Warfarin testing

[Lyndon68]

Does anyone have any recommendations for home testing kits for warfarin levels?

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Did you go for the mechanical valve? I would suggest you ring the cardiology team for advice. The last thing you want to do is buy a meter they are not happy with. Be careful of online purchases as there are some real rubbish meters (e.g. BG, BP, etc.) out in the wild!

[Fredders]

Coaguchek, it the one my clinic supports.

[Chezh]

Hi there,

My warfarin dept also supports Coaguchek machines. I bought one shortly after starting warfarin & it was honestly one of the best things that I could have done. Expensive but invaluable.

I would advise you to speak to your warfarin nurse.

Kind regards,

Cheryl

[Lyndon68]

Thanks

[not2worry]

Coaguchek is hands down the best. We have one and it’s the same as our doc uses. Even took in and tested against docs and same results. VERY happy to have and would not be feel good if we could not test more regularly than once a month. Diet, meds, travel and such affect the INR so much. Believe INRs should be checked like diabetes.

[not2worry]

Your doc or clinic should be able to order a Coagucheck for you - the strips are expensive. Check if insurance will cover. In the States there is a mobile phone app that reports the INR to your doc weekly and notifies them if INR is high or low by phone. Requires that doc calls you back to adjust warfarin.

[Lyndon68 in reply to not2worry]

They don’t let you take it when you have a metal valve replacement

[Mary_Janet in reply to Lyndon68]

I had a mechanical heart valve replaced last year and have recently started to self test my INR. This is fully supported by my GP practice. I use a coaggucheck as previously discussed. I had to buy my own machine , the surgery are happy to provide a prescription for lancets and testing strips. I do my test and phone the surgery who advice on warfarin dosage and when to retest. I do not test in between times . I am very glad to be self testing as it saves me trips to the surgery now I am back to work.

[Kate-Mac34]

Have you not been changed to Apixaban, no checks required, one disadvantage cannot be reversed as easily as Warfarin

[Mary_Janet]

Apixaban and similar drugs are not licenced for those of us with mechanical valves , it has to be warfarin currently.