Testing on REALLY HOT days

[Protimenow]

Last night, at around 10:45 PM, I decided to test my INR. Being able to test at any time, day or night, is one of the nice things about self-testing.

In the past few months, I've tested with the Coag-Sense and CoaguChek XS simultaneously.

It's been hot here in the San Fernando Valley -- in the high 90s or low 100s. I set up the two meters that I planned to test with, and when I inserted a test strip into the Coag-Sense, I got a temperature error. What this obviously meant to me was that the meter or strip's temperature was too high to perform an accurate test. (When you're waiting for your meter to get ready, it's heating the strip to body temperature so that it can approximate what happens with YOUR blood when it's clotting. I understood the thermal problem, and left this particular test for the morning, when it's cooler.

I decided to give the CoaguChek XS a try even though it was too hot for the Coag-Sense. The CoaguChek XS worked with no complaints. Both meters were stored in the same room and were exposed to the same environment. I realize that the test mechanism for each meter is different from that for the other, but I am still a bit surprised that the XS had no issues with the ambient temperature.

FWIW - I used the same strip that I opened last night to test this morning. With the Coag-Sense, this is permissible -- I didn't have to throw away the opened strip.

Have any of you run into YOUR XS or InRatio not wanting to run a test because it was too hot?

 

[bocco]

I'm also in a warm part of California. I tested Tuesday night. We were mid nineties all day but my house is air conditioned. I had no problems with Inratio2 but I did test at the high end of my range. 3.0 when I'm pretty consistent around 2.4. I wonder if the warmer temps had that effect on me?

 

[pellicle]

Too hot, not yet and we have had 38°C, too cold and yes. I posted about that here.

 

[Protimenow]

Bocco: I don't have air conditioning in the room where the machines are stored. (I also work in this hot room).
There's been a little written up about high temperatures, sweat, etc., having an impact on INR. With a 3.0, I wouldn't be particularly worried about it. (Given my experience with the InRatio, I'd be more concerned with using that meter AT ALL and with the availability of supplies. In my experience a 3.0 on an InRatio is more likely a 2.2 or 2.3 at a lab -- for myself, at least).

 

[bocco]

Bocco: I don't have air conditioning in the room where the machines are stored. (I also work in this hot room).
There's been a little written up about high temperatures, sweat, etc., having an impact on INR. With a 3.0, I wouldn't be particularly worried about it. (Given my experience with the InRatio, I'd be more concerned with using that meter AT ALL and with the availability of supplies. In my experience a 3.0 on an InRatio is more likely a 2.2 or 2.3 at a lab -- for myself, at least).

So far when I have compared to a lab draw the meter usually reads about .2 higher. So my 3.0 is probably a 2.8. I hear you about the supply issue though. My insurance provides the meter but their a little stingy on the strips. If the supply doesn't change I may look at just buying a different meter.

 

[Protimenow]

For some reason, insurance providers (and some physicians and clinics) are comfortable with testing once a month -- or even as far apart as once every two months. Weekly testing, at about 5-6 dollars or so a week for the supplies is a HELL OF A LOT LESS EXPENSIVE than long term treatment for a stroke (or even for a few days in the hospital), or emergency treatment for hemorrhaging, or other things that can happen if INR isn't regularly monitored and adjustments made. I'm not trying to scare anybody here, and it's not unreasonable to assume that once dosing results in 'stable' INRs, that INRs will REMAIN IN RANGE, but there are times when it just doesn't work out this way. A few hundred bucks a year for weekly (or half that for bi-weekly) self-testing could save a whole lot of insurance company's money, to say nothing of the insured's health.

Stinginess about testing and testing supplies, even for those of us who have similar results whenever we are tested, doesn't make a lot of sense to me.