O holiday with warfirn blood thinner

[Summer133]

Hi has anyone been on holiday with warfirn, I'm new on warfrin but am worried about going on holiday whilst on a blood thinner..I'm on warfrin for life..just wondering if anyone is in the same boat

[FigTree3000]

I've been on warfarin for 12 years and have been on hols lots of times. I'm not sure if your worry is about how to get your INR tested whilst away from home, or whether it's something else? If it's about how to get tested, then based on my experience, my advice is: firstly, get a letter from your anti-coagulation service or GP stating that you are on warfarin and need INR tests (because in most places you might go on holiday to, you can't get an INR test without some documentation). Secondly, research in advance on the web where you can get an INR test at your holiday location - it might be a hospital with a walk-in clinic, or a medical centre, or a pharmacy, depending on the country/region you're going to. You might need to make an appointment. If abroad, you will most likely have to pay for the test. The letter from your anti-coagulation service should include details of how the result of the INR test should be reported (e.g. by email address). In practice, most medical centres doing tests for a non-resident will tell you the result by email to you, and then you can send that on to your anti-coagulation service. Your anti-coagulation service will inform you of any dose changes in the normal way. You need to tell them that you're away from home so that they can inform you of dose changes by phone / email, rather than relying on a letter to your home address.

Three years ago, I got myself a self-test machine, and that made life way easier. When I go on holiday, I no longer need to find a medical centre that will do an INR test, I just take my machine on holiday with me and report the test result as if I was at home. The downside is that I had to pay for the self-test machine.

In summary, I've never had a problem going on holiday all the time I've been on warfarin. I hope that helps.

[ozziebob]

Hi,

I noticed FigTree3000 has given a comprehensive reply which I hope has helped.

I am curious about your current warfarin use, as your Bio only mentions edoxaban. Did you have problems taking edoxaban that caused a switch? Any info on this very welcome.

bob