I am on Apixaban 5mgs twice a day. Yesterday [ Sat ] I woke with a bad bloody eye and a bruise under the eye going down towards my cheek. I am going to call my surgery first thing in the morning, [ why do these things happen at weekends ?] The instructions say that they can cause eye bleeds, has anyone experienced this.
Thanks bowler
If that was me I wouldn't be waiting until tomorrow.....i would have phoned 111 for advice.
Maybe someone else can reassure you?
Hi bowler
I think I would also be ringing 111 for some advice
I’ve been on Apixaban 5 mg for about 3 years now never had a problem
Hope everything goes ok for you
A few weeks ago I went to shave and saw my left eye was horrendously blood shot. An emergency appointment confirmed it was a subconjunctival haemorrhage. This is leakage of blood from tiny blood vessels located underneath the thin, clear membrane (conjunctiva) that lies over the white of the eye (sclera). It had just about cleared now.
Because yours is more extensive I suggest you ring 111 as a minimum. If there is any pain whatsoever or signs if infection it is straight to A&E!
Seems like it's as you describe although I have some bruising under the eye, I'm in no pain and it doesn't look infected, ie no discharge, or weeping.
It's my own fault for not asking for advice from 111 but I shall have to take the consequences for that, if any
I live in a small village and will walk to the surgery tomorrow at 8am when they open for advice , I will probably get an emergency appointment .
Thank you for sharing your advice and experience. I did look at the info which states "see your Dr, if you have any bleeding" so hopefully I wont need to go to A&E
thanks for your reply and good advice,
I did have some early problems with taking apixaban, bleeding harder to stop with small cuts and quite bad nose bleeds but they did sort themselves out after time.
However, I never had issues with my eyes so I would take the advice given above and get it checked asap just to be on the safe.👍🏼
Hello, and thank you for your reply
I was first prescribed the blood thinner Rivaroxaban , which made my gums and nose bleed, so it was changed to Apixaban, I have been on that for a couple of months, and just had the eye problem this weekend. However I see the Dr. at 10.45 today.
Great stuff mate, hope you get a result out of it. 👍🏼
Lets hope like you my problem will sort itself out,
I see the Dr. this morning .
Side effects leaflet says " immediately" report any bleeds.
Hi, I was on the same dose of apixaban for about 3 weeks when I had a severe nose bleed which would not stop. I called 999 for an ambulance and they took me to the local hospital who put balloons up both nostrills and was transferred by ambulance on blue lights to ENT department at major hospital where I stayed for a week. I was put on list for surgery each day but they could not fit me in. After the week they decided to take the balloons out and sent me home.
After just over a week it started again and ended up in the same ward with more balloons waiting for surgery, nil by mouth and on intravenous drips for another week. I had to have a blood transfusion due to the amount of blood loss.
I finally had surgery under general anasthetic and they quarterised the vessels.
All GP's, doctors and surgeons said apixaban only thinned the blood and would not be the cause of the bleed, however it is down as a side effect on the leaflet that comes with the tablets.
I have now been told to restart the apixaban at half dose, 2.5mg twice a day, or be at risk of a stroke.
After the worst 4 weeks of my life I am trying them again, fingers crossed.
Morning, just going through my the Apixaban links and I noticed you have been advised to take 2.5mg twice a day. Just a thought, a couple of years ago I was prescribed Apixaban and Sotalol. At one point there was a problem with the supply of Sotalol - no stocks of 40mg tablets. As I take 2 per day, my GP prescribed 1 x 80mg tablet per day, advising me to split the 80mg tablet. This, despite the leaflet in the box staitng not to split. Concerned about this, I emailed the manufacturers who responded that on no account should the tablets be split as, due to the manner in which they are manufactured, there was no way of knowing whether or not the active ingredients were evenly distributed, meaning, one might take the full dose in one half of the tablet and none in the other half. This resulted in my having to telephone all local chemists to obtain the drug each month. (This is now resolved). So, I recommend, if you have not already done so, that you read through the Package Leaflet (I've had a quick look through and didn't find anything relevant) and strongly recommend you email the Manufacturer; the name is at the bottom of one of the leaflet's pages. Whilst they are in Italy, you should be able to find the details from the Internet.
My apologies if you find this reply patronizing.
Hello thank you for telling me of your bad experience, it must have been scary.
Even when I was on Rivaroxaban I never experienced blood loss like you had, but once I stopped it the bleed stopped, perhaps when I see the Doc. today he will lower the Apixaban dose. Like you say it does state that bleeding is a side effect, yet Dr's dispute this, very confusing. I will see what the Dr. says this morning.
I wish you luck restarting Apixaban, It's a catch 22 as we need it to prevent strokes,
regards bowler
Hi sorry about your bleed. I have been on Apixaban since 2018 and I also woken up with a read eye . You can pop over to a high street optician who can check the eye for you and if necessary can recommend going to the eye hospital. In my case the optician advice not to worry and that the blood would disperse away and it did after over 2 weeks. Good luck
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