Coaguchek Reading Errors

[Leylann]

Hello,

I am a new user to the Coaguchek and thought to have had it all set. I got a few results at the beginning but ever since the 16th I have been getting error results time after time. I have tested my mother and everyone who allows me to and I get a correct reading, it just doesn't read me. Does anybody know why this would happen? Is my blood just not clotting enough? Please somebody help, if not the machine might suffer an unfortunate fall . LOL, just kidding I am just very frustrated with it, Please help!

Thanks,
Leyla

 

[Ross]

Have you had a BMP or BNP drawn at a lab? What is your status as far as Congestive Heart Failure? I know sometimes, my blood has too much creatinine in it and I can't test with my meter. I'm just thinking you may have something similiar going on.

 

[catwoman]

Leyla:

Call the company or supply provider you purchased the Coaguchek from (I'm assuming you purchased it new). Perhaps someone there can determine what's going on.

 

[lance]

Coaguchek S errors

Coaguchek S errors

I'm sorry to learn you are having problems with your Coaguchek monitor.

Contacting technical support is a good idea.

Until then maybe the section in the User's Manual about errors might help while you're waiting for technical support to call. (Page 76 in my manual--don't know if yours is the same).

Anyway I hope the problem is short lived.

 

[Leylann]

That is exactly what I am thinking. I think maybe some medication is interfering with the reading, because if it was the machine it would not read anybody and it does read everyone else. I think at this point not even technical support can help me.

 

[catwoman]

That is exactly what I am thinking. I think maybe some medication is interfering with the reading, because if it was the machine it would not read anybody and it does read everyone else. I think at this point not even technical support can help me.

Maybe not, but tech support for medical equipment is far better IMHO than that for ISPs & computer manufacturers.
Seriously, med tech support folks probably get a lot of questions thrown at them because of odd situations we consumers experience.
I've been pleased with response of folks at ITC, manufacturer of my ProTime 3.

What error results are you getting? Perhaps if you post the results here, someone else at vr.com may have gotten some of those, too, and can help you.

 

[Guest]

There are four main things things that can cause this to happen.

1. You hematocrit (the percentage of your blood that is composed of red blood cells) is below about 32%. When this happens the blood runs all the way up the strip before the CoaguChek can time it. This is a fairly severe anemia. The blood will be all the way up the strip when you pull it out and look at it.

2. Your hematocrit is above about 52%. This happens in a disease called polycythemia vera and in long-time smokers. The blood is literally too thick to go up the strip. When you pull the strip out and look at it, there will be a little valley at the far end instead of the blood being straight across.

3. You didn't get enough blood on the strip. The little circle will look dry - no blood left. It is easier to do the test on someone else rather than yourself. Have someone else squeeze your finger.

4. Your INR is higher than 8.0. The tester is supposed to give a greater than 8 message but I have found with mine (I have probably used about 10 - 15 CoaguCheks over the years) the message is often "error" rather than what it is supposed to say. When this happens it is usually a very long time before the error message comes up - maybe as long as two minutes. When you pull the strip out everything looks normal. This is the scary one when you should get your doctor to give you a request for a venipuncture to confirm that the level is too high.

There are a few other , very unusual things that can cause errors but they are blood diseases that should have been discovered on your workup prior to surgery - Thalassemia minor comes to mind - the red blood cells are very small - the automated counters will find this when they calculate the mean cell volume.

 

[catwoman]

Al:
Is this universal among micro anti-coagulation testing units? Or is it just the reagents that CoaguChek uses?

 

[Guest]

I can only give my experiences for CoaguChek. I have tested the others but have not used them extensively enough to be able to know all the ins and outs. I may be the person who has done more CoaguChek tests than anyone else. I have asked several people at Roche if they knew of anyone who has done more than 30,000 tests and they have not come up with anyone.

 

[Leylann]

Sorry it took me so long to reply but I was on a little vacation. Well, you are definitely the genius of Coaguchek because there was no way you could have known, now I know why it doesn't work on me. I have aplastic anemia, and my hematocrit is definitely below 32%. But when I go to the doctor's office to get it checked on their older machine it works. I think the Coaguchek S is more sensitive to this than the older version. Thank you so much for the answer!

There are four main things things that can cause this to happen.

1. You hematocrit (the percentage of your blood that is composed of red blood cells) is below about 32%. When this happens the blood runs all the way up the strip before the CoaguChek can time it. This is a fairly severe anemia. The blood will be all the way up the strip when you pull it out and look at it.

2. Your hematocrit is above about 52%. This happens in a disease called polycythemia vera and in long-time smokers. The blood is literally too thick to go up the strip. When you pull the strip out and look at it, there will be a little valley at the far end instead of the blood being straight across.

3. You didn't get enough blood on the strip. The little circle will look dry - no blood left. It is easier to do the test on someone else rather than yourself. Have someone else squeeze your finger.

4. Your INR is higher than 8.0. The tester is supposed to give a greater than 8 message but I have found with mine (I have probably used about 10 - 15 CoaguCheks over the years) the message is often "error" rather than what it is supposed to say. When this happens it is usually a very long time before the error message comes up - maybe as long as two minutes. When you pull the strip out everything looks normal. This is the scary one when you should get your doctor to give you a request for a venipuncture to confirm that the level is too high.

There are a few other , very unusual things that can cause errors but they are blood diseases that should have been discovered on your workup prior to surgery - Thalassemia minor comes to mind - the red blood cells are very small - the automated counters will find this when they calculate the mean cell volume.

 

[Pat Hicks]

Controls

Controls

I got my home testing devise less than a year ago. I began having problems getting good readings of my controls, therefore I was using up my controls really fast and, because of a higher deductible with my insurance company, that means that controls are too expensive to me so I have gone back to getting my pt checked every other week at my cardiologist's office. Economically, I could not justify spending so much money on supplies.