What a to d0!

[polymy]

My. Question is do steroids thin the blood? I have just come out of hospital. I have a/f and had been prescribed apixaban anticoagulant 8 weeks ago. It caused rectal haemorrhage and I collapsed with a Haemaglobin score of 57. Have had 4 pints of blood transfused. The doctor has prescribed apixaban at a lower dose which I had already tried myself and I will not be taking it. I nearly lost my life. Hence the question. If steroids do thin the blood I will feel happy.

[charisma]

It seems that some steroids might enhance the blood thinning qualities of Warfarin but that does not mean they will do so alone... best ask your health professionals! 🙂

[medway-lady]

We are not medically quaified so can't really answer you question, but I've been taking riveroxaban for 4 years no problem. Riveroxaban is the equivalent of Apixaban and to be honest if you've been prescribed that then my view is do jot just stop it as you are at risk of clotting and thus death. I've also been on steriods this past year and no problem. So please do go back to your doctor and discuss your concerns rather than just stopping the medication. Riveroxaban/Apixaban do not act in the same way as Warferin either. Be careful as their is a considerable risk involved.

[polymy in reply to medway-lady]

Thank you. I very nearly died because of it. Had I not gone to the surgery for my blood t est that morning I. Would have died. I had to have 4 pints of blood. I have made an appointment to. See my gp t discuss but I told the consultant I. Wasn’t going to take it ever again.

[oldtimer]

Steroids by themselves would not be sufficient to reduce your clotting mechanisms. I presume you have been put on an anticoagulant because of a thrombosis?

There are other options for reducing the clotting mechanisms, all of them have the risk of causing extra bleeding, for example, low dose aspirin was used for many years.

You have to weigh up the risk of bleeding against the risk of thrombosis. This would be easier for you to do if you were to be monitored more frequently, I think. Then it could be picked up earlier before it resulted in such a low level of haemoglobin.

But other things should be looked at as well. For example, are you making enough blood? Are your iron stores high enough?

It's not a straight forward choice and needs considerable discussion between you and your medical team.