Xarelto getting sued, users dying from internal bl... - Page 3

LilacTree · ‎03-25-2012

@hckynutjohn wrote:
@LilacTree wrote:
@gardenman wrote:
Coumadin is tried and true, and also easily reversible with vitamin k, so it should be everyone's first choice. Pradaxa and Xarelto are efficient blood thinners, but not easily reversible. Coumadin is now generic though, so the drug manufacturers want something more profitable. As a general rule you're better off sticking with the proven older drug over the brand new stuff. The INR testing with coumadin isn't even bad if you get the home testing equipment. It takes less than five minutes once a week.
Oh, I so agree with that!! Tried and true. I don't take meds much, but I would never take a brand new one!!

Hi Lilac Tree,

As far as the INR "home testing equipment"? I tried the "finger stick" method several times and then right after went to the lab to have full blood draw.

Those "finger stick" numbers were as much as 2 full points different than the full lab blood draw. If my INR was say a 2mgdl via finger stick, it was really a 4.0mgdl, which is not in a very safe zone. This is especially true if ones INR runs on the high side.

There is the opposite of getting a 3.0mgdl finger stick reading and the full draw from the lab coming back as a 1.0mgdl, which leads to a very much higher risk of PE, and that can be deadly very quickly.

Ain't no way in heck I would ever reply on a "home kit" for my readings, or a finger stick. Fortunately for most on Coumadin/Warfarin, they do not have the issues with the readings going up and down 1.5mgdl every day like I did.

Hi Hckynut(John)!

Did I pontificate on this? I have no idea what you are talking about, LOL!!

I think maybe your response is for gardenman??

Formerly Ford1224
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel 1986

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

Sorry Lilac Tree,

I was responding to the portion I underlined in the post by "gardenman".

I don't know anything about "the home kit", but I am suspecting a person is not poking themselves with a syringe and filling a vial of blood.

For my ever fluctuating INR(7 years)? Nothing but a full draw would satisfy me or my Pulmonologist, and I have had well over a thousand pokes over that period of time. I am not counting my 125+ blood transfusions and 25+ iron infusions. Lot's of holes in my arms for sure and a few veins with so much scar tissue they no longer could get blood from them.

Hope all is well with you. Just to add: Brought my wife home from the hospital a couple hours ago. Relief for both of us.

hckynut(john)

LilacTree · ‎03-25-2012

@hckynutjohn wrote:

Sorry Lilac Tree,

I was responding to the portion I underlined in the post by "gardeman".

I don't know anything about "the home kit", but I am suspecting a person is not poking themselves with a syringe and filling a vial of blood.

For my ever fluctuating INR(7 years)? Nothing but a full draw would satisfy me or my Pulmonologist, and I have had well over a thousand pokes over that period of time. I am not counting my 125+ blood transfusions and 25+ iron infusions. Lot's of holes in my arms for sure and a few veins with so much scar tissue they no longer could get blood from them.

Hope all is well with you. Just to add: Brought my wife home from the hospital a couple hours ago. Relief for both of us.

That wonderful news. My best to both of you.

Formerly Ford1224
We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Elie Wiesel 1986

AnikaBrodie · ‎03-10-2010

DH is on Coumadin for A-Fib and is monitored monthly for appropriate levels. He goes to the clinic for a finger stick (takes less than 5 min.) and most times is between the recommended level of 2 to 3. On rare occasions it is higher than 3 and in that case he returns in two weeks for another check. It has always returned to normal in the two week period.

My brother is on Xarelto (history of stroke) and his levels have never been monitored. This is not only wrong but it is scary. I've talked to him about this and his response is basically he doesn't want to bother with having a routine monitoring (i.e., finger stick). I've told him about the potential side effects but he still sticks to Xarelto telling me his cardiologist recommended it.

Based on what I've read I am not surprised that some people are having internal bleeding with the use of this drug. Perhaps the powers that be will now take a closer look at the drug.

"Faith, Hope, Love; the greatest of these is Love." ~The Silver Fox~

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

AnikaBrodie wrote:
DH is on Coumadin for A-Fib and is monitored monthly for appropriate levels. He goes to the clinic for a finger stick (takes less than 5 min.) and most times is between the recommended level of 2 to 3. On rare occasions it is higher than 3 and in that case he returns in two weeks for another check. It has always returned to normal in the two week period.

My brother is on Xarelto (history of stroke) and his levels have never been monitored. This is not only wrong but it is scary. I've talked to him about this and his response is basically he doesn't want to bother with having a routine monitoring (i.e., finger stick). I've told him about the potential side effects but he still sticks to Xarelto telling me his cardiologist recommended it.

Based on what I've read I am not surprised that some people are having internal bleeding with the use of this drug. Perhaps the powers that be will now take a closer look at the drug.

Hi AnikaBrodie,

I hate to say things like this, but your brother is not a smart man when it comes to this issue. Why anyone would want to take those types of risks when there is a tried and proven method is beyond me.

Met many during my 72 Cardiac Rehab Classes that sounded just like your brother. Not about Coumadin, but about changing what they ate to help prevent future heart issues. Set in their ways? That is putting in mildly.

Tell your brother I have experienced the internal bleeding and am very lucky to live to tell about it. Had I not been in a building connected to the hospital when this happened? You would not be readind any posts from me.

It is a scary thing to watch growths coming out of your legs knowing full well your internal organs are bleeding out. Hopefully, I never have to watch that happen to me, or anyone else, ever again.

A shame that some just don't get it.

Best to you and yours,

hckynut(john)

gardenman · ‎03-09-2010

@LilacTree wrote:
@hckynutjohn wrote:

Sorry Lilac Tree,

I was responding to the portion I underlined in the post by "gardeman".

I don't know anything about "the home kit", but I am suspecting a person is not poking themselves with a syringe and filling a vial of blood.

For my ever fluctuating INR(7 years)? Nothing but a full draw would satisfy me or my Pulmonologist, and I have had well over a thousand pokes over that period of time. I am not counting my 125+ blood transfusions and 25+ iron infusions. Lot's of holes in my arms for sure and a few veins with so much scar tissue they no longer could get blood from them.

Hope all is well with you. Just to add: Brought my wife home from the hospital a couple hours ago. Relief for both of us.

That wonderful news. My best to both of you.

Hey John. The home testing equipment is the exact same unit my Mom's cardiologist used in his office. You get the tester, test strips, pipettes, and the lancets, from a company called MDINR and her results have been right on the mark so far. Blood is blood whether it comes from a finger stick or arm.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!

Gooday · ‎03-23-2010

To the nay-sayers: I wonder how many people thought the discovery of penicillin, the polio vaccine and vaccines in general presented a hazard to their well being?

I too have an extensive medical background, mostly in orthopedics and I remember when Vioxx came on the market and I remember it being taken off the market. I remember the hospital nursing staff and patients asking us for the samples we had! They felt the benefits of relief of their pain outweighed the risks of the FDA/cardiac issue.

hckynutjohn · ‎06-15-2015

Yo gardenman,

Guess my blood didn't like finger sticks. I tried it with my Cardiologist and my Pulmonologist and then went down to the lab in the same hospital and hard a full blood draw. Did this several times over those 7 years and each time the

readings from the finger sticks vs the full draw? Never less than a 2.0/a couple times even more, and they were all read in the same hospital lab.

Believe me, if a poke in the finger would have netted the same results, ain't no way I would not have went that route. My Pulmonologist would have liked that also because when I had the draws on Saturdays and Sundays, and he wasn't "on call"?

The doctor "on call" had to reach him because of my history. Guess he had to 'splain my history on coumadin to whichever doc was "on call".

2 episodes of PE and my go around with my organs bleeding out, no way was I gonna chance a 2+ margin of error(which essenc

ially is 4 points) as thatmvery well could have been a difference maker for me.

Met at least 100 different people on Coumadin between my Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab Classes. Never met 1 that had the fluctuating INR numbers like mine and neither had my Heart or Lung doctors. Guess my unique blood or genes is very rare. 'Bout the only thing I can think of for getting different readings.

Catch you later bud.

hckynut(john)