One year with mechanical valve

[carolinemc]

The best posts here to pay attention to regarding adjustment of warfarin based on INR are those posts by @pellicle . He’s a guru when it comes to that stuff and I have learned an immense amount from his posts. Perhaps he’ll chime in here with some magic.

Some things to keep in mind …

• Medication changes can affect your INR
• Sickness can affect your INR
• Stress can affect your INR
• Exercise can affect your INR
• What you eat can affect your INR.
• You, as a unique individual, can affect your INR (your genetics, your age, etc)

Remember to dose your diet and don’t diet your dose. Eat consistently throughout the week and avoid the no-no foods that can cause issues: Cranberries, Pineapple, Grapefruit, Açaí berries. Definitely eat your greens - consistently. If you drink alcohol, do it consistently (or just have a single serving). There’s a lot more to say but I’m just mentioning some basics.

Another thing to keep in mind is that any dosage change will take some time to stabilize. Give it like 5-7 days to stabilize before making any further adjustments.

There IS a logical way (with maths) to monitor how your body and warfarin are interacting. I’ll leave that to someone else if they wish to jump on and explain.

My guru are the people that do mine at the lab, with the same equipment and we adjust the warfarin accordingly. If there is a higher than normal, we go over any new meds I may have taken or uptick on my physical activities. I feel safer someone else doing it and they send me to the regular lab for a blood draw on my INR. We keep in mind all that you mentioned that affects the INR. I have yet to adjust my diet, for I am diabetic and trying to keep on track with the medications and exercise.

 

[carolinemc]

My guru are the people that do mine at the lab, with the same equipment and we adjust the warfarin accordingly. If there is a higher than normal, we go over any new meds I may have taken or uptick on my physical activities. I feel safer someone else doing it and they send me to the regular lab for a blood draw on my INR. We keep in mind all that you mentioned that affects the INR. I have yet to adjust my diet, for I am diabetic and trying to keep on track with the medications and exercise.

Why are you laughing, the name guru? I trust the lab people to do my protime. They use the same home monitor as many in here use.

 

[Superman]

Why are you laughing, the name guru? I trust the lab people to do my protime. They use the same home monitor as many in here use.

Not everyone has a quality lab in their area. Hearing a lab referred to as a “guru” hits the funny bone.

I’ve had some pretty bad labs over the years and I would not call the people there, “guru’s”. The current group I partner with is pretty great. I like them because we talk about solutions rather than them just over-correcting (which I battled with a lot back in the 1990’s). It’s also why I see them as partners rather than just a lab. I do my tests at home, but we have a call and discuss dosing, they take care of supplies and refills, etc.

Take my recent high side INR after traveling as an example. I sent in my result. They proposed a dose change that required pill splitting. I told them what I had on hand and countered an alternative dose within 0.5mg’s of their proposal and mine wouldn’t require pill splitting. They agreed. Updated my chart. Two days later I was back in range.

I’m guessing Timmay’s experience ist nicht so gut.

 

[pellicle]

Why are you laughing,

Quite a many of us wonder the same about your persistent use of

But you seldom explain that. Why would you expect others to do what you do not?

 

[Timmay]

Why are you laughing, the name guru? I trust the lab people to do my protime. They use the same home monitor as many in here use.

Hi Caroline,

We have opposite views … and that’s totally ok. That’s one of the reasons that this place is so awesome and valuable. You laughed at my post. I didn’t take any offense to that. I laughed at your post. I don’t see any issue with that . You find mine funny and I find yours funny. Totally cool to me. Not really sure what the issue is

 

[pellicle]

Yup - bought a new bicycle yesterday

cool ... must be something in the air, I just bought a new bike recently too

 

[skier]

New bike for me too! Warfarin was my excuse.

I previously rode gravel trails on my road bike. Fun, but a little sketchy at times. I bought a hardtail mountain bike for gravel, rationalizing that I'll be much less likely to fall and not put junk miles on my full-suspension MTB. N+1!

 

[pellicle]

New bike for me too! Warfarin was my excuse.

but dude ... I'm too active I can't pick a mechanical valve

 

[Chuck C]

but dude ... I'm too active I can't pick a mechanical valve

View attachment 889463

Wait. Aren't you listening to the leading tissue valve manufacturer? You are only allowed to be active if you have a tissue valve! Do you really need me to send you their infomercial in which they bring this point home?

 

[pellicle]

Do you really need me to send you their infomercial in which they bring this point home?

OMG ... pull out the big guns straight away ... harsh.

No, I recant ... please don't (have pity on a Triggerable Australian Boy)

 

[jeffp]

OMG ... pull out the big guns straight away ... harsh.

No, I recant ... please don't (have pity on a Triggerable Australian Boy)

“Big guns”….”trigger”able….. I see what you did there. Good one.

 

[V__]

Hi Caroline,

We have opposite views … and that’s totally ok. That’s one of the reasons that this place is so awesome and valuable. You laughed at my post. I didn’t take any offense to that. I laughed at your post. I don’t see any issue with that . You find mine funny and I find yours funny. Totally cool to me. Not really sure what the issue is

Wait, what? The laughing emoji is interpreted as laughing at the post? I've assumed it's "laughing along with the post".

I feel like for the last few years I'm in a desperate need of "head scratching" emoji. Must be an old age.

 

[pellicle]

Wait, what? The laughing emoji is interpreted as laughing at the post? I've assumed it's "laughing along with the post".

It's like going to a movie with a friend, you both see the same things slightly differently...

 

[V__]

It's like going to a movie with a friend, you both see the same things slightly differently...

Almost like "viewership is in the eye of beholder"?

 

[oo0My_Valve0oo]

Where the emoji is placed matters. Within the text of a response to quoted text is different and usually clearer in intent than in the bottom bar of the post frame. I see the anger face used which seems to indicate disagreement with the post to the point of annoyance. I only saw a laughing to tears face in the bottom bar of post frame for first time in this thread. That seemed to be sarcasm or even mockery based on the content of the post. The only thing humorous would be what a reader brought with them like their opinion of the content expressed disrespectfully.

Placing a smile face as a response to an opposing view is a form of mockery. Not to be confused with a smile face used to indicate agreement. Yet it can be confused and some people are cowards and hide behind the inherent ambiguity when called on it. Even if you actually laugh out loud, to communicate that with LOL or a smile face in that context is not sharing a spontaneous reaction, it is communicating disrespect. The choice of extreme laughing to tears and lack of humor in the content points to disrespect not merely disagreement.

Snarky behavior is popular online. We all need to be mindful of different backgrounds, cultures, reader’s reading comprehension, etc. A basic smile face is a safer option and covers a lot of range while generally positive. It takes more effort to make that communicate sarcasm or disrespect. There is no room to clarify using an emoji in that bottom bar of the post frame. It is wise to choose something with the greatest chance of being perceived how you intended.

 

[Superman]

I only saw a laughing to tears face in the bottom bar of post frame for first time in this thread. That seemed to be sarcasm or even mockery based on the content of the post.

Pretty sure you read that one correctly.

But I also use it a bit for a genuinely funny post that’s clearly written with a humorous intent.

 

[pellicle]

It is wise to choose something with the greatest chance of being perceived how you intended

Agreed

 

[LondonAndy]

It's somewhat ironic that this thread has become a discussion on the meaning of an emoji when they were originally developed to "add emotional nuance to otherwise flat text" - or in other words, to add back in the facial expressions we see when conversing face-to-face, and therefore help understand the intention of a statement.

 

[V__]

It's somewhat ironic that this thread has become a discussion on the meaning of an emoji when they were originally developed to "add emotional nuance to otherwise flat text" - or in other words, to add back in the facial expressions we see when conversing face-to-face, and therefore help understand the intention of a statement.

I find this observation to be quite astute, and the situation quite hilarious.

The key word is probably "to add". Some of the emojies by themselves don't tell the intent, which I think is one of oo0My_Valve0oo's points. Although words can be ambiguous as well

 

[pellicle]

or in other words, to add back in the facial expressions we see when conversing face-to-face, and therefore help understand the intention of a statement.

that irony is not lost on me ... basically I prefer things like or :,-(

My feelings some years back


Then there is the issue of the subtle change from an icon representing an emotion (emoticon) to the Japanisation of it with calling it emoji (no doubt in my mind it was Japanese who started this turn of phrase because I was in Japan where a Chinese symbol is called Kanji and then along came Emoji (while I was actually living there but had been using emoticon for 5 or so years before)

https://www.britannica.com/story/whats-the-difference-between-emoji-and-emoticons

The emoticon came into being after a joke went wrong at Carnegie Mellon University in 1982.​

the convenience of being old is I don't need to research this because I lived through it with it also being an integral part of my life. Like so many things I prefer to keep the old name because the new name is not my style (like I still call it peanut paste, because butter is a dairy product and if your peanut paste looks like butter that doesn't even bear thinking about).

とんでもない