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Sorry if this seems a stupid question but after I have the angio in the spring should I have my inr level checked every week-get blood tested for this once a week, even if I am put on plavix? Is there anything I should do before hand in terms of INR level? What should I do just so it iis clear in my mind before and after?

No question is stupid! My bf was put on Arixtra for 20 days subcu and he did not have to have his inr done. That being said, it would be up to your physician who is prescribing the meds to answer that one for you. I can tell you that I am a phlebotomist among other things and I only draw inr's for coumadin patients.

You know in class where the teacher asks a question and everyone raises their hand at once to answer? This is one of those questions.

Plavix, aspirin and the like, just make your platelets less sticky. No effect on the INR, Plavix is just aspirin on steroids.

Coumadin (which I will remind the panel, has been successfully used by many for 20-30 year stretches), will affect the liver enzymes that produce clotting factors in your blood, making it thin, not just slippery.

That's my RD version. Some are getting no thinners, (and it's safe to assume one doesn't need INR numbers UNLESS you are on thinners to begin with, all other medical issues aside), and just Plavix and aspirin, which requires no monitoring. That's a scary thought to me personally and a tremendous risk to the patient, who may be unaware that this is even an issue for the non-stent people, let alone the stenters.

If I were starting this today, knowing what I know now, I would pay any amount of money to get a very thorough investigation on the state of not only the normal clotting factors, but also the lesser used tests, regardless of costs, whether I was getting angio'd or stented. Some people are just clotters, there's no way to get a leg up on that without those tests. Even then, there is risk of clotting, but I'd sure want to cover as many basis as I could, leave no stone unturned, regardless of what my Dr. or insurance company says, there's too many unknowns in this story, so I'll pay it myself.

CureIous wrote:If I were starting this today, knowing what I know now, I would pay any amount of money to get a very thorough investigation on the state of not only the normal clotting factors, but also the lesser used tests, regardless of costs, whether I was getting angio'd or stented. Some people are just clotters, there's no way to get a leg up on that without those tests. Even then, there is risk of clotting, but I'd sure want to cover as many basis as I could, leave no stone unturned, regardless of what my Dr. or insurance company says, there's too many unknowns in this story, so I'll pay it myself.

CureIous
From the footer at the end of your post it sounds like Liberation has been a great benefit for you. Please excuse me if I missed some of the discussion in the past, but may I ask what experience you had that caused you to be so concerned about this? Also specifically what tests would you ask for?

David1949 wrote:

CureIous wrote:If I were starting this today, knowing what I know now, I would pay any amount of money to get a very thorough investigation on the state of not only the normal clotting factors, but also the lesser used tests, regardless of costs, whether I was getting angio'd or stented. Some people are just clotters, there's no way to get a leg up on that without those tests. Even then, there is risk of clotting, but I'd sure want to cover as many basis as I could, leave no stone unturned, regardless of what my Dr. or insurance company says, there's too many unknowns in this story, so I'll pay it myself.

CureIous
From the footer at the end of your post it sounds like Liberation has been a great benefit for you. Please excuse me if I missed some of the discussion in the past, but may I ask what experience you had that caused you to be so concerned about this? Also specifically what tests would you ask for?

Sorry, perhaps a better statement would have been "knowing what I know now of what others have been through"(Insert list of clotters, both with and without stents, both with and without blood thinners, both under supervision, and those returning from Europe without supervision, it becomes apparent that even under the best care there is risk of clotting, therefore, I would have taken even more precautions than I did, which by and large, were pretty good to begin with!).

I can see how that may have read differently. Sorry... Hope that clears that up!

EDIT: Protein C and S deficiency comes to mind, that's an interesting google expedition. It is my understanding that blood thinners can temporarily CAUSE clots in people with the above disorder, which is 1>20,000 to have the disorder in the first place, vs 1>1,000 average for MS. (IOW, odds are low according to the numbers)
Btw, protein S deficiency can be inherited, or acquired via vitamin K deficiency.

All that aside, I have no complaints about the testing at Stanford, mine was merely a hypothetical "just fell off the turnip truck" exercise.

Here is the list of what was ordered lab wise from Stanford for my initial procedure, from the printout: (yes, not all of these are blood clotting tests, just putting them all on there anyways)

INR and Prothombin Time
Creatinine
Blood type verification
ABO/RH
AB screen
Prothombin time
PTT
Platelet count
D-Dimer. (Checks for PE/DVT issues).

Antithrombin III, though you will most likely already know this was an issue.

Should I take my husband to a specific doctor for blood work before scheduling CCSVI procedure or can his GP do this? We do have a niece with Hughes Syndrome which is a clotting disorder.

CureIous
Thanks for the info. I'm planning to be Liberated some time in the next few months. So whatever is of concern to you, as someone who already had it, should also be of concern to me.