Fasting and blood thinners (Eliquis)??

I was listening to a doctor on fasting and he mentioned people who aren't great candidates for fasting. One was those on anti-coagulants. He mentioned Coumadin but also Eliquis etc.. he said, "you don't want to fast on them because they can be potentiated during fasting". Anyone ever talked to their physicians about fasting while on these medications? (I"m not talking about fasting before a procedure.. more general fasting for spiritual or general health reasons). I know with Xeralto you are suppose to take that with a fatty meal but I do not believe Eliquis is the same and one of the reasons I was happy to switch to it was because I have random eating patterns and didn't want to be tied to eating dinner nightly.

Thanks for any input...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/30/2022 07:42PM by bettylou4488.

Here is a Ramadan fasting study [juniperpublishers.com]

Are you talking about fasting like 16-20 hours a day or extended fasting like 5, 15 or 25 days? Not that I know the latter will make a difference. I just had a friend do a 25 day fast & I've done many 5-7 day fasts, so don't think I'm being flippant.

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GeorgeN
Here is a Ramadan fasting study [juniperpublishers.com]

Are you talking about fasting like 16-20 hours a day or extended fasting like 5, 15 or 25 days? Not that I know the latter will make a difference. I just had a friend do a 25 day fast & I've done many 5-7 day fasts, so don't think I'm being flippant.

you know I'm not sure. I have fasted for "23 hours". So I eat dinner..and then eat dinner the next night. My friends who fast for longer periods say it is the first two days that are a bugger. Many days I don't eat until lunch or later and with any luck don't eat past 7. I just keep hearing about the benefits of it (short and long) and my Christian faith also talks quite a bit about it. I also don't know how the fasting will really affect the afib (I have read it can). I'm just trying to investigate a bit and if there is a clear issue with the blood thinner then I would stick to my short fasts. Thanks for that link. I will look at it tomorrow when I am more alert.

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bettylou4488
I also don't know how the fasting will really affect the afib (I have read it can). I'm just trying to investigate a bit and if there is a clear issue with the blood thinner then I would stick to my short fasts.

If the meds require some food, you could possibly consume with a little fat and not acutely increase insulin (low insulin is a benefit of fasting and is the trigger for many fasting benefits).

Getting adapted for longer fasts can disrupt electrolytes. Primarily, when insulin drops, the kidney is signaled to excrete sodium. This excretion can be such that potassium is also excreted with the sodium. When I initially keto or fat adapted in 2009, I did get one aftib episode because of this. Though I eat a lot more carbs than what is typically considered keto (100-200 g/day), I've maintained this adaptation since. If you can go 23 hours easily, you likely have this adaptation. Time restricted eating with eating windows less than 8 hours can upregulate the ketogenic enzymes and is a relatively easy (or gentle) way to adapt. When I adapted, I didn't know how how to do it other than just cut my carbs to < 20g/day. This creates a "hard start" for this adaptation. In my case, the adaptation process took a couple of weeks. I remember feeling my pulse in my temple when going to sleep. I thought, "if this continues, I'll have an afib episode." I did have one. I was supplementing with lots of potassium but turned out I needed even more than my normal high dose of magnesium. I learned this when flecainide didn't convert the episode quickly. I added more magnesium and watched my heart rate drop over about 10-15 minutes, from around 136 to 80 and conversion. I've not had fasting, even 7 day fasts cause an episode subsequently. I've done many extended fasts since 2009.

I fasted regularly prior to my July ablation. One time it was 36 hours, but mostly in the 21-24 hour range. I have been on Eliquis since Sep, 2017, and take it regularly.

Been on a keto diet for over three years, and have fasted 12-16 hours many times while on Eliquis 5 mg bid. Haven't experienced any issues to date.

/LG

Thanks all. I think I will start fasting on a regular basis again starting small