Jump to content
Complete France Forum

Warfarin and blood tests-where do you go?


Recommended Posts

Hi All,

My mum is coming over for a week and is worried that she will miss a blood test, for the hospital to keep an eye on her dosage of warfarin. She is new to this, only having been on it for a couple of months. Is there anywhere in the Monflanquin/Villereal/Villeneauve/Fumel area that one would/can go to for a blood test? Once she has the results she can telephone the hospital. I have tried to reassure her, but she is a bit concerned.

Thanking you in advance,

Regards

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any laboratoire d'analyses médicales can do blood tests and you can find your nearest one from this page: http://laboratoire.portail-medical.com/

Presumably, your mother will not have a prescription and the cost will have to be met at the time.

She  / you will have to make sure to ask the lab for the correct analysis, (do not assume things are done the same way in France). Do quiz her doctor beforehand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My OH has been having injections and / or pills to thin his blood. It's very normal here as anyone even mildly incapacitated seems to be prescribed blood thinners as a matter of course.

As Clair says, your mother can go to the local laboratoire but another possibility (though more expensive) is for you to telephone the local nurses' practice - in the PagesJaunes under: Infirmiers: Cabinets, Soins a domicile and get them to come to your home to take the blood. Cost is likely to be around €35 and she'll probably be able to claim that back from her EHIC (the replacement for the E111 certificate).

Our local Cabinet Infirmiers come to the house at a specific time, take the blood, deliver it to the local laboratoire for analysis and then (depending on medical circumstances) the results are sent to you (not the nurse) in the mail. Another option, I expect, is to pick them up from the laboratoire later in the day.

Anyway, the most direct thing to do is go into the local Laboratoire - people who need blood tests before they've eaten anything go in early so there can be a wait. In the laboratoire in our local town, there can be a queue of 8 or 10 people at 9am. Mid-morning is better. If she takes her EHIC with her, she may not have to pay anything - or perhaps only 30% of the cost.

I have one of my OH's results from the laboratoire to hand so if you want me to scan the middle bit which would show your laboratoire exactly what information your mother is looking for from her blood test, PM me with your email address.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello

Yes an INR is what you need but you may need to know what medical condition your mother has requiring warfarin,  what dosage she takes and what INR range they like her to be in. I expect she has a card? A visit to her GP and INR before she travels may be a good idea and of course just ask your GP. As others have said it is easy enough to get a blood test so I hope you can reassure her and that she has a wonderful time!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You take your last result with you to the local Laboratory who will make a morning appointment.  They take a full blood test in France, not the finger prick in the UK, and the results will be available after 3.30 pm the same day.  Cost is E10.20.

The result will be given in duplicate one for you and one for your doctor.  Just telephone your surgery in UK with result and they will advise the dosage of Warfarin.

Ask for an INR test.  Our Lab actually put the dosage but we contacted our surgery.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi All,

Thanks very much to all of those that supplied information. My mum arrived this evening and I am now in a position to advise her. Would those in power think that the information supplied might be streamlined and readily available on this system? I'm sure there will be others in the same position.

Regards

Paul

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...