Vitamin K shot for high INR

[KeegansMom02]

I know I haven't posted much lately, work seems to get in the way of what I really wanna do

Keegan was coming up with some really bad bruises! He has one on his rear the size, shape and color or a red grape, and his chin was black! I took his INR on our Pro-Time and it was 7.3. We called his cardio and was told to take him to the ER to check for internal bleeding, have them recheck his INR, and have a vitamin K shot. Going to the ER is ALWAYS a fiasco for us as a lot of people just aren't educated on the effects of Coumadin! We spent much of the time we were there talking about WHY he had these bruises, WHY I took blood from his foot, WHY I check his blood at home, etc...UUGGGHHH!!! Kinda like they were thinking that I abuse my baby!

Well after collapsing 2 of his veins and trying to get enough blood for lab work from a heal stick? They finally came back and told me that his INR was 22! Now I have read some posts on here where some people have had that or heard of it...I called Keegan's cardio and he said that an INR that high isn't possible??? So now I'm really confused! They ended up giving Keegan a Vitamin K shot (now I'm scared after reading Al state that he rarely recommends this.)

I'm just wondering if this type of stuff has happened to any of you? Do you get the run around about your Coumadin when visiting a facility other than your cardio?

When should a Vitamin K shot be recommended?

**Keegan is 2 1/2, he's on 1.5 mg per day of Coumadin, his INR should be between 2.5 and 3.5**

 

[Ross]

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

Come down about half way down the page. There is a treatment chart. Anything over 10 and use the chart according to what is happening to the patient.

22 is possible but I would think highly unlikely unless there is a steady diet of Warfarin and nothing else.

 

[Guest]

Evidently the doc didn't read the article in last week's Annals of Internal Medicine about the guy who had the INR of 397.5.

I don't like to give vitamin K for people who are not bleeding, but with an INR of (possibly) 22 it would be hard to argue with the decision.

Remember that the further the INR is from the desired range, the less accurate the number is.

The odds are greatly in favor of Keegan having no harm come from this.

Two year olds are just hard to manage but amazingly resilient. They have periods where they just don't feel like eating even when they are not sick. Iam currently managing 2 two year olds warfarin therapy.

 

[KeegansMom02]

Thank you...

Thank you...

Thank you two for your responces!
I appreciate it!
Yeah, it's been very worrisome for me lately with him. It seems to me that the cardios are learning as we go long. I think they may have maybe one other baby on coumadin, so they don't have a lot of knowledge. I think they are learning as we go. I had no idea that MV replacement was so rare in babies???

 

[Granbonny]

Bless his little heart I hate to hear when the litle ones have to have their veins stuck. I am so glad you have a Protime at home... Just try to wait 3 days and test him at home again... Hopefully, he will not drop too low... How often do you test him? Does he normally stay in range? Kids his age, usually have a lot of bruises, off coumadin..... Let us know how he is doing..Bonnie

 

[Karlynn]

If you've checked your home monitor periodically to another one in a lab or the dr's office, and they are fairly close, I'd tend to believe your reading prior to the ER. Who knows what the situation was with getting the blood to the lab and getting it tested.

Give Keegan a hug from all of us. Just breaks my heart to think of the little guy having to put up with all the needle sticks and people hovering around him.