In 5 years of taking Apixaban 5mgs twice a day, I have never had any evidence of unusual bleeding. No bruising beyond expected, no nosebleeds after blowing my nose, no bleeding after having blood taken.
I took warfarin before Apixaban and I had all of those with warfarin. So I wonder whether I may be in the small number of people who are apparently resistant to DOACS. If you search the title of the post above you should find a small paper (which I had difficulty understanding) about this.
2 questions.
Has anyone had the same experience of never bleeding on a DOAC?
Has anyone had a test to see if their DOAC is working?
Thanks
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Porageface
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Don't over think this. I have been on warfarin for twenty years and never had any form of unexplained bleeding, bruising or anything other than brittle mails. My wife who is not on any anticoagulants on the other hand bruises for England!
My late husband was on warfarin and he had serious nosebleeds, bruising, bleeding after blood tests and surgery plus a ruptured ulcer where they thought he wouldn’t make it because of bleeding.
I’ve been on Apixaban for 5 years and never had any bleeding even during/after major surgery.
I've been taking Apixaban for 11 years and have had no problems caused by it, other than breaking hair. I've had nose bleeding from an allergic reaction to glass cleaning chemicals, large unpleasant teeth out, minor surgery and falls and cuts - and I'm still here.
I'm not sure there is a test for how a DOAC is working - might be wrong there. I do have annual kidney/liver function tests to ensure that the drug is being excreted correctly.
Has anyone had the same experience of never bleeding on a DOAC? Has anyone had a test to see if their DOAC is working ?
3 years on Eliquis and no abnormal bleeding or adverse symptoms. I do bruise and get temporary spots on my forearms at times.
There is a blood test to determine how susceptible your blood is to clotting. I received one before my first cardioversion in addition to a transthoracic echo (TTE). Can't remember name. May want to check with your doctor.
I get these spots on my arms too. Usually the inner upper arm and mostly on the left. They are like small round bruises but I can never remember banging against anything. I take a long time to stop bleeding after a cut or scratch and have had two incidents when a canula was removed and blood soaked through the dressing poured out and dripped on the floor!
Which anti-coagulant are you taking?My cardiologist wants to change me from Pradaxa to Rivaraxoban but from what I have read Apixaban seems to have less serious bleeding incidents.
Pradaxa gives me indigestion but no other problems.
I am on Apixaban . It gives me digestive problems but nowhere near as bad as Pradaxa did. It worsens my joint pain which is more serious. I have to confess to tinkering with the dose!
Some people on a DOAC may not notice any visible effects, while others, like myself, can experience more very noticeable bruising. This doesn't mean the apixaban isn’t effective—it works for both groups. The study you're referencing indicates that DOACs are effective anticoagulants. However, in rare cases, they may not be sufficient for certain high-risk patients, who make up a very small percentage of users and is very uncommon. As BobD said, try not to overthink it.
Been taking DOAC’s for 11 years, no bruising, unusual or excessive bleeds and had a few surgical procedures. Did have a TIA though when I stopped taking DOACs for a few months…..
Never had bleeding internal or nosebleeds but I sometimes have a needle from a blood test cause me to bleed uncontrollably.
Stopping 3 days x 24 hrs before operations has lessened bleeding during even though the TVT J&J rough mesh removed was a risk my gynar-uro specialist said all went well.
But now I take 110mg Pradaxa x twice day.
Warfarin needs to be monitred to what Vit K intake you take in through your food.
DOACs don't have the same 'eat about the same Vit K daily'.
I haven't noticed any extra bleeding on either rivaroxaban or apixaban, either - but I feel sure that is normal. An elderly friend, now 90, on warfarin, as well as my brother in law, is the same, although the friend does now bruise easily, probably age related.
I’m on Edoxaban and I’ve not had any excessive bleeding. My Dad was on Warfarin and died of a brain haemorrhage, aged 69. That was 38 years ago, before DOAC’s were around. I often wonder if he’d been on those, would he have had a brain bleed. My Mum refused to go on Warfarin, because of what happened to my Dad and had a couple of TIA’s. She had AFib, which I never knew about, as she’d never mentioned it. It was the care home, she was in, that told me. She did live till 93 though and died from a fall. I think I would have been wary of going on Warfarin as well. Thank goodness for the DOAC’s. !!
Never had a bleed as you described and on edoxaban but had a tooth removed last year and it wept blood for 5 days. You are most likely worrying about nothing.
I have been taking apixaban for nearly 8 years and no unusual bleeding at all. It doesn't appear to take me longer to heal or stop bleeding when I hurt myself. I do bruise more easily but I am an older person of 81 now so maybe I should expect this.
in reply to your question regarding a test for anti clotting efficiency of a DOAC I had one in the early days of taking Apixaban( nearly 5 years ago) which measured Fibrinogen.
There is also a platelet blood test count which is done more regularly.
I was thinking that of course the drug companies have to have a test to prove the effectiveness of their products and these tests can be hidden from us in general screening if we don’t ask for a copy of the blood test results.
The makers of Viagra didn’t have a problem proving this, all they needed was a tape measure.😁
I was on Apixaban and was changed like many others to Edoxaban for economic reasons. So after 3 1/2 years of DOACs have just come home from a week in hospital having had an artery blood clot from groin to foot in my right leg. ( with a couple of gaps). They do not understand why it happened and I am in the process of being changed to Warfarin. Brightness said blood type made a difference, I am A rhesus negative, maybe it does count? Also my paroxysmal AFib seems to be changing to persistant has that had an effect? I will probably never know.
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