Tested myself last Wednesday (there was a reason but no idea what it was!) and it was 4.7 (range 3.0 -4.0). Normally I would ring the nurse but she doesn't mind me adjusting small amounts providing I don't do it too often. So I dropped 1mg and retested today and to my horror it was only 2.3. Ever helpful hubby suggested perhaps I had forgotten to take a dose but I'm sure I didn't so no idea why this blip. Haven't been this low for a while. Since I developed fibro fog two yrs ago I have sometimes wondered how effective warfarin is but as I am in a total daze today and feel like death I realise just what a difference it does make.
The nurse is going to find me some tinzaparin and leave it out for me to collect after 3.00 so I am covered until my inr goes up. So hopefully I should feel better by tomorrow.
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panda60
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May I ask if you have all your tablets in a "dozette" box? My neurolog said I ought to buy one and now I always see if I have forgotten to take that day or the day before.
I put my day to day tablets into weekly dispensers but stopped adding the warfarin because I got confused if the dosage changed and I had already counted them out. Then I was put on a tablet almost identical to the 5 mg tablet so wanted to keep them separated. But I have dug out another box and will put the warfarin in there.
Yes of course it is perhaps not to recommend to all of us because we have different tablets and drugs etc but it is practical when you do not know if you have taken them or not.
I practically never change my mg of warfarin but change my intake of K-vit vegetables instead .I only take 5 mg (2 tablets) every day and if I change I change 1/4 of a tablet so I do not come too high. If I am down to 2.0 then I must increase perhaps 1/2 tablet.
Every day I write down how much K-vit vegetables I have taken and if I have been at a restaurang or started a new drug that can effect my INR 1-2 days later.
But that is me. We are all different. Have a good time.
Maybe it was just a day of not taking your tablets that's caused it? it's so easily done...even with a weekly dispenser I've still done it!!
My inr has been stabilized for a change for about 11 weeks! at 3.1....but went today for check up & for no reason it's now gone up to 4.1!! got bladder infection again...so back on anti biotics now...so that's also gonna throw it about again now!!
Oh well.......
I hope yours stabilizes again soon & you feel better x
I have to write all my medications down and I write in a book as I take each one so I know that I have taken it or not. Only time that method fails is if someone talks to me whilst I'm doing it!
Same when I'm counting mine out. Hubby is fast learning that interrupting is not a good idea. I put mine in daily containers otherwise I would lose track. But I have to keep a written note of when I have taken antiobotics or painkillers.
I'd wager that all of us on warfarin for a protracted time have forgotten a dose now and then. My hubby, who majored in statistics, urged me to get one of those daily pill dispensers, but initially I refused. He pointed out that statistically, actions are never 100% and if you do something every day you should expect an error to occur once in a while and anything you do to catch such errors would be helpful.
A few years ago, when my Mom first went in the nursing home I went to her house for the first "fetch, clean up and inventory," I found her notebook which she used to record all the doses of all the myriad meds she was taking. One med was a heart pill which needed to be taken at 6 hour intervals. Her notebook read something like:
At the time I had urged Mom to get one of those dispensors -- I waanted to buy her a fancy one with a timer and a music box which opened a compartment and played a tune specific to the individual med when it was time,-- but she had angerly dismissed my suggestion: "You think I'm crazy? Or stupid? I AM NOT CRAZYY AND NOT STUPID AND IF YOU LOVED ME YOU WOULD NOT MAKE SUCH AN ASSERTION! AND IVE TOLD YOU. I AM NOT STUPID! I HAVE A NOTEBOOK AND I WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN! EVERYTHING!"
And was true. She was writing it all down in her notebook.
I went home, apologized to my statistian hubby, and bought a pill dispensor.
Well, I load the dispenser every week, I also write down my doseage in a notebook where I also record exercises done, AND, though he tries to be subtle about it, Hubby tries to position himself to make sure I take my warfarin every morning.
I use several of these boxes, one for weekly stuff, others for daily. It's the only way I can check what I have taken as two minutes after taking (or not) I haven't a clue but for an empty space-or not. I can easily be below three and need heparin if I miss two days. I guess most are like me and not just on warfarin either, my daily intake is - too many by far!
I hate it when my pillbox goes empty and I have to refill... I stand there, putting the pills in each day's spot and put one in my mouth for today's dose. Then after taking a Plaquenil pill and picking up the warfarin bottle and putting its pills in, I suddenly went blank and wondered, did I just put a warfarin in my mouth before filling the days, or was I supposed to now pop one in my mouth?
Accckkk. I feel stupid even with my weekly dose holder. Now I make myself wait until I fill them all before taking today's pills.
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