Re: Let's share fingerstick INR testing- done at clinics and also at home!

[Guest guest]

I'm glad you are getting good results with your fingerstick method and it

certainly seems like the answer for you. I would caution, though, that not

all fingerstick methods correlate as well with the lab " gold standard " as

yours seems to have. However these fingerstick methods correlate well with

each other and if they are all you use to check your INR all is well.

According to some of the literature on this subject, if people switch back

and forth between the fingerstick method and the lab test method then there

is the possibility for there to be some inappropriate changes in Coumadin

doseage.

Brenta

Let's share fingerstick INR testing- done at clinics

and also at home!

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[Guest guest]

> Hi,

> I get a fingerstick for INR once a month. Is there another

method?

>

> Susie

My health insurance won't cover the fingerstick method, which my

cardio offers. So I have to go to my local lab and get stuck in the

arm.

[Guest guest]

> I go to the New York University Hospital anticoagulation center for

fingerstick INR, and have been doing so for over a year. i agree that

fingerstick is infinitely preferably to blood draw. The use of this device by

the

large cardiology program at NYU demonstrates to me its acceptance and

reliability. There must be pressure from the blood-draw labs not to adopt

these devices, because whenever I travel I have a heck of a time finding a

place that does fingerstick, although I did find one in Green Bay at a general

cardiology office - which suggests that some cardiologists are more

enlightened than others in their looking out for the convenience and comforrt

of patients. Gee, really?

Thanks for the info on the home device, I'm going to look into it, because I

travel a lot and this would help immensely. Kathleen (24/7, atenolol, digoxin,

coumadin).

[Guest guest]

I just read your 10/7 post on the home fingerstick unit you bought. Can¹t

answer any of your questions, but I found the information very interesting

and want to thank you for sharing it.

--

Kathleen Stept (Flecainide 100mg bid, Diltiazem 120mg, Coumadin 5mg, baby

aspirin), , Mississippi