Need Help With Eliquis Side Effects

I'm only on day two of Eliquis in preparation of my ablation in March and I seem to be having issues right out of the gate.

About 6 hours after I take the pill in the morning (I take it at 10 a.m.) there is a period of about 2 hours where I have a slightly upset stomach and I have to go to the bathroom at least 2 times and I have really bad diarrhea. Oddly enough when I take it at night (10 p.m.) I don't seem to have any issues. I don't wake up with an upset stomach nor do I have the urge to go to the bathroom.

Is an upset stomach and diarrhea a known side effect of Eliquis? I don't see them listed anywhere as potential side effects. And does Eliquis work so fast that I would experience side effects right out of the gate? I mean I know it's a drug and all but I thought if I was going to experience side effects it wouldn't be for a week or more of taking it.

Will these side effects subside or will they stay the same or get worse? Any suggestions on what I can do to tame these side effects...or am I just going to have to deal with them?

Travis

Hello Travis, you should call your doctor about these side effects if they continue. I have taken eliquis for a long time now and never had anything similar. This may be a coincidence, i do not know but your own doctor may know why they are happening. Look up eliquis in the search function here on Hans' nifty website and see if anybody else has mentioned anything similar.

PeggyM

Diarrhea is not at all a common side effect reported with Eluquis Travis, so try to give it a couple weeks at least before assuming it's the drug when something like this happens that is a very rare to non-reported effect so far on a given drug.

Could be something you ate or even partially from anticipation of the start of your AfIB freedom process in earnest on March 5 in Austin that has things a bit rumbley for the time being??

Hang in there Travis and see if it doesn't settle down in the coming days? You're going to be very relieved and happy when this is all behind you before long!

Shannon

Thanks Peggy and Shannon. It's not only the loose bowels but I have this general discomfort in my gut and the "urge to go #2" in the late afternoon hours. I will say, it's now day 4 of being on Eliquis and today was much much better so as Shannon pointed out, maybe it's something I ate or my nerves. I'll ride it out for a while and see if it gets better.

I'm also adjusting my supplements and diet too so hopefully that helps.

Thanks,

Travis

Travis, as we discussed yesterday too, its always best not to jump the gun too early on associating a symptom with a new drug or nutrient. Giving it some real time and seeing if you're system doesn't adapt of the symptom is unrelated entirely and just goes away, is a much better way to avoid driving yourself batty as well and making a lot of snap judgments that turn out to be ineffective or wrong.

At this point you really need the Eliquis for the ablation and dont have time to do a lot of trial and error with other OAC drugs so making that work has to be your priority at the moment. No doubt it is short lived thing anyway and a few months after your ablation the odds are very high you can DC the drug in any event.

Cheers!
Shannon

Good news. I figured out what the heck was causing all my issues. It was the potassium gluconate I was taking. I started the potassium the same day I started Eliquis (stupid move in hindsight) so for a week I just assumed it was the Eliquis. As I started eliminating supplements nothing helped until I stopped taking the potassium. It was instant relief!

After more research I discovered GI upset and diarrhea is a common side effect of too much potassium. Now that I've stopped the potassium I can't even tell I'm on Eliquis...hurray!

As a side note, how much potassium powder is too much? I was taking 1,500mg a day in 3 divided doses. I was using the NOW brand potassium powder. I'm afraid to try any now but if I decide to go back on it, how much do you think I could take? Obviously I'll test it but if I can only tolerate 200mg or so a day (let's just say), is it even worth taking?

Travis