My GP has asked me to change from Rivaroxaban to Epaxiban as it is a cheaper option for the surgery finances. Can anyone tell me about their own experiences taking this medication. He did say I could change back to Rivaroxaban if I do not get on with it.
Thanks
🙂
Do you mean Apixaban? If yes I've had no problems with it at all, I don't tolerate many meds but this has been fine 🙂
My very experienced AF nurse told me she was always for Warfarin and not the new NOAC's, but has changed her mind now that there's Apixaban and thinks that's the best anticoagulant.
Jean
I’ve taken both and much prefer Apixaban.
On warfarin for seven years, On Apixaban for two years .No problems at all.
Hi Bertiedette. That’s good to know. Thank you
I have taken Apixaban for nearly 7 years without problems. My cardiologist told me that he preferred it as it has the lowest bleed factor of the NOAC's.
Hi, Still quite new to this(!), but since stroke a few months back I have only been taking APIXABAN. I think it initially made me a little ‘itchy’ but is now fine.
I understand it to be the best of typ.
Don’t know anything about the other one!
Cheers
M
When I was put on rivaroxaban by my cardiac hospital consultant she preferred it to apixiban.
I can change back to rivaroxaban if I am not happy so I will give it a go for a short while.
When I started on a NOAC I tried Pradaxa which gave me indigestion. My GP then gave me the choice of Rivaroxaban and Apixaban adding that there was nothing much in them apart from the difference in taking once or twice a day but for Rivaroxaban " he did not like the firm" ! In other words he preferred not to prescribe anything made by Bayer if there was a good alternative. Personally I think Bayer are one of the worst drug companies especially since their merger with Monsanto and I heartily agreed with him. I have noticed from this forum that Rivaroxaban gets more complaints about side effects too. I hope the Apixaban suits you.
Thanks for taking the trouble to reply to me.
I have never had any side effects from rivaroxaban and hopefully edoxaban will price the same.
I was surprised to see the claim prescriptions cost the surgery but I found this BMA article (see drug switching section) where GPs are either encouraged or explicitly instructed to be cost aware.
bma.org.uk/advice-and-suppo....
You learn something new every day!
Same thing here in the USA. Drs told me the insurance companies prefer Eliquis, what you all call apixaban, because it's more cost effective. Because it's not supposed to be checked like Warfarin or Coumadin. Which in between the lines means the insurance companies don't care what works for most people as long as they turn a profit.
I hope you do well and find a med that suits you.
Hi belindalore. I wish he had just left me alone on the rivaroxaban as I am confused and worried now. X
See how you do. Everyone is different. And if you don't like it demand your Dr to switch you back. I didn't mean to worry you. I was just talking about what a lot of the Drs and insurance companies do over here in the USA. You may do well on the med and if not tell your Dr you were doing better on the other. Wishing you the best.
I do not like the idea of changing just because it is more cost effective. Yes I can understand that but it still should be about what is best for each individual. He did say I could change back though if I didn’t get on with it.
Oh I totally agree with you. It should be about what works best for the patient. Drs and most insurance companies here in the states like I said are more profit driven. It's more the last word from the insurance companies rather than the Dr. Insurance companies have to approve what pills you take, what tests you can get, what surgeries they'll allow. It's a shame that most healthcare has come to that. It's actually very scary. I would never be a Dr here. I wouldn't deal with these money hungry insurance companies and I couldn't live with myself knowing I could be doing harm to my patients. I don't believe many Drs have a conscious anymore. I have a nephew who considered becoming a Dr and when he realized what actually went on and how corrupt the system is he said no way. He wanted to help not hurt people. Then he thought maybe he'd be a physical therapist. Well there's problems there too dealing with insurance. He finally decided against anything to do with medicine. He ended up learning to be an electrician, makes decent money and loves doing it! His mother told him not to become a Dr if it was just to make big money. He said he never intended to do that.
At least it seems you guys in the UK sometimes have Drs who will listen. Better than here in the states. One thing I don't understand is how can a Dr accurately treat a patient when he doesn't run any tests to find a cause for a condition. Well the answer is the insurance companies don't like Drs doing tests unless they can prove they are 100% necessary. It's just gotten ridiculous. There's an old movie from the 1970's with Charlton Heston called Soylent Green. Population has gotten out of hand. Only the wealthy get the best food, places to live etc. The poor masses are given these green crackers to eat. When someone dies there's no funeral. No one knows where the deceased go. Until Hestons character has a friend that dies and he is allowed to be with his friend as he dies. Then he sneaks and hides and sees these trucks that pick up the bodies and follows the trucks to some factory. He gets inside and finds out all the deceased people are made into the green crackers people are eating. Some of my friends and I joke about it and say that's probably going to happen some day. Sometimes I think it's not really so funny. 😕
Listen, wpw62. It sounds like you may have a Dr who will listen. So see what happens with the new med. Think positive. You know your body so watch for any side effects. If you can't tolerate the medicine ask your Dr to switch you back. If you want to see side effects look up drugs.com and read about the side effects and see if there are any you may have. That's the other thing that aggravates me. Drs don't know all the side effects and some of them don't believe that the patient is having side effects that aren't listed in what the Drs have or what info you may get from the pharmacist. Sometimes we have to do our own research. And so many people on this forum have dealt with Afib or arrhythmia for a long time and they have really good advice. So hang in there. Know that you can ask anything. Take care.
My cardiologist switched me from Rivaroxaban as he said the latest research in the USA was not good. He prescribed Edoxaban instead but when I start I intend to request I have Apixaban as it seems the best from comments here.
Do you mean Edoxaban...it's the newest DOAC.
I was changed from Riveroxaban to Apaxiban a couple of years ago. Didn't notice any difference. My understanding was Apaxiban was slightly more expensive but the savings came from fewer strokes and the resultant cost savings to the NHS.
I had awful aches and pains with epaxiban, look it up in a forum, I'm not the only one now I'm on xaralto, must just take it with food all ok now.
I have been on Rivaroxaban for 5 years after a stroke. I have had no side effects at all . It is the beta blockers that l have had trouble with which l have been taking for about 2 years.
Hi I’ve gone the other way hospital took me off Apixaban and put me onto Rivaroxaban, said it did a better job and it’s once a day. I don’t feel so tired so for me a result.
Pleased for you.
When I was taken off Warfarin in March (which I'd been on for about 10 years without any problems) to save visiting the GP's Surgery for tests during lockdown, I was put on Rivaroxaban (Xarelto)20 mg. Also beta-blocker Sotalol was changed to Bisoprolol 2.5mg. It seemed OK for a while, but at the end of April I had an episode of atrial flutter which really did not want to go away; and internal bleeding, mostly in the bladder so it was easily detected fortunately. As a result the Revaroxaban was reduced to 15mg but that didn't seem to make much difference. Bleeding continued into July. So Dr suggested trying Apixaban 2.5mg (Eliquis) twice daily. I've been on that for 3 months now, and no bleeding (that we are aware of, anyway!) and no other nasty side effects. He was very unwilling to revert to Sotalol which had worked beautifully for the previous 4-5 years (still don't know why, except that Sotalol is apparently a pretty antique medicine, which doesn't seem much of a good reason to me), so I'm still on Bisoprolol, which I'm still a bit suspicious of. A cardioversion in July sorted the flutter and - fingers crossed - I'm staying in sinus still. So for what it's worth, it seems that for me, Apixaban wins hands down.
Sorry to hear you had problems. I take Sotalol without any problem. I have taken bisoprolol in the past but don’t like it. It didn’t suit me. Rivaroxaban is been swapped for edoxaban next month. Hope you keep well
Not noticed any adverse change (rivaroxaban for 2 years,edoxaban for 6 months).Scratches healing better ,bleeding much reduced and itching eliminated . Don't know whether any of these changes are related to stopping the calcium channel blockers (CCB) and moving to beta blocker information on CCB effects a bit sketchy
That sounds reassuring. I do get mild itching round the hair line at the back of my neck so that could be the rivaroxaban. Anything that reduces itching, bruising and bleeding must be an improvement
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