Hi all,
I had a stroke when I was 27 years old and 10 years later I got diagnosed with Palindromic Rheumatism, a form or Arthritis. With both, current medication is Warfarin and X is required. I feel limited about the regular INR control lead by coagulation variability.
Thinking to get an INR meter but don't know if that is worth the investment, conviniency and how people get one even? Any feedback is super helpful. Thanks!
if your medics agree I’d absolutely get one (although they are expensive if you have to pay yourself). It means no more time waiting for blood to be drawn, the test is quick - a couple of minutes from getting the machine out to having your result and painless finger prick.
It also means you can travel without any issues and test at home if you are sick. I email my results in and get a warfarin dose back in a couple of hours.
thank you GillyA . This all make sense. Do patients usually buy or rent?
In the U.K. it’s buy (over £300 I think). The test strips cost about £90 for 24
hi I am on warfarin for metal heart valve I was sick of having to go to Dr every week to get my INR level. I bought a machine and it’s the best £300 spent no need to go to Drs can take it on holiday can keep my eye on it to make sure in range. At first I had to buy my own strips £50 but after a year my Dr decided that I could get a prescription for strips. I only buy the needles which are not a lot of money. If you need to know anything just ask. 😀
Hi Hector, I had a bi-lateral PE (clot across both lungs at the same time) 11/04/2004 and have been on Warfarin ever since. After 6 months they decided it was medication for a lifetime and at that point I enquired about having my own machine to test with. I had to get my GP's permission and once signed off purchased my machine making me some £400 poorer! It's definitely one of the best investments I have ever made as it allowed me to travel the world with absolute confidence irrespective of climate or food. However you did need a course to learn to titrate your dose properly. Your local INR nurse should be able to provide that.
Hope this might have helped and good luck for the future.
Regards
Richard
Hiya Hector, hope you are alright. My advice is Go for the self checking INR ! It pretty much changed my attitude/ mental state towards doing warfarin checking. Unless you have other health issues which would prevent you doing it yourself. Anticoagulant clinic does have a check list which they have to complete before they agree for you to do it. All the best and good luck !
As rest commented, you should invest in machine. Im 38 years old whit mechanical heart valve whit atleast 8 cm of plastic graf as aorta exiting my heart 
(genetic luck )I bought Inr testing machine Roch INrange . Its acurate as standard blood test coz i tested it.
It's preaty dam expensive. I bought it in germany coz here noone even heard it existed 😅. 780 eur together whit box of 24x2 test strips . It was on sale. Regular price is over 900 eur without strips.
I’m surprised you don’t have your INR checked by a medical professional. Here in the UK mine is checked every 6 weeks sometimes earlier if my reading was low/high at the check. Maybe we are lucky that our medical service is free.
INR 5.4
INR Testing
CCG now refusing INR test strips on prescription
