anticoagulation

[Musetta]

Hi everyone, I haven't posted for a while but I have a question - As an anti-coagulated Afibber - I was wondering are there any of you out there who have had a stroke or TIA despite anti-coagulation?

Musetta

[BobD Volunteer]

Nothing is fool proof so it does happen occasionally. I think anticoagulation reduces stroke risk by 60% or maybe a little more. assuming patient is in range of course. You can have bleed strokes as well as clot strokes.

Bob

[sann in reply to BobD]

Bob you are a mine of information but what is a bleed stroke? sann

[BobD Volunteer in reply to sann]

There are two types of stroke. Thrombotic where clots block blood vessels in the brain and an area dies off. How big that area is and how badly it affects the person depends on the size of the clot and where in the brain it happens. AF related strokes are usually more serious since the clots, forming in the heart as they do, can be bigger and block a larger area.

The other type of stroke is a bleed or haemorrhagic stroke where a blood vessel bursts in the brain and you bleed internally with similar outcome. It is for this reason that when deciding on anticoagulation it is important to assess the bleed risk using HASBLED as well as the stroke risk using CHADSVASC etc. If you look at CAREAF website this is probably better explained than I can.

Hope that helps

Bob

[sann in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob for explaining that for me, I don't know what I would do without you good people on here, I read all the posts everyday, and there is always things that people say have certain things and it seems silly I know but sometimes you are or have had the same problem as them, somehow you feel better. Thanks for your help. Take care Sann

[Musetta]

Thanks for reply Bob -

[Dadog]

Interesting question....and probably one we don't really want an answer to! A sort of head-in-the-sand thing; but yes, we need to be aware. We are taking all available precautions so carry on as normal!

David

[jbrucej]

Back to the original question. Yes, I was on Plavix/Aspirin/Pradaxa and my doc felt that was too much anticoagulant so he took me off the Plavix. I had three weeks of AFib at the end of which I had a bad TIA. It took me over a year to get back to normal and so it was a long "T". I've been on all three since and no more problems.