I fired my coumadin manager (PCP)

[Karlynn]

A woman at my church has a son with a mechanical valve. Many years ago a nearby hospital, of very good rep, started a Coumadin clinic which his doctor sent him to. He was taking 1 mg a day. When they refilled his Rx - someone misread it as 10mg a day. He called to verify that he was to take 10 a day and they said yes. His junior high daughter found him unconscious bleeding out of just about any place on his body that could let him bleed. This was before INR was widely used or home testing was done and people left the decisions totally up to their managers - so he didn't even think to ask what his ProTime was - he assumed they changed his dose for sufficient reasons.

I'm sorry to read that these types of mistakes/malpractice are still occurring.

 

[Bina]

I always worry when I receive prescrips.....are there any doctors who have legible handwriting?
So, I ask the doc for the med name and dose and I copy it down on my own piece of paper.
When the pharmacist fills the order, I re-check the type of med and the dosage amount again.
My motto: check, check, and check again

 

[Praline]

Not coumadin, BUT

Not coumadin, BUT

This is not coumadin ...but what if a person did not know any better...I use a Flovent inhaler for asthma. The last time I had the prescription refilled, the directions read
" Squirt twice in each nostril twice daily."
I forgot to mention it when I refilled it again. This last time, it still reads the same thing.
People are just careless !!!!!!!!!

 

[SHerrin Hutt]

I gave up on my Dr. long time ago. I have had my protime machine over 4 yrs. I control my own the Dr. agreed to it because my daughter is a Rn. I am the one who ajust the amount. In all the time I've took care of it there has been only 2 times that it was really out of range. THat was do to new meds.

 

[TomD]

Test And Dose Yourself

Test And Dose Yourself

Getting your own home testor and deciding yourself on the dosage is way easier then waiting around for potentially wrong information from the doctors staff. The trick is to get your doctor's nurse to accept the fact that you are going to decide what to take. I now test every Monday, decide on the next weeks dosage by day, and then fax my decision to the nurse. She is happy because she can put it into her computer, etc.

 

[TomD]

Curious about dosage levels

Curious about dosage levels

When I hear that some people take 17 mg of warfarin a day I am baffled as to why its so large. At the most I have taken 5mg per day and now, since I am taking Amirodarone I have to cut back to avg 3.0. Anybody know what factors create the need for such a high dosage? Just curious.