brain bleed

[Contact1]

I’m on Apixaban and worry a lot about brain bleeds. I get headaches due to neck injury (whiplash 3 times) and I think is this a bleed, such a worrier. Do others worry like me?

[BobD Volunteer]

Been on warfarin for twenty years and can honestly say that I never normally think about it. They tell me apixaban is safer .

Fell over yesterday and fell very heavily but luckily didn't break my arm which I got down before my head. Just badly bruised but did tell my wife and ask her to watch if I started behaving oddly. She told me it would be hard to notice. LOL 😁 (Note to self;- when getting down from stepladder look where you are putting feet! )

[Contact1 in reply to BobD]

Thanks for your reassuring reply. Glad you and your arm are okay. My partner gave me a hard hat for going up in the attic as I caught my head a couple times. He also says he needs to order bulk bubble wrap to put round me as I am accident prone. 😀Have a good day and watch where you put your feet 😊

[Cavalierrubie in reply to BobD]

That’s good advice Bob. I once got down from steps and put my foot into a bucket. The bucket flipped up onto my shin causing a dent and bruise for months. It was so bad l had to go to GP. I was very lucky not to have fallen. I took more water with it that day 😂😂😂

[Camelia23 in reply to BobD]

Reminds me of last March when I decided to clean a kitchen cupboard. I stepped off my two tier steps thinking I was on lower step not top one. Seconds of flying backwards then bashed my back against corner of kitchen wall. I was lucky it wasn't head. Now I stay on bottom step so husband has to reach upper shelves. He is a little younger!

[john-boy-92 in reply to BobD]

Glad you're still here and guiding the this forum.

Whilst I wear PPE around the house, I also clear scrub in a nature reserve using tools that would easily separate my fingers from my hand, or hand from arm. I haven't found a suit of armour for that one!

[Cavalierrubie]

To be honest,l think all of us on anticoagulants worry about bleeds, it’s inevitable as we are only human! It does worry me if l get a headache, hit my head or fall etc., but then l worry more about having a stroke. I have a great fear of that. Not much choice is there? I would be more worried not taking an anticoagulant. Better safe than sorry.

[Bagrat]

I agree. I can worry for England and it is difficult not to be too concerned, but we are so fortunate to have choices!

[oscarfox49]

We all worry about this and when you read the documentation and warnings which come with the tablets it is perhaps not surprising! They are of course warning against every or most eventuality!

Last autumn I was standing precariously on a step ladder as I built a shed (being 78 years old!) and tumbled from the top as the ladder gave way due to my stupidity. I bashed my head on a tree branch and hit the ground on my fundament and back so hard I went numb for a minute or so.

I thought it was the end and told my wife I was probably going to suffer from internal bleeding, but five minutes later I managed to get up and walk back to the house. I was bruised for a week or so but to some extent it reassured me that apixaban does not mean you are going to bleed with the slightest injury, but of course, we should all be more sensible and try to avoid doing dangerous things we got away with in our youth.

[Desanthony in reply to oscarfox49]

LOL exactly my wife always tells me that A&E is full of older men who have tried to do the same things in the same way they did when they were 30! If I bleed more from apixaban I have not noticed. I ordered all sorts of lotions and balms to stop bleeding quickly when put on them - one quite expensive from Australia - used it once and had to give the rest to a cousin as it was close to it's use by date. Have been on apixaban for 8 years now and 80 years old and still doing stupid things like gardening without gloves so that I get lots of scratches all over me. At our age skin is also thing so easier to get scratched from practically nothing at all. Still glad to be here and relatively healthy.

[Nightmare2]

They have you on Apixaban like myself as its safer, and the risks of not taking it could lead to strokes and even heart attack, i gather you have a heart condition. Brain bleeds are not something i worry about as on the drug myself, i would be more worried if i was not on it, with high risk of stroke with my AF

[Contact1 in reply to Nightmare2]

I have PAF but it is happening more often ☹️

[Nightmare2 in reply to Contact1]

Yes mine is too, i find the less i do it happens more, mine has never happened when working outside or whatever, but when sitting quietly watching TV. I am 77 now, try and forget about it, and remember what they all say, its not the Af that kills us, but what it can lead to i..e mainly strokes, hence the importance of blood thinners. Off outside now while weather is good to finish painting the pony little stable. as i say being more active seems to work for my PAF.

[bayonnejoe1]

I had an AFib stroke when I wasn't on an anticoagulant. That was seven years ago. I have been on Apixaban ever since. I too worry about a bleed, but I worry less about another stroke. Yes, worry seems to be part of life.

My only conclusion is that I'm lucky. The stroke didn't kill me, the meds seem to be working and I am enjoying life. I take great solace in those realities.

[ozziebob]

Your concerns are quite natural to most of us on the Forum.

In late 2016 I suffered spontaneous (ie. unexplained) chronic bilateral subdural haematomas, but luckily avoided surgical intervention. 5 years later I was diagnosed with paroxysmal AF and, with knowledge of my previous bleeds, apixaban was still recommended as the most appropriate DOAC.

But if I had an accident when taking apixaban (and if not) that involved a worrying head injury, I would definitely go to A&E in the hope of a scan.

[RoyMacDonald]

No, I only worry about having another stroke.

All the best.

Roy

[foxglove1]

Hi Contact1

yes!

But I worry more about possibility of a stroke if not on Apixiban. Im 18 months post ablation and fingers crossed still in SR but would not stop my Apixiban.

[john-boy-92]

I've had a stroke that affected the visual processing area of the brain (visual impairment), and it seems, the hippocampus (loss of smell and visual memory). Consequently, I'm on Pradaxa. After nearly 50 years in the construction industry, I routinely wear PPE that may include wearing a hard hat, during house maintenance. However, I don't worry about a brain bleed. As Kwai Chang Caine said in Kung Fu; "when did worrying about tomorrow ever change things". I don't know whether the local hospital has Praxbind to reverse the action of Pradaxa. After my stroke, I had a hemorrhagic transformation (bleeding in the area previously affected by the stroke). I had the classic symptoms of a subarachnoid hemorrhage (bleeding on the surface of the brain) that two GPs didn't recognise. My Neurologist had me in for an emergency CT when she returned from holiday.

In summary, don't worry, don't take excessive risks, wear a wrist band with the type of anticoagulant on it and, if you've got serious symptoms you need a Neurologist.