Coumadin Emergency? Please read and help asap!

[catwoman]

I am totally with you on the at home testing...my doctor has flat out told me no to writing a prescription for the at home tester. I suspect that this has quite a bit to do with the fact that he is affiliated with a giant cardiology group (basically the only gig in town) that has a coumadin clinic that charges a $20 co-pay every time that I go, which is at least 3 times/month these days. If you have any suggestions as to how to "force his hand" on this, so to speak, let me know.

Jeannie:

My PCP -- not my cardiologist -- oversees my anticoagulation management, albeit it's mainly relegated to writing my warfarin Rxes.
He's the one who signed paperwork so I could buy each INR tester machine.

My thoughts -- and these are just MY opinions --are that your PCP or internist is probably the best person to oversee management, provided they are knowledgeable about warfarin and have other warfarin patients and have a POC (CoaguChek or INRatio or ProTime 3) in office for testing patients.
After all, if you are ill, you would see your PCP. Who may prescribe an Rx that might affect how warfarin works. The PCP/internist would need to find a drug that works well with warfarin.
Many doctors have a PDA or some device with Rx info. My PCP & cardiologist both have one of these and can determine what drug(s) would work best with warfarin. If none is found, I'm told that the Rx might increase/decrease my INR.

My PCP is concerned about my entire health, not just my cardiac situation. My cardiologist is concerned with mainly my cardiac health. Therefore, I'd rather my PCP oversee my anticoagulation therapy management.

I home-test and adjust my own dosage and have done a darned good job of it over the years. It ain't rocket science!!!!!!

 

[EVELYN]

Jeannie
We eat every vege known to man at any time. There's no "Not" eating any vege high in Vit K......we just adjust our doseage. However, being that you think you'll probably be high, have a good time with them, especially if you haven't had them in awhile. As Rossman always says, "Dose the diet, DON'T diet the dose."......or something like that.

Please let us know what your INR is on Monday.

Evelyn