Hello all you lovely Affibbers out there.
Because of a few bleeds my husband as has recently. His cardiologist has suggested reducing his Rivaroxaban from 20mg to 15mg. Was just wondering what doseage other people with AF are on.
Thank you in advance.
Yes it is all about the risk. But thanks very much for that.
I had mine reduced from 20 to 15mg about four years ago after a kidney function test was a bit out of range. Not had any bad effects from the reduction.
Or maybe change to Apixaban? As others said a lower dose may be appropriate depending on age etc.
hi netie,lowered mine from 20 to 15 about a year and a half ago,all is still fine.
Thanks for that. Did you have any bleeding before you reduced it ?
the only bleeding i had was from my gums,but even that has gone now,i still bruise easy if i knock myself.but thats all,hope this helps.
Yes my husband’s gums bleed too. Thanks for your response.
I started on 20mgs from May 2019. Began feeling unwell shortly after but was told to persevere. By November i was extremely unwell and blood tests revealed blood volume down by half. Apparently i was suffering GI bleeding which is a risk factor with this drug. A long hospital stay with lots of tests .This last 12 months has been a nightmare and one i would not like to repeat.
An ablation and a watchman device later i am now off anticoagulants and just on asprin.
From my experience don't take this drug if you suffer with any gut problems especially diviticulitis.
That's interesting what you say about gut problems. I have IBS and was put in rivaroxaban 3 weeks ago: it hasn't really worsened my IBS symptoms, but I feel generally very unwell. Because there is no prospect of a cardiology appointment I'm trying to work out myself if it was the fast AF episode or the introduction of a new medication that makes me feel so ill. Does anyone know what the side effects of this drug are? I have regular headaches and my whole body, especially my chest and ribcage, seems to throb; I'm quite dizzy and faint, and very tired. The A&E nurse said everything would settle down in 3 to 6 weeks. I think I need to speak to a pharmacist really, they have much greater knowledge of medication than doctors.
I have taken Rivaoxaban for over a year and did not notice any side effects at all, but we are all different. I did have a bleed from my kidneys and had to stop taking it for a few days, but all tests came back fine and no further problems, you should have a leaflet with your pills that tell you about side effects.
Thank you very much for your reply. It was very interesting.My husband is on 20mg Rivaoxiban and gets gut problems which very often starts an AF for him. How are things since having The Watchman fitted. Did you have a long recovery time ?
Yes a long 12 mths. part of the problem was that to help prevent a thrombos forming on the device while it was settling in i had to be on Rivaoxiban plus asprin, an anticoagulant and an antiplatelet. This resulted in another GI bleed plus kidney bleed. Extreme tiredness, weakness , migraines and breathlessness have been my companions from the blood loss but am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
On the up side AF has improved since the ablation just prior to the watchman.
Am now only on asprin.
I take 20mg and I gather that is standard. I haven't had any extra bleeding that I have noticed. A friend on warfarin does suffer with bleeding, however, and bruises easily.
Steve
I take 20mg with no problems. 🤞. I have been taking it since April 2020.
I take 20mg and have don for about five years, Apart from bleeding gums I have no problems. When I mentioned it to my dentist he said my gums were healthy so I assume that it’s the Rivaroxaban.
I am 72 years old and have been taking Rivaroxaban 20mg for about 3 years. I do get gum bleeds and have had 2 attacks of diverticulitis one 2019 and another 2020.(never had a need to go to hospital for this before) I have also had a huge orange size cyst on my liver 2020 which had to be drained. I suspect it has grown back as I write this, but hesitating going to emergency due to an increase of Covid. Hope to speak to my doctor first. During the first draining of my cyst they used alcohol to burn it so it wouldn’t return. No guarantees though. I hit the roof with this burn and my doctor feels I may have had a bleed where the cyst was and the alcohol caused the excruciating pain. Hence my hesitation. I suspect now that rivoroxaban (from info I have been reading here) may be the cause. Will let you know how it goes. I also get an acid stomach.
Last March just as the Pandemic began, two of my crowns fell out and due to the fact that they were old and needed replacing, my dentist recommended me to have the teeth removed by a specialist dental surgery (my appointment is in a couple of week's time, provided it doesn't get cancelled due to the current lockdown🤔. After about a couple of weeks of having the old crowns removed, one of the tooth sockets started bleeding badly, often at least 20 minutes before stopping, and this happened a few times a day but especially at night time where it would wake me up.
Added to this I started to experience posterior nose bleeds which is where the blood comes down the back of the throat and into the mouth, again happening much more frequently at night. Sorry to be so graphic concerning this but it was not very pleasant at all and I put up with it for about a month assuming it was all due to the empty tooth sockets. At the time I was on Rivaroxaban and even tried to vary the time that I would take it, just to see if that made any difference.
Eventually I got in touch with my GP who changed me to Apixaban (5mg) and the bleeding stopped within a couple of days and thankfully has not returned. Hope this might be helpful in making a decision as to whether to change medications.
I had brain tumour surgery and was on rivaroxaban, but afterwards I was changed to apixaban as I was told it was much kinder to the brain and stomach. (5mgs morning and night). All the best to you and hubby
They started me out on 20 mg after my cardiac arrests & insertion of a pacemaker/icd. I started having a little blood in my urine here and there, not all the time. But after we eliminated everything else, my doctor then thought it might be the Xeralto. So she cut it back to 15 mg, and all that bleeding stopped. She said that for older people (I am 73) 15 mg is usually just fine. (I was concerned that 15 would mean less protection against strokes.) I have been on 15 mg now for over 2 years, everything seems to be okay.
I’ve been on Rivaroxaban for six months now (20mg) and so far it hasn’t affected me at all. I have never had a check to see if all ok..how often are checks meant to be carried out when you take this?
Hi, I’ve been on 20mg for a year, other then bleeding gums and bruises no other side affects, I have a health check every Jan which includes full blood tests, on the list for an ablation currently, due to covid cardiologist says will be at least a years wait
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