Worry worry worry for all of us Prada... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Worry worry worry for all of us Pradaxa Users!!
Just as I was getting used to the idea it may be good. I'm just an old fuddy duddy who doesn't trust new drugs I guess.
Bob
Having read the report I can't find any new data, all that information has been in the public domain for some months. The way I read it was that there is some controversy over the dosage and whether or not there could or should be monitoring. The danger is when prescribed for people 75+ and those with kidney dysfunction and that does need monitoring.
What worries me is the systemic failure of non bias for drug testing and that until drugs are tested by an independant body ie other than the drug companies, we are only ever going to hear about the positive benefits from them, of course they will down play the side effects. Having worked for a drug company and coordinated and filed all the data from trials, what shocked me is that a 40%efficacy is considered excellent! We expect great things from our medicines but the reality is there is still a lot of trial and error. I am still taking my Pradaxa though and will continue as it is the lesser of the other evils.
as its beeen said i think we are all made aware of the side effects and all the info was available anyway. The gentleman who had the bleed may or may not have had it due to Pradaxa. As i say as long as we make informed decisions its good to have choice.I will continue for now with the new drug. Thanks for drawing our attention to it though.
I also take Pradaxa and before I changed from Warfarin which was not working for me I did my own research. I agree with CDreamer and frills there is no new information in that article. The information was freely available as was information on Warfarin. Considering all the research I read and personal experience I was happy to change to the Pradaxa. There are risks with any drug we take and we have to weigh up what is best for us as individuals. The only concerns I had at the start were the lack of antidote, after researching this I found people who had experienced major bleeds and had recovered with the help of Dr's treating them. The antidote is now in the testing stage and hopefully will not be too far away.
Yes, being a newspaper, they have to make things look dire but it is mostly old news. I too think an independent testing body would be a good idea, but the drugs companies are all highly-secretive and competitive, so that's not going to happen without big legislation... I have to say I think most people will be happier once this antidote is developed, although doctors seem to find ways and means, thank goodness.
G'day migmog,
I just posted a comment for Yatsura who also refers to this article in Daily Mail. You may be interested in my reply. If you can't locate it let me know and I'll post it on here for you.
Cheers,
Aussie John
I wonder if we dug into the newspaper archives of years ago, would we find scare stories about warfarin? Or was there a kind of golden age when everyone believed in the medical profession absolutely and didn't question anything?
I posted on the US case a couple of months ago. To me the worrying issue is the tendency for the company to cover up any adverse findings. The doctors carrying out the trials and discussing the findings tend to have a massive conflict of interest as they are paid by the drugs company. I think there is a need for much more openness in drug trials.
I think with warfarin it all depends on your ability to manage your INR. If you can stay in range then warfarin is actually better than dabigatran. If you can't then dabigatran is going to be the better option (though I would personally go for one of the other new oral anti coagulants).
As with any drug you need to make yourself aware of any issues. With dabigatran, there are more stomach bleeds than warfarin so you need to be aware of the symptoms.
Mark
I take Pradaxa and worry now and again, I did also research before changing and I did find a lot of lawsuits in the pipeline against Prodaxa In America at the moment. Having had TIA 's whilst on warfarin , I had to accept changing drugs and I am just glad there was another choice.
All medical articles tend to be somewhat alarming I have found. I am 87 and was prescribed Pradaxa over a year ago. In my case, there was no real alternative. My wife is bed ridden and I have no family within 100 miles to help me out. I can rarely go out and always have to have someone in to watch over her and that is not always easy to do at precise times.Hence Warfarin is 'out' anyway. I wonder if the 'bleeds' reported are sometimes due to not taking the tablets at precise 12 hour intervals ? I know the instructions say that if you miss a dose you can take one if it is more than 6 hours before you have to take the next one. Personally, I take mine at 11.00am and 11.00pm and set my alarm clock for these times. On the odd ocassion I may not be near my clock at the set time, I put a tablet in my pocket and set my wrist watch alarm !! Better safe than sorry !!
I have wondered about the dose for NOACS as there must be some relationship between dose needed and body weight- this might be why some people are under or over coagulated on them.
I agree with Mark that with warfarin you can check you are in range and adjust to keep safe..
I don't expect the studies that compared the NOACs with warfarin could keep such a close eye on range as we can ourselves and so there may have been more people unknowingly out of range on warfarin being comared with the people taking NOACs.
Although i prefer warfarin as can check the range, a local cardiologist told me if he had AF he would take Apixaban!
Things might change if they develop antidotes and ways of checking range, but I have read for serious bleeds, haemodialysis can be used to get rid of the NOACs- it doesn't sound as if the chap who bled in the US got treatment straight away so maybe that's why his was so bad???
I think we should be vigilant and get medical help as soon as sign of proper bleeding occurs!
A reminder to us all. 
Ablation for all types of AF?
First 10k run 🏃♀️ since AFIb diagnosis. Hope for us all 🤗
Migraine tablets suitable for apixaban/bisoprolol/amlodipine users
More of us out there...
