Apixiban and joint pain

[Nan1]

Hoping you might be able to help. After being on Warfarin for 6 years I was encouraged to change to Apixiban as I wasn’t keeping in range recently. I have been taking Apixiban for a week and first noticed pain in my left shoulder that isn’t getting better and now I have ankle pain as well. I have an arthritic knee but that seems worse now. Has anybody experienced these symptoms and do they improve or should I consult the doctor.

[Hidden]

Hiya Nan1,

Interesting post.

I am on Warfarin and in the last 12 months my joint pain has dramatically increased.

However, I would not blame Warfarin, or any other drugs I am on ............ for me it is a safe bet that ( in my case) my osteoarthritis is gradually spreading to various joints around the body.

OA was first identified during right knee cartilage surgery back in around years 2000/2001.

during the next 12 years or so my right knee worsened and this resulted in right knee replacement surgery in Nov. 2015.

Brilliant, surgeon, brilliant job. Knee sorted !

Since then it's begun to move, next was right shoulder. Now left shoulder and from there the left hand, palm side only - not top side. Mostly the joint under the left hand little finger and also the bottom right corner of the left hand palm, almost on the wrist.

I now associate the increased arthritic pain with the levels of humidity and weather changes. I can predict a weather change looming days before the Met. Office 😂😂

Specifically, I have a small digital weather station in my lounge and I've noticed that when humidity is around 45 to 55 % I am pain free, however as the humidity climbs up to around 97 % the pain intensifies incredibly.🥵🥵 and at times I am virtually in tears.

The Warfarin restricts my pain relief medication and I use Co-Codomol 30/500 ( available only on prescription). I might add I've been on Warfarin now for a bit over 10 years and there is no way I would come off it. In deed it would be a brave ( or rather silly) GP to even raise the matter.

In your case ........ did anyone do any research as to why, when you were on Warfarin, your INR did not stay in range ...... or did they, just willy nilly, use this as an excuse to get you off Warfarin onto the new NOAC's.

I have noticed over the last 12 months or maybe longer more and more people post on here the same thing - that they've come off Warfarin onto a NOAC ........ and with this come the moans and groans that they are experiencing side effects from the NOAC's. Just as others had problems with Warfarin and that in addition to such problems they had constant problems achieving a stable INR.

Personally, I think this is mostly about money and drug pricing practices between Drug Cartels and various nations health services. Warfarin is an old drug with low profit margins - NOAC's are new drugs with attractive, high profit margins.

John

[Nan1 in reply to Hidden]

Morning John, thank you for your reply. Really interesting to read about the changes to the weather and OA. Sorry to read how bad it can get for you. In all fairness to the clinic it was myself that first brought up the possibility of a change to a NOAC as I thought it was the way to go. I’ll give it a couple of weeks to see if things settle down.

[maria68]

I have had joint pain and numbness with Apixaban. Got changed to Riveroxaban but no better. So my cardiologist is trying Edoxaban now. I’m hoping it’s going to improve.

Otherwise he says I’ll have to go onto Warfarin.

[Nan1 in reply to maria68]

Thanks for your reply. Hope the change works for you.

[EsteleW]

Hi Nan1.

Sorry to say that joint pain seems to come with the direct oral anticoagulants for some people. At least, it did for me. I had no pre-existing joint problems - and my doctor confirmed that these meds are known to cause it.

I've been on anticoagulants for a year after a femoral DVT and two PEs. The only anticoagulant I'm comfortable with is enoxaparin: Clexane. But the haematologist was very stern with me about the risk of osteoporosis from using enoxaparin for too long. She changed me to apixaban (but now before I had developed osteopenia). The pains I had been developing in my hips and knees disappeared overnight, and over the next week or so new pains appeared in my shoulders and elbows.

I stayed on apixaban for three or four months with the shoulder pain getting worse and worse, prevented by the coronavirus from seeing the specialists and changing medication. I couldn't dress without help, or drive, or do much of anything at all. Eventually I changed to rivaroxaban which helped a bit, but not enough. By this time my shoulders were inflamed, I tore the right rotator cuff somehow, and also developed thoracic outlet syndrome - and six months earlier I had absolutely nothing wrong there.

I've been off all anticoagulants for close to four weeks now just because of the side effects, and I'm hoping that my shoulders and elbows will continue to recover because I'm not back to baseline yet, not by a long shot. My experience seems to be rare but not unique.

If you're getting pains after a week, maybe speak to your doctor. Good luck.

[Nan1]

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Sorry to hear the problems you are having and wish you well soon