Eliquis (apixaban) is an oral medication prescribed to reduce the risk of blood clotting and stroke. Eliquis lowers your chance of having a stroke by helping to prevent clots from forming. Eliquis is also used to reduce the risk of forming a blood clot in the legs and lungs of those who have just had hip or knee replacement surgery. Eliquis can be used to treat blood clots in the veins of your legs or lungs, and reduce the risk of them occurring again.
Is it safe?
Severe allergic reactions to Eliquis cause itching, hives, chest pain, swelling of the face or tongue, labored breathing and dizziness. Anyone experiencing these symptoms should call their doctor or 911 immediately. At this time, there’s not enough information to know whether Eliquis may cause harm to a developing fetus.
- Ask them what other medications are better options for you.
- For those who have a problem with alcohol use disorder, there are resources and tools to help reduce alcohol intake.
- Eliquis can build up in your body if your liver isn’t working properly.
- To reduce your risk of bleeding, your doctor may recommend stopping Eliquis for a few days beforehand.
- Your doctor or dentist may tell you to stop taking apixaban before your surgery.
What are Blood Clots?
Your doctor can recommend other treatments that may be better for your condition. However, in some settings, Eliquis, and most DOACs can cause more severe bleeding than warfarin. There haven’t been enough clinical studies to show the chance of serious side effects for those with certain conditions, like hemodialysis. Although tiredness wasn’t a reported side effect during clinical trials, several patients report a noticeable lack of energy after taking the drug.
What are the risks of drinking alcohol when on my medication?
Without an information overload or a sales pitch, you’ll learn key considerations to protect your health while on this medication. It’s not recommended that you start drinking alcohol if you don’t normally. Having the restraint to consume only moderate amounts of alcohol may be challenging for some individuals. Get emergency medical care immediately if you or someone else has symptoms of severely low blood pressure. If your doctor determines that it’s safe for you to take an NSAID with Eliquis, tell them right away if you have symptoms of bleeding.
They may prescribe another drug to help prevent blood clots while you’re not taking Eliquis. Stopping Eliquis before you’re supposed to can raise your risk of developing a blood clot. The usual dosage of Eliquis for preventing blood clots and stroke in people with atrial fibrillation (AFib) is 5 mg taken twice a day. Eliquis, a pharmaceutical medication with the active ingredient apixaban, is an important medication for many patients.
- However, the Eliquis dosage recommended for treating and preventing DVT and PE is the same for older and younger adults.
- You can take Eliquis (apixaban) with or without most foods.
- The information on this website is proprietary and protected.
- (For details about Eliquis’ dosage, see this article.) Or they may switch you from Eliquis to a different drug, such as heparin.
Do older people have a higher risk of side effects from Eliquis?
For more information about bleeding and other side effects of Eliquis, see the drug’s prescribing information or talk with your doctor. In clinical studies, the rates and severity of bleeding varied depending on the dosage and the condition can alcohol affect eliquis being treated. The following lists contain some of the key side effects that may occur while taking Eliquis. A comprehensive understanding of how Eliquis interacts with your body, particularly in relation to clot formation, is fundamental.
For Healthcare Professionals
- Finding a health professional that can look at the whole picture is probably valuable here.
- Severe allergic reactions require emergency medical attention.
If you have had an allergic reaction to Eliquis or any of its ingredients, your doctor will likely not prescribe Eliquis. You can ask them about other treatments that may be better choices for you. Plavix and Eliquis are direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) sometimes described as blood thinning drugs. Occasionally your healthcare provider will want to check the health of your kidneys when taking Eliquis, with a blood test. You do not need to have routine blood testing to check the amount of apixaban in your body. Have you just picked up your Eliquis medication from the drug store?
Serious bleeding
Other medications in this category include Xarelto (rivaroxaban), Savaysa (edoxaban), and Arixtra (fondaparinux). Factor Xa inhibitors have an anticoagulation effect by blocking factor Xa, which therefore helps decrease blood clot production. It’s also important to read Eliquis’ label and other paperwork that comes with the drug. You may see colored stickers on the label that describe interactions. And the paperwork (sometimes called the prescribing information) may have other details about interactions. If you need help understanding this information, talk with your doctor or pharmacist.
Eliquis can cause serious, life-threatening, or even fatal bleeding. Taking Eliquis with other medications that affect bleeding/clotting increases the risk even further. This includes other anticoagulants—such as warfarin, Pradaxa (dabigatran), Brilinta, (ticagrelor), or heparin, or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Signs and symptoms of blood loss indicate a medical emergency and should receive emergency medical attention.
Eliquis stops this clotting factor from working, which makes your blood less able to form clots. When your blood doesn’t flow freely, blood cells called platelets start clumping together inside your blood vessels. The platelets make substances that activate clotting factors in your blood.