You throw up blood, or your vomit looks like coffee grounds.When should I seek immediate care or call 911? You have questions or concerns about your care.You have more headaches than normal, or your headaches are different than before.You have pain or swelling in your joints.You bruise or bleed more than normal, your gums bleed, or you have frequent nosebleeds. Your bowel movement is bloody or black.Your menstrual period is heavier than normal.When should I contact my healthcare provider? Wear medical alert jewelry, or carry a card that gives this information. Tell your dentist and other healthcare providers if you take anticoagulant medicine or have a bleeding disorder.Use a soft toothbrush and an electric razor to avoid bleeding. Avoid activities that may cause bleeding or bruising.Ask for information if you need help quitting. Smoking can affect the way your blood clots. If you smoke, it is never too late to quit. Ask your healthcare provider how much alcohol is safe for you. Ask your healthcare provider for more information about what to eat when you have an elevated INR. Vitamin K is found in green leafy vegetables, broccoli, grapes, and other foods. Vitamin K changes how your blood clots and affects your INR. Eat the same amount of vitamin K daily to keep your INR stable.Contact your healthcare provider before you take other medicines or supplements, because they may elevate your INR. If you take medicine, take it as directed.Some people can test their blood at home. You may have blood drawn at your healthcare provider's office. Your healthcare provider may want your INR to be measured every few days until it is stable, and then only once a month. Examples are clotting factors, platelets, and plasma. Blood components are the parts of blood that help it to clot. Blood components may be given during a transfusion to help stop your bleeding.Vitamin K may be given to decrease your INR and bleeding.You may need one of the following treatments: If you take an anticoagulant medicine, your healthcare provider may change your dose, or tell you to skip one or more doses. Treatment depends on whether you currently have bleeding and how severe it is. You may bruise easily, have frequent nosebleeds, or notice your gums bleeding. You may have small cuts that bleed more than normal, and for longer than normal. What are the signs and symptoms of an elevated INR? A sudden decrease of vitamin K in your diet.Health conditions, such as liver failure or bleeding disorders.Other medicines, such as aspirin, NSAIDs, and some antibiotics, when you also are using anticoagulants.Too much anticoagulant medicine, a type of blood thinner that helps prevent clots.What increases my risk for an elevated INR? When your PT or INR is too high, you have an increased risk of bleeding. An elevated PT or INR means your blood is taking longer to clot than your healthcare provider believes is healthy for you. The higher your PT or INR, the longer your blood takes to clot. A prothrombin time (PT) is a another blood test done to help measure your INR. The INR, or International Normalized Ratio, is a measure of how long it takes your blood to clot. Thanks for the opportunity and best wishes from Tom Exner.Medically reviewed by. There was a minority report disagreeing with this approach issued by some participants who understood the problem. This led to the adoption of the “reference reagent” PT system with ISIs and ultimately INRs for the expression of PT results for oral anticoagulant monitoring at least in UK-centric countries. Obviously varying the diluents together with varying PT reagents resulted in more variable results. The use of a reference thromboplastin was shown to be more reliable than use of a dilution curve. There was an international survey carried out many years ago, co-ordinated (I think) by Leon Poller comparing these various methods for expressing results on true warfarin plasmas with the use of a reference thromboplastin (British Comparative Thromboplastin or Manchester reagent). Yet others used an adsorbed normal plasma deficient in vitamin K-dependent clotting factors. Some labs used saline, others used a 5% albumin solution. A patient PT can then be interpolated onto this curve to derive a % PT. The problem with this method was what to use as a diluent. I agree with the previous responders that it is based on a calibration curve of PT versus normal plasma dilution. From Tom Exner, Haematex Research, Hi George, Thanks for your interesting “provocative” posts.
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