eliqis and blood thinning foods

I am 81 and the only medication I'm on is low dose Eliquis 2 1/2 mg twice a day. My a fib is completely unnoticeable to me at all times but can be seen on equipment or when checking the pulse [beats are strong but the intervals aren't always the same]. Somehow it always comes out to around 60 in an actual minute unless I am doing something strenuous.

What does that mean I should do about blood thinning foods or supplements?

For example garlic, ginkgo biloba, cardiokinase, serrepeptase and so on.

Do I stop them, take them in small doses or what else?

I know the cardiologist won't be able to give me a clear answer.

I notice when I scratch myself I bleed easily so I certainly didn't don't seem to suffer from sticky blood.

Alex

I should have mentioned supplements as well in my subject line. Sorry!

Alex

Hi Alex - When I was on the full dose of Eliquis (5 mg twice a day), I cut back drastically and eliminated several of the natural blood thinners... took less of Omega 3's, stopped Ginkgo, stopped the pycnogenol and nattokinase but ate normally my typical diet which is mostly Paleo.

I continued on with all of my other typical nutritional support and with the liposomal vitamin C to help reduce incidence of inflammation. You may recall that I have slightly low blood platelets so I am quite vulnerable to excess bleeding when on anticoagulants. I found with the full dose of Eliquis, I did bleed easily with minor cuts and scratches.. as in gardening or carelessness, but not excessively and it always stopped in a relatively short time...less than a minute, I'd guess.

Now that I've reduced the dose to 2.5 mg twice a day, I've resumed Omega 3's to 3,000 a day.. (still less that my former dosing of 4 - 6 grams); resumed 120 mg Ginkgo biloba, I'm taking a combination of nattokinase and serrapeptase at about half what would be a normal dosing regimen. And resumed pycnogenol. I've noticed no problem thus far... it's coming up on 1 month at the lower dosing.

Keep in mind... this is my personal regimen... and your biochemistry is undoubtedly different than mine. I had a series of labs recently that involved fasting blood draws and limited fluid intake prior to the draw. That always makes it difficult to draw blood easily and typically involves several tries at a couple of the most reliable veins. As predicted, I had two tries before the third worked in my hand vein which typically causes quite a bruise. This time, it did bruise but was short lived... far different compared to the results after going through the insertions required for ablation #3 and all the needle sticks involved with that. I was a mess but predictable because of the full dose Eliquis. Took over a month to resolve the extensive areas of blood diffused under the skin.

Based on that, I feel the half dose is not nearly the severe threat of the former and if it's that great for me with low platelets and slower clotting time, you should also be 'mostly' safe with minor bumps and cuts.

Still, you need to always be aware and cautious.

Best to you,
Jackie

Thanks Jackie,

My ferritin is 88 n/mL which is on the lower side.

Whatever I do I wonder if I should be doing something else !

Alex