Hematuria with eliquis

A friend of mind is taking eliquis twice per day, standard dosage. He had a minor stroke about 1.5 yrs ago and is about 70 years old. He has been on eliquis 1.5 years now and is experiencing hematuria (blood in the urine) with eliquis. It seems to build up over time. When this happens he lessens or stops his dosage for a bit of time until the blood goes away. Then he resumes later. (Obviously this stinks because he doesn't want to risk a stroke, but he also doesn't want to risk bleeding to death.)

What advice is typically given to those who experience hematuria wtih a blood thinner like eliquis? His doc seems to just want him to keep taking it no matter what. Thanks in advance for your advice. Any insights are appreciated.

His doc wants him to keep taking it because stroke is often fatal or debilitating, while hematuria is rarely if ever fatal or debilitating. His current "solution" is a really bad idea. He's trading high risk for low risk. Bad trade.

I can't say what treatment course would be typical because every patient's circumstances are different, but clearly he needs to see a doctor experienced in anticoagulation management. Is he just seeing his PCP? If so, that's the wrong doctor to see.

Thanks Carey! I'm not sure about his PCP but I'll find out.

He is 70 years old, the age where most men get enlarged prostate (BPH) of different degrees from large to very large . This condition may cause hematuria from the prostate especially if blood thinner or aspirine is taken in predisposed individuals.
Advise him to visit a urologist . The best thing to do is taking medicine which reduce the volume of his prostate which is cheap and effective in most cases .
The uro may detect other problems that can be treated .

regards,

Ben