risk of brain bleed?

I have posted before about my reluctance to go on Eliquis for fear of brain bleed, I did finally go on it. My dear s-i-l in England who had permanent AF and was on warfarin passed away this morning because of a brain bleed. I know its a different drug but now I am panicking again about being on Eliquis, perhaps because I am so depressed re her death and of course all the stress of the Co-vid19 but am now frightened again anne h

I'm terribly sorry about your sister in-law, Anne. My condolences.

I don't know what your CHADS-Vasc score is or your risk factors, but for most people with AF the risk of stroke is much higher than the risk of a brain bleed from Eliquis. The risk with Eliquis is also lower than the risk with warfarin. Whether a stroke happens by a bleed or by a clot, the end result is often the same, so all you can do is choose the path of least risk. The data are pretty clear that Eliquis is the safer choice. Covid-19 has absolutely nothing to do with this.

thnx Carey needed some reassurance. I think my s-i-l had a fall which might have been the cause of the bleed. Rr CHADs I am female/80 and of course AF. Btw is it safe to take fresh garlic with Eliquis? I crush a clove onto a spoon, cover with raw honey and swallow daily as I have found it useful during winter to prevent colds/flu.

Sure, enjoy your garlic and honey. Sounds a bit weird to me but hey, whatever suits you.

So sorry about your sister-in-law.

Warfarin requires routing monitoring of something called the INR (international normalized ratio) which is a confusing way to refer to clotting time. Suffice it to say, warfarin is very diet sensitive with vitamin K being the main variable and it is not difficult to get one's blood "too thin", or "too thick" depending on one's diet and adherence to the monitoring regimen. I'm not saying that this was necessarily the case but it's always a possibility with warfarin. It is borne out in the statistics of Eliquis being superior in that the bleed risk is lower.

Also, hitting your head is bad no matter what. Plenty of unfortunate souls have met their end that way absent any blood thinners. Be careful!