Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Bec's Experience with INRatio.
2:10 PM | 
Posted by
Finger Stick Machine Education
I gave the finger prick test a try, too. Came back as 4.1, so they said "great, let's leave your dosage alone." I told the dr that I was not confident in that result because my body was telling me that my INR was below 3. I asked to be sent to the hospital for a stat venous draw. They humored me and I had the stat draw within 10 min. It came back 2.3. No more finger stick for me! The dr called the company (INRatio) and the company said it wasn't accurate for a lot of people with APS. Now, the dr is trying to find out which of her patients have APS, so she can check all of them as well.
I go to Labcorp for the venous draws, and I mentioned how the finger stick was so inaccurate. The phlebotomist said she has several people who come in for venous draws because it is inaccurate for them as well; she said that is one of the reasons why Labcorp has not switched over.
I speak from personal experience, and the INRatio machine is not accurate for people with APS. After the huge discrepancy with my result, my dr called the company and the company admitted that it is not accurate for people with APS. If you do a search on their website (hemesense.com), you can find the warning.
http://www.apsforum.com/forum25/10469.html
(registration required)
I go to Labcorp for the venous draws, and I mentioned how the finger stick was so inaccurate. The phlebotomist said she has several people who come in for venous draws because it is inaccurate for them as well; she said that is one of the reasons why Labcorp has not switched over.
I speak from personal experience, and the INRatio machine is not accurate for people with APS. After the huge discrepancy with my result, my dr called the company and the company admitted that it is not accurate for people with APS. If you do a search on their website (hemesense.com), you can find the warning.
http://www.apsforum.com/forum25/10469.html
(registration required)
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Who am I?
- Finger Stick Machine Education
- My goal is to educate APS patients on long term coumadin or warfarin about the possible dangers of using, and relying on Home (finger stick) INR machines to test their INR. Nothing more, nothing less. **I am not affiliated with any APS group, but a member of many. I am just trying to educate people about these machines.**
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing this personal experience and your opinion.
After reading the articles on the APS Foundation web site about the fingerstick INR tests and how they could be inaccurate in APS patients, I sent a copy of the article to my hematologist. He reluctantly ordered both a venipuncture and a finger stick test for me today. I just got the results. The venipuncture was 2.0 and the fingerstick was 3.2! yikes, what a difference.
Previously, based on the fingerstick INR results, they would have lowered my coumadin to keep me in the 2-3 range. But the nurse was so surprised at the difference that I don't think she knew what to do.
I now have a standing order on my chart to just do the venipuncture INR tests in the future.
The lab told me they use the INRatio machine. But neither the lab, the coumadin clinic or the hematologist knew that the machine could be inaccurate!
Please get the word out to the APS patients and their health care providers. Thank you.
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