AntiCoagulation Europe

Travelling around the world with a CoaguChek self-test system is easy! There - that's the main point I wanted to make. Making the break from clinic controlled coagulant management is the hard part - but it is well worth the effort.

I am 23 and travelled through South Africa, Australia and New Zealand with my girlfriend. I was away for around seven months. I self-tested and self-dosed the whole time. It was so successful that I am continuing to control my own coagulant, even though I have now returned home.

In 1988, while on a skiing trip, I was hit very hard on my calf by a swinging chair lift. The next day I travelled home, sitting in a car for 12 hours. A week later I developed a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in my left leg. After an operation to remove the clot from my groin I was able to become fully mobile again and, much to the surprise of my surgeon, my left leg returned to its normal size fairly quickly with no swelling, not even in the ankle. I was able to return to my very active lifestyle: cycling, swimming, sailing, and keeping fit in a gym. I was on warfarin for six months. I always wear a strong support stocking, which at first was full length, but later I was able to use a knee length one. Despite using a stocking, I have developed varicose veins in my calf but they are not painful.

Five years of self-management

John has kindly provided us with graphs of his records. You can see them by clicking the links in his article.

After major surgery, it is obviously important to recover from the surgery itself. However, for many people it is just as important for to be able to pick up and continue life as close as possible to what it was before and for many people this is possible apart from one exception - oral anticoagulant treatment.

I had been planning this trip for a very long time, so it was with great excitement that I handed in my notice at work and announced my six-month travel itinerary to Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and Laos.

On my way to the Thai Embassy to pick up my visa, I had to turn back with a very painful leg - this was diagnosed as an extensive deep vein thrombosis. There followed a two-year period when I could go nowhere and was very limited in what I could do. I was constantly in and out of the warfarin clinic getting my blood checked. At one of my visits someone mentioned a monitoring machine, so I investigated it immediately and needed no convincing of its worth. About two months later, with my machine in my backpack, I headed off to South East Asia on a long overdue trip!

A little over ten years ago when participating as a volunteer in some memory research to see if early indicators of Alzheimer's could be related to early memory loss, a medical examination revealed that I had a slightly irregular and slow heart beat. I well remember a quickly arranged ECG and then an appointment with a cardiologist. He decided that I should have a 24 hours heart monitor. In the end it was decided that there were no underlying reasons for the irregular heart beat. In some people it is a regular occurrence and I could forget about it. My heart was healthy and my blood pressure was as good as it could be. In any case, I was athletic, had never smoked and drank nothing more than the very occasional glass of wine. I ate a balanced diet containing little red meat and plenty of fish and had my five helpings of fruit and vegetables a day My weight was ideal for my 6ft 1in height and my cholesterol was low. I could in no way be a candidate for any heart problems.