Just wondering if anybody can give me some advice...
I'm taking warfarin as the result of having a post natal DVT and am supposed to have an INR of 2-3 - monitored by the GP as it has been up in the right range and no longer go to the DVT clinic.
My INR doesn't seem to be particularly stable - over the last 3 weeks it has been 1.9, 2.3 and now 1.8 which is fairly typical of how it has been over the last couple of months.
A couple of months ago, my INR dropped to 1.9 and I was told to come back in 3 weeks by the GP. Co-incidentally had my consultant appointment a couple of days later, he told me to go and get it checked again asap (3 days) - it had fallen to 1.4 and they still told me to come back in a couple of weeks, I did go sooner as my leg had started to hurt again where finally somebody decided that it was so low they would check what they should do and i ended up at the dvt clinic having heparin jabs for 10 days to get to a stable theraputic level again.
Despite the dvt nurse saying that they should monitor me weekly the gp still tries to say come back in 3 weeks.
I don't want to have to have a load of injections in my stomach again not to mention being worried about the dvt if i am not getting theraputic dose of warfarin!
Am i being unreasonable to get my INR checked sooner than 3 weeks - and if so, what is the right gap given the circumstances? Or should they be upping my dose a bit?
I'd usually ask my aunt but she's away! I have seen some of the prescribing protocols, which all seem to suggest that I should be at least monitored more frequently given these circumstances, but when I tried talking to the healthcare assistant that does them at the surgery, I got very short shrift and was told that it was a doctor's decision.
My aunt is a specialist in the area and was furious with the way I was treated last time but as INR hasn't gone quite so low I don't know if I should be pushing them!
Thanks for your help if you have made it this far!