Warfarin A Cause Of Blood In Urine?

[Anniel]

I have recently spent 3 months in the Caribbean and suffered from two UTI whilst there. There was blood in my pee even after long periods on an antibiotics. I have had bladder cancer in the past, but have just had it checked out and the bladder is fine. I take Warfarin daily as i have an artificial mitral valve and now the urologist is telling me that my long stay in the Caribbean could have affected my INR. I do have monthly checks of my INR and it remained steady. Has anyone else encountered this problem? It is worrying as I will be returning to the Caribbean for the winter and I need to cure or manage this worry before I leave

[Hidden]

Any sign of internal bleeding is for anyone something that needs attention. Their are many possible causes of blood appearing in your urine (including another UTI) but all of them are likely to be made worse if you are on Warfarin and it certainly could be an indication of a high INR. You must persevere with the Urologist to get a clear diagnosis of the cause but checking your INR should be quick and simple and then adjust your Warfarin dosage if necessary.

Spending long spells in another place with a different climate, time zone and in particular different diet can certainly affect your INR and it sounds like it would be a good idea for you to obtain your own CoaguChek and test your own INR fairly frequently whilst you are travelling to keep your INR under control. If you wish to learn more about self testing your INR then either message me and I will send it, look up on-line CoaguChek, or read INReview, the magazine of AntiCoagulation Europe; all will help.

All the best and let us know how you get on won't you. Enjoy the Caribbean this winter too!

[daisyd]

Morning, just wandering if you have been tested for anaemia. I am sure you will get more investigations if you are.

Hope you soon get it sorted out, I guess you already know that you should be drinking a lot of water.

[Anniel]

Thank you both for your helpful suggestions. I am attending my local anticoagulant clinic this week and the anticoagulant nurse is going to have a chat with me. I have emailed my cardiologist about the problem as well. I have been given a anti coag machine and I now need to order the strips so I can take my INR levels more often.

I must admit I am not a great water fan, but I drink gallons of Yorkshire tea which I take with me when I go to the Caribbean. I will keep ki ntouch here now that I have found you and let you know the results of the investigation. My experience may help others.

Thank you.

[Anniel]

There has been some development. The cardiologist emailed me and told me to stop warfarin for 5 days and take 75mg of aspirin instead. Then i am to reintroduce Warfarin and he says my target INR should be between 2-3. He hopes that this will stop the blood in my urine. I will give a copy of his email to the Anti Coag Clinic staff and discuss my problem with them.

I am finding this forum both helpful and reassuring.

Re the Coag XS machine bequeathed to me by my Brother In Law. He sent it to me from Australia and having ordered strips for it, I do hope it will work in the UK. It struck me that maybe the machines in UK may have a different coding.

Can someone enlighten me on this point?

Thanks

Anniel

[Hidden in reply to Anniel]

Anniel. What the CoaguChek measures is the time it takes your blood to clot (called Prothrobmin Time). The unit it will normally display is your INR which is short for International Normalised Ratio. This INR has been adopted as an INTERNATIONAL unit to avoid cross border confusion and having been tested when in Australia myself I can confirm that the INR is the standard unit used in Australia. Essentially a person with no anticoagulation has an INR of 1. If it takes twice as long for your blood to clot your INR is 2, 3 times as long is INR 3 and so on.

Do sign up for the regular magazine of AntiCoagulation Europe called INReview which offers lots of help to self testers ( anticoagulationeurope.org ) and please contact Roche Diagnostics to get their training material on the CoaguChek XS.

Great to hear you're making progress. Please stay in touch.

[rosyG]

I am new to self checking but the warfarin clinic said they will check that my machine gives the same result as theirs every 6 months. I'm sure your clinic would do this for you and you will then not be worried