Clopidogrel

[Zoey92]

In June 2023 I ended up in A&E with some odd symptoms and the doctors thought I had a TIA, after a MRI, CT with contrast, ECG, Blood tests, Echo and a heart monitor for a week they could not confirm or deny what happened that day but wanted to keep me on clopidogrel for 3 months just incase.

Since then I have moved areas and have kind of been forgotten about. Until last month when I went to order some more tablets but had to have a medication review. My doctors told me they were contacting the hospital to find out about the tablets and then sent me a text last week saying I can now stop them.

My question is, is it safe to just stop? Do I need to ween myself off incase of side effects? I have had terrible health anxiety in the past (which I think was what was wrong when I went to A&E in the first place 😂) and my new doctors is an absolute nightmare to get hold of so thought I would try here first.

[moo196]

The best place to ask would be your pharmacy if you can't get hold of the GP surgery. 🙏

[Zoey92 in reply to moo196]

Good idea! Thank you ☺️

[Chinkoflight]

Hi Zoey, the matter of stopping taking Clopidogrel, an antiplatelet medicine, is safe. It means that clotting of blood returns to normal.I sympathise with changing areas, I had a stroke out of my normal area and was discharged for ongoing support to my normal area. It was quite difficult to access this because I hadn't been admitted by a consultant as a patient locally!

One way round chasing things up or finding out is to access the NHS app. When you get your profile you should see your GP record and all the notes and tests recorded and forwarded to your GP notes by the hospital.

Failing this you can ask the hospital for the notes and your discharge letter should also say what they were looking for.

They clearly adopted a precautionary principle to put you on antiplatelet meds in case you had had a Tia. When I was in for a stroke there are other possibilities that can present similar symptoms to a Tia eg optical migraine.

I wouldn't worry about not taking the Clopidogrel if they have ruled out a stroke risk. That is good news. However, you should go back to your GP to explain what other conditions might have caused your symptoms and how will they investigate that if a stroke and heart issues have been ruled out.

I hope this helps.