Staying " on the ball"

[dedeottie]

Just picked up my prescription for apixaban from boots . My prescription should be for 5mg twice a day as per my consultants instructions and the label says 5 mg once a day so I only have half the quantity. Luckily I still have the box issued from the hospital pharmacy so it hopefully will be easy to change but once again it highlights how vigilant we have to be. Just once a day and I would have been unprotected. Feeling fed up as it is and could have done without the hassle . Hey ho...

[Finvola]

Signs of the times - I now check my tabs before I leave the chemists as I've had a few issues - but that's potentially serious.

[PeterWh]

So true. Check and double check.

[PeterWh in reply to PeterWh]

BTW I should have said that on one of the days during the 4 days last month that I was in hospital after being blue lighted I was given 2 digoxin tablets and 0 bisoprolol rather than 1 of each. It was easily done as both are the same size and one white and one light coloured. I only realised after being back home because digoxin blister strip was almost used up but 2 extra in bisoprolol strip.. Next time I'll double check each morning.

[dedeottie in reply to PeterWh]

Blimey ! Just hope we all keep our faculties in tact !

[Rellim296 in reply to dedeottie]

I'm almost sure the sharp taste that cranberries have helps to keep the brain ticking over like it should.... !!!

[dedeottie in reply to Rellim296]

Im sure too!

[PeterWh in reply to Rellim296]

Not with warfarin though!!! That's where those of you who are on a NOAC are at an advantage.

[dedeottie in reply to PeterWh]

Oh sorry...forgot! X

[Rellim296 in reply to PeterWh]

Yes, apologies. But it's a currently a novelty for dedeottie.

[MarkS in reply to PeterWh]

Old wife's tale I'm afraid. There is no interaction between warfarin and cranberries, see

health.ucsd.edu/specialties...

and it's never affected my INR.

[Gmc54 in reply to MarkS]

Thank you Mark. I have missed my daily cranberry juice, I will now give it a try again to see if there is any change in my inr.

[398emb in reply to MarkS]

MANGO! No-one mentioned Mangoes to me! I avoided cranberries as I was told, but Mangoes are one of my staples! I had tinned mango and cream the other night, and carry a pack of dried mango or green mango (Delicious) when I am out! I don't think I'd survive, or achieve 5 a day without mangoes. I'll need to do some personal INR experiments, in order to ensure that I am not badly effected....,,.

[Rellim296 in reply to 398emb]

It's my view that Warfarin can be a minefield.

Going back to having to keep one's finger on the pulse, so to speak, my own problem is getting a 24 hour ECG before my EP appointment. I've already chased three times and have been told each time that the system will work, but my appointment is in 5 weeks and I still have no ECG date.

[Perrylees]

Similar thing happened to me. Hospital prescribed me 2.5 twice daily. I read the blurb - phoned them, they confirmed the dosage! It was only when I saw my EP a week later that the truth emerged. He told me I might as well have been taking nothing !! Very impressive... 😁

[dedeottie in reply to Perrylees]

Oh my!

[squady]

that's a shocker, not like boots but well spotted by you.

I have my stuff put in dose boxes as I kept mixing them up

[KipperJohn]

I picked up my repeat from Boots yesterday too - checked that all was OK in the car before driving home in case of any error.

Of course one has to be precise in taking any meds but especially so with Apixaban otherwise, as has been stated, it's either ineffective or if you take one too many the risk of bleeding increases.

[LindaDaisy]

You do have to take control of your own condition. I always carry one week of medication and self administer if in hospital. If I have to take hospital medication I watch them take it out of the box. Before i was on warfarin I was once was given someone else's Warfarin instead of my carvidalol. As they gave me the tablets I remarked that I'd never had blue tablets before. Later that evening the elderly lady next to me said she was due for her warfarin and very patronisingly they told her she had had it earlier. I was sure she hadn't but I thought I was wrong and the poor lady thought she was getting dementia. It wasn't until the next drug round when they gave me a different colour and I remarked "So you have run out of the blue ones then" only to be told you don't get blue carvidilol, that alarm bells rang for me. But They would not believe me, they said there is no way I had been given the wrong tablets. They treated me like I had dementia. It wasn't until I said I was a quality control manager, I wasn't normally wrong, I knew what I had taken and I wanted to make a formal complaint, that they had a Matron talk to me. I could tell she didn't believe and t that point I give up. I didn't make a complaint but when I came out I found out that Warfarin 3mg was blue and then it all clicked into place. But it's so difficult when you are in hospital as it knocks your confidence and you don't always find it easy to stand up for yourself. But you have to.