Eliquis- still in horrible pain

I posted here once on this subject. As i await my Watchman date i remain on Eliquis. Since march ablation then continued after august Natale ablation. Since sept ive gotten much worse. Shoulder pain. Quad muscle pain knee discomfort. Sometimes back pain. Am i the ONLY single person here blaming Eliquis for pain? I read on ask a patient. Med chat. Other sites where people post very similar pain. So either im insane or its eliquis. Im 68. I didnt become 105 in short order. My ep here my ortho here. Dr Natale. My PC Dr all say no its not eliquis Im desperate. I lift weights. Walk cycle. Fit strong 30” waist…….
Tom

I'm always leery of side effect lists because they rarely get filtered for common sense. For example, one of the listed side effects of Eliquis is afib. That's ridiculous, of course. Eliquis gets prescribed to people because they already have afib. But that's how side effect data is collected. If a patient in one of the clinical trials reported a side effect, that side effect gets listed, which is why headaches and nausea are listed as side effects of just about every drug known to mankind.

So I'm extremely skeptical that Eliquis causes pain because 1) there's no apparent mechanism and 2) I've never heard a single person other than you report that, and I've known about a zillion people on Eliquis. That said, drugs.com does list pain as a side effect:

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Musculoskeletal
Common (1% to 10%): Arthralgia, back pain, pain in extremity, osteoarthritis, muscle spasms, musculoskeletal pain, myalgia, arthritis

Uncommon (0.1% to 1%): Muscle hemorrhage, joint swelling

Simple way to find out: ask them to switch you to Xarelto. If the pain goes away, problem solved. But if it doesn't, the question isn't fully answered yet because Xarelto and Eliquis work via the same mechanism. So you could then switch to Pradaxa, which works by an entirely different mechanism. Or you could just ask for Pradaxa to begin with.

Perfect thanks Carey

Maybe you are in pain from your exercising with your weights? I like Carey’s suggestion BTW. You should ask Dr. N to perhaps switch.

Its not working out. Ive lifted weights 50 yrs. Im closer to Tazan a than Tom. I did 250 pushups Aug 5. Ablation with N aug 6
Something has changed. Holshouser back in oct suggested Pradaxa. Trent at Dr N said no they didnt like it. So im sticking with eliquis til watchman
My therapist even said: its not Eliquis. Idk. I know my body. Im strange. AB- rare. Warfarin resistance 15 mg nothing. Rare. 5 pulm veins rare. Took Levaquin 2005 nearly killed me rare

Poppino,

My experience for the last 20 years (now 76) is that something always hurts. As soon as one type of pain fades, another takes its place. Being very fit/strong does not eliminate minor and frequent bouts of discomfort. I currently have some shoulder pain, but it only hurts when sitting. Not while lifting weights, golfing or swimming, only while sitting. Go figure? I think your pain issue and Eliquis is just a coincidence.

Carey:

"I've never heard a single person other than you report that, and I've known about a zillion people on Eliquis."

I responded to Tom's last Thread regarding this last October. [www.afibbers.org]

I have taken these Thinners in Cycles of 2-4 weeks, (during/after AFI. at least 10 times in the last 10 years. I certainly do notice a worsening of my mild Arthritis in my knees, and to a lesser extent an exacerbation of my Tendonitis's, which I have a chronic problem with. Interchanging these NOAC's made no difference.

Tom: You are going to have to cycle off of these for 3 weeks or so to find out your answer. Maybe ask the Doc if you can substitute in something else on a 3 week trial. As you probably know, some at low risk take Nattokinase, but it's not thought to be as effective for AFIB clotting prevention.

Appreciate the response as ive had practically no validation of my claim. I did get a script for Pradaxa. One pill upset my stomach bad. Gave me some pvcs and adrenaline kicked in so i quit it. The good news is : i got my Watchman date with Dr Natale 2/16. So 7 more weeks. Then 45 days at 1/2 dose then??? Maybe longer with aspirin?? Idk
But i may have light at the end of the tunnel. So may june. ?? Done. Thats my hope. Why eliquis would aggravate tendonitis i have no idea but it’s exactly what i have. I Pray itll all subside when the eliquis is reduced then gone. I would doubt it’s permanent. The other strange part- i took it march thru aug nothing! Then it started in sept and has gotten worse

I don't think I really noticed that first mention at the time. Okay, so there are two people who've experienced pain they believe was a side effect of an anticoagulant. Drugs.com listed pain as a common complaint, but only two people on this and other forums I've followed sure doesn't make it sound common.

Poppino has an isolated LAA so trying nattokinase would be very risky. I wouldn't advise that at all. He's already tried Pradaxa, which didn't work out, and all the others (Xarelto, etc) are the same mechanism as Eliquis. All that leaves him to try is warfarin, and that's not optimal. If I were in his shoes, I would live with the pain and try to find another solution. After the Watchman, he should be able to switch to aspirin, or nothing at all if his 6-month TEE meets criteria.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2021 08:23PM by Carey.

And im warfarin resistant! 15 mg in 2012 got me to 1.7. So im
Weird. Right im this close so i ll stick with safety. Natale told me 1/2 dose immediately then at 45 days if all is sealed then ill beg to get off
But so true. Were it a mechanism for tendonitis then more should have it. I read dr sarno books and just got a new book called the Great Pain Deception. All about emotions and the effect on your body. If you get sad : water comes out of your eyes. Ill never know as there is no test so im too close to be gambling
Afterwards i can always use natto aspirin garlic cayenne vit E olive oil fish oil etc etc. im thin. Low cholesterol low triglycerides and exercise

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Poppino
The other strange part- i took it march thru aug nothing! Then it started in sept and has gotten worse

See, that's what makes me really doubt the cause is Eliquis. Drugs don't usually lack side effects and then suddenly develop them.

I think you should investigate other possible causes. Since the pain seems to center around musculoskeletal issues, and you're fairly physically active, I would consider seeing a sports medicine doc.

"Were it a mechanism for tendonitis then more should have it"

In my case it did not cause any Tendonitis's, it exacerbated them, same with the Arthritis. I am certain of this effect.
I did not notice an issue at first, for first several years I developed AFIB, but I have certainly noticed this over the last 8 years or so. It's very noticeable going on and off of these NOAC's, (I've tried all 4). As for the mechanism, I don't know. Maybe the drugs work to well in some people, causing micro bleeding along the already irritated Tendon and Arthritic surfaces? Perhaps an exacerbation of a pre-exsisting auto-immune condition creating increased inflammation? It didn't really cause permanent damage, as after about a week of stopping these drugs, I went back to normal.

Thanks Anti appreciate. Like afib we re all so different so who know but your observations make sense. Me? Im
Ultra weird. AB- 5 PV. Warfarin resistant. Allergic horribly to Levaquin cipro zpak The only confounding thing is that i took it for months with nothing
I have no idea wether a test exists?? Anyway thanks

Anti-Fib: what did you mean by weaning off for three weeks? One has to wean before getting a watchman to avoid extra bleeding? Nobody from his office mentioned weaning off or even bridging before a watchman implant…or are you suggesting stopping for three weeks to see if his pain is better?

“You are going to have to cycle off of these for 3 weeks or so to find out your answer. “



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/02/2022 09:39PM by susan.d.

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susan.d
Anti-Fib: what did you mean by weaning off for three weeks? One has to wean before getting a watchman to avoid extra bleeding? Nobody from his office mentioned weaning off or even bridging before a watchman implant…or are you suggesting stopping for three weeks to see if his pain is better?

“You are going to have to cycle off of these for 3 weeks or so to find out your answer. “

I was not talking in relation to any watchman procedure, and when I posted I did not know he would schedule so fast.
Simply referring to stopping these NOAC's for long enough (3 weeks) to find out if that what was causing his painful symptoms.

Poppino's options are fairly limited until he does his 6-month TEE. He has to assume he can't skip even a single dose of anticoagulant until then. He can change between them (which he's already tried) but he can't stop them.