I know this is a silly squabble, but my friend fell over and got a blood clot through being inactive for a long while.
She now says after all the presumably heparin type injections that she is on apixaban snd says it is a blood thinner and making her lose weight
I said I’ve been on them since about 2017 and no weight loss and they not blood thinners, but are anticoagulants.
She won’t have it and keeps saying I’m wrong. I have tried in simplest terms to explain the difference, but no she has become argumentative. I decided to let it all go, especially if she’s ok, but she won’t.
Any ideas how I can explain to her in simplest form the difference between anticoagulants and blood thinners please? I even sent her a clipping from Google, but..
I know this is a silly and long message, but she is driving me balmy!!!
Thank you
Pat xx
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Anticoagulants work by interrupting the process involved in the formation of blood clots. They're sometimes called "blood-thinning" medicines, although they don't actually make the blood thinner
Thank you. My friend is like a dog with a bone about it all and I have TRIED to explain it to her as you’ve just described, but she won’t listen and keeps saying she is right. We are all in our 80s and I suppose you could say we are daft old people!!!
Warfarin is an anticoagulant and asprin is an antiplatelet. Asprin is no longer recommended because in recent tests it showed a higher incidence of causing bleeds and didn't show significant benefits in helping to prevent strokes or heart attacks.
That's just changed now Asprin is back in. Helps stop Cancer on Mediscape website last week. My Mother took a small sized Asprin for over 20 years and lived to be 100.
In the US they are selling out of the new small sized one now.
Try explaining that nothing actually thins blood. the viscosity stays the same whatever. Antiplatelets such as aspirin and clopidogrel work to stop the platelets joining together to form lumps which could become clots. They are also used to help break down such clumps when a DVT for examplee has formed.
Anticoagulants slow down the whole clotting process and each type has its use. Anticoagulants are used to help prevent strokes in people with AF where the irregular heart beat can allow pooling of the blood within the heart . Antiplatelets are used to help stop clots forming on foreign bodies in the blood system such as artificial heart valves or stents. and where clots may already have formed to stop them getting larger. Antiplatelets are of very limited use in stroke prevention for AF.
On the other hand there is a Devon saying " you can't teach pork!"
I disagree. Aspirin brought me back from a Stroke in 2009 and I had been on it for over 12 years - just 1-75mg tablet daily - until last year because the Cardiologist said I had Afib and put me on Apixaban, which is a Generic. I almost died, but against medical advice, I insisted on being put on Aspirin. That is why I am here today!
How is it that when Apixaban almost killed me with an horrific pain in my leg for three weeks that no doctor could identify until I ended up at the DVT Clinic and the Specialist there said STOP ANTICOAGULANTS. God bless Aspirin. (Now don't have Afib either!) Bye xx
I had given blood since 1968 and once a few years ago looked up regarding different blood groups and that was the answer. I don't know why though and thought that you may know the answer. I know that it's slightly thinner because mine runs to easily.
I think this was a question / comment from someone else. I wasn’t aware this was the case with blood groups. Also thinking about it O is the most common and I’m sure a lot of people on that group have problems xx
Anticoagulants and blood thinners are the same thing - they protect people from getting blood clots. Even GP's will often refer to anticoagulants as blood thinners. Yes, we know that blood thinners is not really a good description as they don't actually thin the blood but they do protect the blood from thickening and causing clots. In general calling these drugs blood thinners is far easier for most people to understand than calling them anticoagulants.
Sorry, but I'm sick to death of all this must call them anticoagulants pettiness.
I've never heard of them causing people to lose weight though.
My understanding has always been that the phrase "BLOOD THINNERS" is a lazy term ( or a term used by the uninformed ) for anticoagulant. Blood is not thinned, rather that the "VISCOSITY" of blood is changed. Think different viscosities of car engine oils.
Now my preferred anticoagulant of choice is Warfarin. When I had knee replacement surgery I had to stop Warfarin 6 days before goin' under the knife. Almost as soon as surgery was over and I was back in my room a nurse came in and gave me a double injection of Fragmin ( same family as Heparin ) , this was/is a very quick acting anticoagulant to keep a patient safeguarded until they can return to their normal anticoagulant. Later in the evening I then returned to my normal Warfarin dose and continued thereafter/ ever since. End of, and no problems.
When you've been off an anticoagulant for a while and then return to it it is pretty much normal to get an injection of a a quick acting anticoagulant until normal stuff is resumed.
Why not tell her to 'Google' VISCOSITY...... if nothing else, it'll keep her occupied !! 😂
A lazy term I agree and one used frequently by doctors! Lol if they just said prevent clots forming the confusion would arise. The difference in terminology only becomes important when you need to differentiated between different treatment like the actions of Aspirin which has also been called a blood thinner by doctors! Maybe it's time doctors brushed up their professional language?
It was of course much simpler in the good old (olden ) days - when there was only Asprin and Warfarin (a.k.a. Coumadin ). All this crap has only kicked off with the addition to a GP's weaponry of these 4 NOAC's. ............. now we have 6 anticoagulants to play name games with and call them by whatever name is in vogue. At least Asprin and Warfarin are nice simple stand alone names and not as convoluted as the new Big 4.
"Thinners" is a very common way to refer anticoagulants in the medical community. It is no more incorrect or "lazy" than using "contrast dye” instead of “iodinated contrast agent" even though nothing is being dyed. Or using "heart attack" instead of "myocardial infarction" when of course the heart is not being attacked.
These words are often used to simplify medical terms by doctors, among both peers and patients. Just like even anticoagulant” itself is a simplification, when DOACs, warfarin, and heparin work differently. In specialized discussions, doctors specify the exact type used or just use the name of the drug itself.
So let your friend be. She is as correct or incorrect as you are. You don't want to end up being pedantic like some here.
The weight loss should be reported to her doctor. It is not a common side effect of Apixaban (Eliquis).
Thank you Jim. I decided after the first conversation I would say no more, but she keeps on about it. Leave it long enough and hopefully she will forget all about it. Who cares anyway as long as it works and she is well. She EP T go to GP about the weight loss, but she is swings snd roundabouts and we are seeing them on Sunday for my hubby’s birthday so I’ll check on her then
Anticoagulants prevent clotting - prophylactic at preventing clots, especially for AF sufferers.
Asprin - antiplatelet - helps to bust the clot after an event such as heart attack or stroke or for DVT from inactivity. Keeping the calf muscles active, especially when inactive is important.
You just cannot win some arguments with people with entrenched thinking which has categorical errors. Unfortunately the medical profession also lumps both as ‘blood thinners’.
Exactly. Wish it would help me too to lose weight. A few of my friends are a bit envious that I can still get in the earrings I wore at college though!!!! Pretty old and rough after 70 years since college but…
No one is talking about aspirin CD, the conversation is about calling apixaban a blood thinner instead of an anticoagulant. Most on this forum know the correct terminology but also know that doctors often refer to anticoagulants as blood thinners. I just think it's petty to insist that the right word is used.
It's almost as bad as telling someone that they've spelt a word wrong in a post. Tell someone the correct terminology if you must but it's not right to go on about it.
I know but when you have a friend like mine lovely though she is, but a dog with a bone and ALWAYS right about everything and saying apixaban is making her lose weight… Bob’s answer is so right, but I change the subject now every time my friend brings it up
I would ignore her completely! Apixaban is an anticoagulant not a blood thinner as you rightly say. I wouldn't even go there and if she starts again, just say "whatever makes you happy".
Just tell her to get her GP to explain the finer points and that you're not going to get into a discussion about it every time you meet. Say there are nicer things to chat about when having a get together and life is too short to be going around in circles.
Your question comes up occasionally and always brings to mind when I first joined this lovely forum. There used to be a member famed for his rather brusque manner. One thing that would spike him to respond was anyone using the phrase "blood thinner" (another bete noir of his was anyone calling the ablation procedure an "op").
I still have a couple of unpleasant private messages he sent me warning me, in no uncertain terms, not to use such terms on this forum. As I say, I had only been a member for a very short time when they came my way and rather shook me.
The phrase "blood thinner" has a long history. It is still a phrase commonly used by patients, on some NHS web sites, by some doctors and by other medical personnel. Using it may be semantically inaccurate but, so far as I can tell, it carries no medical consequence and does the job well. It hangs on, I suspect, because it's easier to say and was what warfarin was first called.
Anti-coagulant drugs do not "thin" the blood, it's true, yet it could equally be argued, I suppose, that the term "anti-coagulants" is itself rather vague since they work by interfering with the highly complex thrombotic process not to stop it happening completely, as "anti-" suggests, but to lengthen the time it takes to clot.
Wow. Thank you for replying. I had a bit similar from my EP and the nurse with me had a small wrap on her knuckles when she called apixaban and rivaroxaban blood thinners.
Thank you for your message, I can see many members have already been in touch to offer their advice, but just to clarify anticoagulants and so called 'blood thinners' are of the same. Blood thinners is an old terminology that is used to describe anticoagulants. They are a vital component in the prevention of blood clots from forming in the heart, upon diagnosis (and ongoing) a CHADVASC will determine if anticoagulants are required. If you prefer, please pass on the Patient Services Team contact details to your friend and we will help her direct, we have a dedicated Patient Helpline: +44 (0)1789 867502 or contact us via email: heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
Kind regards
TracyAdmin
You may also wish to share our patient resource with your friend too:
Just as was commented as going under the knife as opposed to having the procedure what does it matter. We are not medical people so we get the general gist either way. Going under the knife sounds so bloody grim mind you!! but sure we knew what he meant.
Anticoagulants like Apixaban and Warfarin are very different medication to blood thinners which are only given in very rare cases, like to athletes who have taken EPO and had a bad life threatening reaction.
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