31 Days

[6TIMES]

Hi.

MY question is.if you see the cardiologist and are told that you need your AF putting correct but you have to have been taking your meds.in my case.apixaban.for a period prior to the procedure.and after the procedure.how do they know that you have taken them or not.I'm asking because I have been taking them for a month and the side effects are ruining my standard of life.my appointment is not for 4 months and I don't fancy putting up with the effects.gp no help.and can't get an earlier appointment.i have never had symptoms of AF but now I just feel awful.i can't decide on the way forward.

Thanks

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Apixaban is an anticoagulant and its use or otherwise would show up in a blood test. I would suggest you ring the BHF nurses to discuss things as they probably have more experience than your GP.

[Calliope153]

Go to your GP and tell him what you have written here. He should be able to prescribe substitute.

[6TIMES]

I've never seen a cardiologist to ask any questions and there is no falsehood about my medication regime and I don't have issues with drugs.

[6TIMES]

My Gp prescribed the apixaban and referred me to the hospital and told me that there is 3 possible options to address the AF cardioversion probably first, but to keep taking the apixaban as a prevention medication not to cure the AF. my issue is that you have to take the medication to get the treatment even if you don't know if there doing any good, anyway thanks for your advice and I will see what happens.

[6TIMES]

Thanks for your response which I appreciate.i have a gp appointment in 12 day's so I'm going to make some notes to take with me and if the meds don't get changed i Will stop taking the apixaban and Will tell the gp this.and then the hospital appointment Will also be cancelled but this is my decision and I'll see what happens.

[Shar28]

Hi, i’m afraid I have a cautionary tale for you. My mum has AF and is on Apixaban. It’s job it to prevent clots caused by AF causing a stroke. She was initially diagnosed at a hospital out of her region and when she went to her GP as instructed for follow-up they did an ECG which didn’t show the AF. The Apixaban was therefore stopped.

A few weeks later she had a TIA (mini-stroke). If she’d stayed on the Apixaban she wouldn’t have done. She was lucky that I noticed she was having the TIA (we were speaking on the phone and her speech wasn’t quite right) otherwise she cold have had more TIAs or even a full-blown stroke.

Please don’t stop the Apixaban without discussing it with your GP first. If the side effects are unbearable I’d suggest phoning the Practise and asking for an urgent appointment, or for the GP to call you, explaining the situation.

Best wishes.

[6TIMES in reply to Shar28]

Thanks for that, I've made my decision to continue with the apixaban until my gp appointment in 12 days then it's either a change of meds or none, after Monday when I was so ill I've decided that the side effects outweigh the plus side of the meds.

[Sillyfroggy]

Just out of interest, what side effects are you experiencing?

[6TIMES in reply to Sillyfroggy]

Severe diarrhoea nauseated rash and fatigue