I was within my range. I was transferred to another hospital's ER by ambulance. Upon my arrival at the second ER, they ran another INR test and determined that I was out of range on the high side.

The doctor at the second ER wanted to admit me to the hospital on the basis of the lab results indicating that my INR was too high. I told him the lab results were incorrect and suggested they run the test again. The test was run again and came back indicating that I was well within range. The same lab techs ran the second and third tests. The second and third tests were run with several hours difference.

Now, does my experience indicate that there were inconsistencies in the way the lab tests were run or did my INR shift dramatically over the course of several hours? My experience with INR indicates that it changes more gradually since it involves metabolic rate.

I guess the short version of this is...since you have absoultely no idea how the lab techs do their jobs, you'll probably see differences between your meter results and lab results fairly frequently. When I first began home testing I thought I should use lab results to check the accuracy of my meter; this didn't work. Personally, I put more faith in my meter than what the lab results indicate...but that's just me.

-Philip

 

[Freddie]

Thanks Philip for the input. My neighbor is a lab tech and does these tests everyday. She explained to me that by using the same blood sample she can get 3 different readings all done within minutes of each other. And they allow a .2 variance either it be high or low of the patients range. If the results appears to be too high, they will run the test again a second and third time and average them out.

 

[lance]

Average them out

Average them out

That's interesting Freddie. That's the first time I've heard that one.

What POC monitor are you using?

My XS has measured "slightly" different from the lab and ever as much as yours did. The biggest variation was .2 so I figure the local lab does a good job.

 

[Ross]

Check the hubby. Jab his toe while he's sitting around and see if it comes up between .9 and 1.2. If it does, nothing wrong with your meter.

 

[Philip B]

Labs

Labs

Freddie,

It's interesting that your friend's lab does an average of the different results they get. I can't help but wonder how accurate averaging INR is? I doubt the lab at my local hospital does the averaging thing.

I think I'd rather trust my monitor. After my accident and dealing with the ER folks, I tested with my monitor. It told me there was no problem.

I can't control the procedures the lab techs use, but I do make sure the procedures I use are consistent.

-Philip

 

[Freddie]

Guess that's why we have a "Range" to be in.

 

[Ross]

Guess that's why we have a "Range" to be in.

Between 2 and 4, don't worry about it.