ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Atrial fibrillation and cycling
- Thread starter marzjennings
- Start date
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Maybe for some people, I clotted again on Rivaoxaban so back on the warfarin :-). Ho hum ...
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Right, well that has confirmed my choice not to make the change to NOACs!
I am getting along fine on Warfarin, but having to go back to venous blood sampling recently is a bloody pain in the ar...m!
I'm sure that you will be having the same experience? The nurse told me that all of the test strips for the fingerprick tests have been recalled nationally. Sounds like a serious cockup in the supply chain. It makes me wonder whether the machines had been misreading for some time?Right, well that has confirmed my choice not to make the change to NOACs!
I am getting along fine on Warfarin, but having to go back to venous blood sampling recently is a bloody pain in the ar...m!
Yeah. TBH I don't really think the particular anticoag a biggie either way. As long as you're "happy" with things as they are, no reason to change. I'd heard about the recall, but have always done the Hancock method and never done home checking so it passed me by. I'm on the higher range now (3-4) and had a 5+ a couple of checks ago. Nothing compared to the 15+ I once had - I was rather proud of that :-).
Freelanderuk
Über Member
- Location
- Theddlethorpe , Lincolnshire
Right, well that has confirmed my choice not to make the change to NOACs!
I am getting along fine on Warfarin, but having to go back to venous blood sampling recently is a bloody pain in the ar...m!
Why have they being recalled , my inr results have been jumping all over the place and I have had to go every week to have it checked, this has been happening for the last couple of months, due at Dr's again Thursday for check so will make a point of asking
Cheers
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I don't know, but my numbers seem better since going back to the old tests. I have another on Thursday myself so I'll ask for more info too.
I think this is it
https://jdrf.org.uk/news/important-notice-accu-chek-test-strip-recall/
but check with your docs, rather than believing what you read online :-)
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
Blimey, that was a potentially life-threatening cock-up!
Now that they know about the problem it is just a nuisance for all concerned. It is obviously a lot more work to take venous samples and ship them off to a lab for testing than to just put a drop of blood on a test strip in a machine and wait 20 seconds for a result.
I'm not a big fan of having needles stuck in my arm but the last few times the person wielding the needle did at least know what she was doing so I hardly felt it. I had one a few years back though who didn't have a clue - she missed the vein and wiggled the needle about for several seconds trying to find it ... that was nasty and damn painful!
Blimey, that was a potentially life-threatening cock-up!
Now that they know about the problem it is just a nuisance for all concerned. It is obviously a lot more work to take venous samples and ship them off to a lab for testing than to just put a drop of blood on a test strip in a machine and wait 20 seconds for a result.
I'm not a big fan of having needles stuck in my arm but the last few times the person wielding the needle did at least know what she was doing so I hardly felt it. I had one a few years back though who didn't have a clue - she missed the vein and wiggled the needle about for several seconds trying to find it ... that was nasty and damn painful!
Yeah, I still remember when I had the cannula for my first ct scan .... ouch.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I hated them - the back of the hand is so delicate!
david k
Hi
- Location
- North West
I've had AF fairly severe, treated with an ablation.
Consultant told me to exercise but not to push to hard, he said people think they are doing well doing marathons but he advises against such activities.
It suits me as I can feel ill if I push to hard, walking and steady cycling is fine, regardless of time and distance, I just try not to raise my HB too much
Consultant told me to exercise but not to push to hard, he said people think they are doing well doing marathons but he advises against such activities.
It suits me as I can feel ill if I push to hard, walking and steady cycling is fine, regardless of time and distance, I just try not to raise my HB too much
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I just had another INR blood sample taken and had a chat with the nurse. She said that they had noticed that machine readings had started to get erratic. Then they had one patient whose INR was given by the machine as a very high 8 so they took a venous sample and had that tested in the lab. The correct result was a scary 13!!!! Shortly after that the test strips were recalled. They are hoping that the situation will be resolved soon.I am getting along fine on Warfarin, but having to go back to venous blood sampling recently is a bloody pain in the ar...m!
For those of you who don't know what these numbers mean - INR stands for International Normalised Ratio, a measure of the clotting time of blood. 'Normal' blood has a value of 1.0. I am medicated to try to get my blood into a therapeutic range of 2.0 - 3.0. Some people with artificial heart valves might be aiming for 2.5 - 3.5. The higher the number, the more 'bleedy' you are. If my INR were 2.5 then my blood would take 2.5 times longer to clot than a typical person's. You can see why 8 is potentially a serious problem. As for 13 ... an injury which would have bled for 5 minutes in the typical person, would bleed for over an hour in that over-anticoagulated person. For example, an otherwise minor head injury might cause dangerous bleeding on the brain.
Freelanderuk
Über Member
- Location
- Theddlethorpe , Lincolnshire
My range is 2 to 3 and my readings have been all over the place alately , I asked about the dodgy test strips and there answer was it only affects readings over 5 ,mine are usually under my range
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I think that nobody should be relying on important medical test equipment only being half-unreliable! Apart from which, I don't believe that - my readings were sometimes much higher than usual AND sometimes much lower than usual before they stopped using the machines here. Mysteriously, since going back to venous testing the readings have settled down again!
Freelanderuk
Über Member
- Location
- Theddlethorpe , Lincolnshire
I can only report what I was told ,they are still using the test strips and little machine in my surgery will ask again when back next week ,I have been on warfarin since 2002 when I had a stroke
