Catarrh while taking Apixaban

[emsling]

Hi. Maybe this is a long shot but for the last 12 month I suffer sinus problems mostly during the night. Lately with throat catarrh.

I eliminated statins and blood pressure tablets thinking it could be that but can’t stop Apixaban to find out if this is causing it.

Does anyone have or had the same problem?

[Pita]

Hi, now that is weird, I have been taking Apixaban for over 3 years now, and in the last 6 or 7 months the Catarrh has become more troublesome because it is so thick and salty going down the back of my throat and into my mouth with a sore throat. However I do suffer from hayfever and take antihistamines daily, which helps to some degree. I have also tried the usual saline solution of sea salt and bicarb of soda mixed with boiled water from the kettle since February and to be honest it really has made the Catarrh worse. So I stopped using the saline solution a few days ago and see how I go over the next few weeks. Pam

[Fruitcake100 in reply to Pita]

Yes I have had it now for the last few years as well as a persistent, and can be quite dramatic cough, which i think is caused by the constant post nasal drip. I use a nasal washout , a nasal spray for drying my nose up a bit and have tried Loratadine which doesnt seem to work. I also have hay fever which does confuse things but it is a constant annoyance and very hard to try and figure if i have, a cold, hay fever , reaction to AF pills i take, Nebivolol and warfarin plus simvastatin. Next I read that all of these symptoms can be caused by reflux so omeprazol was added to the list.

I still have all of above but not quite as bad as it was. Sorry this goes on, you can see i am very confused by all of this. Other than all that , I get breathless going up steps or hills, but am quite fit as i walk for approx 2 miles a day, try to do other excercises etc.

[Pita in reply to Fruitcake100]

Good morning Fruitcake, I have always had sinus problems, and the last 6 to 7 months has also been a real pain and with the catarrh thrown in, I am also an asthmatic (copd) and with other illnesses and of course AF/SVT. As I am shielding I won't go to the GP nor will I go to any hospital appointments, I spoke to my gp on the phone back in early March and he just said there is nothing we can do, to help with the catarrh/post nasal drip as he put it. I have tried the steriod nasal spray and it gave me a very swollen throat and thrush, so a bad reaction to it, that was in January this year.

[CDreamer]

That’s interesting as I have a lost of persistent catarrh which is causing a very persistent cough. I can’t see how it is related to Apixaban though and have never heard of a correlation before. I do have a friend who has similar - but she doesn’t take any anticoagulant.

I’ll be interested in any responses.

[realdon]

I also take Apixaban and statins and have the same problem. This has arisen since I switched from Rivaroxaban to Apixaban, which I did a few years ago partly so I would only need to take one anticoagulant pill per day, and partly because Rivaroxaban made me constipated. I'm still constipated with Apixaban, so perhaps I should switch back to Rivaroxaban?

[irene75359]

I read your post with huge interest. My daughter is on Apixaban for a different heart condition and she has had several bouts of severe sinusitis and throat catarrh (so bad that she vomits) which she never suffered from before. It never occurred to her that Apixaban might be responsible. And this is the first post on the forum (to my knowledge) I have seen about it. I will follow this up with her to see if her sinusitis started with the Apixaban and let you know.

[emsling in reply to irene75359]

Thank you very much. I feel sorry for your daughter. I do know how she feels. I am not able to get a face to face GP app at the moment but will soonest it’s available again. Can’t go on like this.

[Auriculaire in reply to emsling]

I would imagine the doctor will deny any connection. If a side effect is not on the patient leaflet they usually disregard it. Some disregard it even if it is listed saying "very rare". Never seems to occur to them that you might be one of the poor sods who have the very rare reaction.

[irene75359 in reply to emsling]

I spoke to my daughter yesterday and her sinusitis problems started way before she started Apixaban, so we can't include her, unfortunately.

[Cheruboo]

Hello Emsling

Just caught up with you - It is an odd one about catarrh and Apixaban, because since January, when I had a really bad sore throat and cough, and chest infection, I cannot get rid of the (sorry for the word )phlegm from my chest, not the same as everyone else here, which seems to be in the sinuses.

I have been on Apixaban now for two years and this is the first time I have had this problem. My thoughts were that in January maybe I had the Covid19,. It was a particularly bad time for me I had just nursed my daughter who died at home, so I was not really concentrating on my illness, just struggling through each day coping with the grieving bit as best I could. I had numerous tries at antibiotics and mucus thinners but to no avail.

It is particularly difficult , for a lot of us who are shielding, and not being able to get to a consultant for assessment, because of the lockdown. I wonder if anyone else has considered that they may have perhaps had the virus and this is the tail end of its complications?

[emsling in reply to Cheruboo]

So sorry about your daughter. Mine died 35. years ago and still miss her every day.

I hope you will feel a bit better soon and can enjoy the nice memories.

You mentioned it might be covit related.

I had a very bad chest infection in September last year but had the sinus trouble well before that. Only the mucus on the back of the throat started getting worse about 3 mth ago.

[Tryfan]

Well can I join in the "well that is strange" set. I have noticed for some time now that I have constant catarrh in the back of my throat. It seems to get worse as the day wears on. I did put it down to hay fever, but I don't sneeze nor seem to have any other symptoms.

I'm often scraping my throat it seems to be stuck around my voice box and does affect my speech.

Very strange. But I doubt anyone would accept its Apixaban. But if enough of us register an issue maybe they will.

[emsling]

Thank you for all your replies. I am still hoping it might disappear one day.

[gemma29806]

I started Apixapan in January, i to have sinus problems and a really bad cough also catarrh. I was on it in hospital but had fluid on lungs and heart. IT was stopped after check up but back on it again.

.

[shirlygirly]

I too have the same problem and have had for the few years.I did think

it was just me so Im quite relieved to find Im not the only one. I used to take bisoprolol but stopped that about a year ago and now just take

Rivaroxaban, which Ive taken for about 10 years. I did suddenly seem as

if I needed to take a hayfever tablet in summer which I have never needed before and Im over 80 years of age. I also started needing a

nasal spray which all helps but doesn take away the problem. My

husband complains about my coughing which I honestly thought was

my H.F. worsening. As you will realise Im so pleased to find there could

be another for my problem.... Where do we go from here. I have never

mentioned it to my EP. Sorry there are other sufferers but I feel so much better. I also suffer throughout the night.

[emsling]

Thank you for your reply. That means that changing to another Anticoagulant will be fruitless. Looks like we have to add this to the list of side effects and grin and bear it.

[shirlygirly]

No mention of this in the list of possible side effects, or anything remotely like it. Its a puzzle.