The details of ACT

[geebee]

My insurance paid for my tester but I now have a high deductible HSA medical plan so I am basically out of pocket. I pay about $5 per test strip and test about twice per month. My wafarin costs $4/month. My total ACT expenses are less than $200/year.

 

[escargome]

Possible tips for blood drop from a diabetic (me) who tests 4 times daily.

Make sure your hands are warm before sticking yourself
Stick the side of the fingertip rather than the center (lots of nerve endings in the center)
If it doesn't make a difference in your testing information, stick your forearm or different finger each time.
Accu Chek makes a lancet device (don't know if it would work for INR strips) but you can dial the depth of the lancet stick. Lancets for this device are OTC and don't cost more than about 10.00 US for I believe 100.

 

[Alerion]

Well
It looks like money, even with home testing machines and all, is not a big deal. I got the 3,500 figure from a letter from my old doc who is a small town GP "Look for costs to be around 3,500 all up without insurance". She meant with the machine, though.

I am only taking the word of people who actually DO IT from now on. Everyone else, including doctors, is unreliable.

So it seems the real down side to home testing is you have to learn to regulate your own dose (Which for me is an UP side. I trust myself completely when it comes to looking out for my health!).
ACT in general bothers me because of the risks associated with going off it (for surgery, etc) and the risks of funky dosing and injury.

I'd have to educate my wife, dentist, eye surgeon, heroin dealer... everyone has to know about my ACT just in case I faint from a ****oo. Do any of you wear one of those bracelets? That's probably a good idea for me too.

Thanks all for taking the stigma off ACT. It doesn't sound so bad.
I'd still prefer to have an ACT-free existence, but I'm going to decide this with my surgeon I guess. Operations, in and of themselves, don't bother me much but if re-op is deemed to be made too risky by what ever procedure I get, I'll have to go with a Mech valve.
Apparently, that's not the end of the world
...it's quite the opposite.

Thanks again

 

[Ross]

People make ACT sound like Rocket Science that only the truly elite understand and it's all hogwash. Managing Coumadin is laughably easy once you understand how you and it work together. Lets say they put you on 35mg a week, test your INR and it's only 1.8. You simply increase the dose by 10% maybe 15 for the week and retest in 1 more week. Now you should be near 2.5 which is where most people should be. None of us gets bent out of shape with anything between 2.0 and 4.0. It really is that simple, just little increases or decreases is all it takes. Be sure you eat the diet you always have so that your diet is dosed for what you normally intake in Vit K and things will be fine. It's the people that fall for that crap about staying away from greens and other sources of Vit K that have problems.

You may want to check this link for some much more detailed info concerning dosing. Don't worry, you won't fly solo for a while after surgery if your on it anyhow, but this will certainly let you know if the people that manage you have a clue as to what they are doing.

http://www.aafp.org/afp/990201ap/635.html

 

[catwoman]

So it seems the real down side to home testing is you have to learn to regulate your own dose (Which for me is an UP side. I trust myself completely when it comes to looking out for my health!).
ACT in general bothers me because of the risks associated with going off it (for surgery, etc) and the risks of funky dosing and injury.

I'd have to educate my wife, dentist, eye surgeon, heroin dealer... everyone has to know about my ACT just in case I faint from a ****oo. Do any of you wear one of those bracelets? That's probably a good idea for me too.

Many of us who home-test have an algorithm chart that tells how much to adjust our dosage if we're under/over our range. BTW, medical professionals use algorithm charts, too. Some who home-test don't adjust their own dosage but instead call their PCP, cardiologist or whoever with test results if they're over/under range. Some doctors do not want their patients to adjust warfarin dosages.

It's going to have to be a big big "****oo" for you to faint. I've been on warfarin 5 1/2 years and have not fainted yet. My husband knows I'm on warfarin -- he was also on it for 7 months post-op mitral repair, but that's the extent of it. My dentist redflags files of all patients with mechanical heart valves and his staff knows to call me the day before an appointment with a reminder to take antibiotics. (The last time I forgot to take the pills and had to jump out of the chair! I now have a reminder on my work computer.)

And, yes, I wear one of those bracelets. Forgot it at home Monday morning and felt nekkid!!!!!!!!!! It's a Medic-Alert watch-band style bracelet and does not look like a medical bracelet, unless you're familiar with them. It's often mistaken for a watch, which I do not wear.

 

[vprnet]

On my 4th week of warfarin post op and no noticabe side effects. Im at 2.4 INR cut my hand pretty good yesterday and it healed right up with a bandaid on it. And I'm still on post op prescribed 325mg aspirin!


BAVR with 27mm ON-X NYP Weill Cornell Dec 19, 2008