Low INR

[Ross]

Here ya go!

 

[hayden]

Lets do a schedule with you once. How many milligrams do you take in one weeks time? Please list what you take each day, M,T,W,TH,F,S,S.

If your test result is accurate, then they should increase your dose by 20% and retest you in one week to 10 days. It takes 36 to 48 hours for a dose to show up in the test result, so your not actually seeing todays result, but that of 2 to 3 days ago.

Your blood isn't actually thickening or thinning, it's just whether you clot faster or slower. A lower INR means that your clotting is faster. 1.6 is about 15.5 to 17 seconds. 2.5 would be 24 to 26 or so and 3.5 would be 33.? to 36 seconds. The lower the INR, the more likely you are to develope a clot. It's prefered to have a higher INR.

I have been taking 4 mg per day for the past 2 months and it has been staying in the low 2's. after the 1.6 on Monday, I am now taking 6 mg today, 5 mg on Wednesday and Thursday and recheck on Friday......I have not changed my diet or other medication, nothing different but it went down.....

 

[Ross]

So you were taking 28mg per week to keep you in the low 2's.

I think they are trying to overdose to get you out of the danger zone, but their going about it in a an extreme fashion. They have to take into account your previous 7 day dose which, if I understand this correctly and testing you Friday would be, Th4 F4 S4 S4 M6 T6 W5 Th5=38mg of which the W5 and Th5 aren't really going to show up yet. That's premature testing in my opinion. I'm not a Doctor or qualified in anyway to tell you what to do, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt, but I think I'd of just put you on 5mg per day and tested you in a week to 10 days. Even that is a large bump and may put you over, but it's better to be over then under.

What size pills do you have to work with? Mg's that is.
Are you exercising more?
Any chance of getting a hold of hidden Vit K in nutritional bars, drinks, or such?

 

[hayden]

I have been taking 4MG, now I am adding 1mg's to reach my 5 and 6 target. I walk 30 minutes per day on the treadmill, nothing new about that. I am a real estate agent and auctioneer so I am real busy and on the move during the day. I drink a lot of diet mt. dew, but other than that vice my diet or menu has not changed. I have felt dizzy or funny a couple times today.......

 

[Ross]

It's really hard to say what's going on. I'm sort of thinking the 1.6 might be a bogus test. Let's just see where you are on Friday and what they tell you to do then.

 

[warrenr]

dizzy?Better go to the ER

dizzy?Better go to the ER

I have been taking 4MG, now I am adding 1mg's to reach my 5 and 6 target. I walk 30 minutes per day on the treadmill, nothing new about that. I am a real estate agent and auctioneer so I am real busy and on the move during the day. I drink a lot of diet mt. dew, but other than that vice my diet or menu has not changed. I have felt dizzy or funny a couple times today.......

Hayden,

If your are feeling dizzy and your INR is that low, you might want to seriously consider going to the ER!!!!!!!!!

 

[hayden]

I promise if it continues on Wednesday, I will go to Doctor

I promise if it continues on Wednesday, I will go to Doctor

made the same promise to my wife!! so I quess I hafta...

 

[Gnusgal]

Well, I had my INR checked this afternoon by my EPs coagcheck machine. It was 2.7 (completely in range). I then checked using my ProTime as soon as I got home and got a reading of 2.2. I called QAS and talked to one of their tech staff and explained the situation. She said that a .5-.7 difference is to be expected. But my complaint is that this is the difference between me being in danger or not. I've compared readings before and they've been .3-.4 off, but never this far off. And I've never had readings this low on my ProTime machine unless I had been taken off of my coumadin for one reason or another (usually surgery). She finally took down the lot # from the supplies I have and is sending me a 4 pack that will arrive on Monday. Hopefully this will solve the low INR nonsense and no changes will need to be made to my dosage. Otherwise I may just decide to ditch the whole ProTime thing (dishing out $325 for supplies is not my idea of a good time if it's not even accurate!) and see what I can do about finding a local coumadin clinic.

 

[Karlynn]

That's why I like to stay on the high side of my range. The .5 - .7, while being standard, is a huge difference for we valvers.