Help!!

[twinmaker]

I just tested my INR on my INRatio monitor. It read > 7.5. Not a specific number and no PT number. My machine has never done this. I tested again and it came up 2.3 on my INR. I tested a third time and it came up with 7.3. I have been off my antibiotics for the pnuemonia since Monday. Sunday was my last dose of them. I haven't taken any other cough meds in the last several days also. My coumadin was cut back somewhat last week when I tested because my INR was 4.3. My appetite has been horrible. I try to eat when I'm hungry but am just now starting to eat a little more normally. I called my coumadin clinic nurse and she said to hold my dose of coumadin tonight and get a vein draw tomorrow. Any thoughts? LINDA I was also on 5 days worth of prednisone which I had my last dose on Sunday evening.

 

[Karlynn]

It sounds like your INR was high and in a range that makes the monitor inaccurate. You may want to call Hemosense and tell them about it. I had an INR that high at the beginning of the year. It does tend to freak a girl out! I knew why it was high (I was dehydrated) and it sounds like yours is high do to lack of nutrition and probably activity (if you haven't been feeling well). Also, if you haven't been drinking water, it also may have some dehydration contribuiting.

The only reason I knew my INR was that high was because I tested. I wasn't bleeding or bruising. My 120 lb big lumox of a dog tripped me on a walk and I had a 4 point landing that should have turned me purple. But it didn't.

I skipped a dose - took 1/2 a dose the next night and was in the low side of my range 3 days after that.

If you're on the up side of your illness, then you should be getting back to normal. Even though you stopped the antibiotics on Monday, they still had some time to affect the doses of Coumadin you've taken.

Try not to worry - if memory serves - you're on a dose that should drop quickly with 1 skipped dose.

 

[Ross]

Skip one and get the vein draw. Better to be sure then to go way too high.

 

[Guest]

Doses of prednisone 20 mg or above are likely causes of high INRs. Why you got a low one in between is a mystery,