Rare serious side effect of Eliquis: Muscle weakness

I took "circulation evergreen" for 3-4 months, then went on aspirin 81 and beet powder. Sorry to hear you got afib from the vax?! Never would I touch them, not at gun point would I take them, although they got me with the eliquis, I let my guard down, thought it was well tested and safe! Wrong! Going forward, I will only take antibiotics, if needed, no other pharma. No way will I be wearing any stupid mask and suffocating myself, I will breathe fresh air and rely on my immune system! Had covid twice and very mild symptoms. I also think the vegan diet is a death cult, watch some videos by former vegan poster boy Jon Venus about his health, and his son's health after prolonged veganism. But hey, if it works for you keep going. I eat tons of red meat and have a zero calcium score, like many others. Regards

@sa1l0r - Have you stopped taking Eliquis and trying something else, 81mg aspirin and ???

I'm curious as I have non-symptomatic paroxysmal Afib and a CHADS Vasc 7 score; recently, my episodes dramatically changed from ones that were no more than 30 seconds to some lasting 2 hours. No obvious reason for the change, I'm a non smoker and non drinker. I am in between electrophysiologists as mine of 11 years retired and have not established with the new one yet (can't get in until November). It was decided I should start Eliquis 5mg 2 x a day, which I did. After 4 pills and experiencing extreme abdominal pain because of gas, painful passing of gas, low back pain, and pain in upper arms, elbows and shoulders that was an aching awful pain. The pain became like full body pain one would get with a bad flu, but I did not have flu; I did a home test for Covid and that was distinctly negative. I have never had a Covid injection; but I did have infusion of monoclonal antibodies after having a mild case of Covid 2 years ago; the only lingering thing I have is loss of taste and smell.

Medical staff does not believe my pains, gas, general worn-out tiredness (not sleepy) is from the Eliquis, but after what I have read I'm pretty sure it was the culprit. I still have a bit of gas but nothing like it was, so I'm back on my aspirin and seeing my Cardiologist next week.
I hope you are getting along better now.

No, I have not stopped taking Eliquis. I, too, have noticed increased fatulence, but chalked it up to aging.

@sa1l0r - Thanks, I hope you are better. Yes, the gas was awful along with abdominal pain. Now, almost a week later its subsided.

Others may have mentioned the Watchman device in comments, and if so I apologize for the repetition, but my husband received notice from his cardiologist this morning that he could discontinue his Eliquis. He has been on blood thinners for 25 years and Eliquis for almost 3 years(with no side effects). Due to heart and another medical
condition he has had periods of acute orthostatic hypotension making him high risk for falls. A Watchman was placed in the opening of his LAA in December 2022 to prevent blood clots from entering and exiting his bloodstream. A transesophogeal echocardiogram was done this week which found no leakage and he can now stop all blood thinners. It might be a solution for those of you who can’t tolerate blood thinners and in particular Eliquis.

Thank you for posting this! I just recently told my pcp and my ep cardiologist that my leg muscles were getting weaker and I was having difficulty walking with a cane. I thought it was related to my CFS. I had been in PT for 2 months as a result of year long muscle decline from taking hydralazine, a bp medication following my ablation, which caused peripheral neuropathy up to my knees. No one listened during that year until I searched NIH for documentation. My new cardiologist was well aware of the complications of hydralazine, and changed my medications. He also put me on eliquis because of continued arrhythmia issues. For whatever crazy reason, it never occurred to me that eliquis, which I started late May, could be causing muscle weakness! I now have info to discuss with him. Thank you!

I have terrible leg muscle weakness along with numbness in my legs and feet. Went off Eliquis for a epidural neck block. Restarted Eliquis and I have the terrible muscle weakness again.

I have had two ablations for A-Fib. The first lasted 8 years. I did not have to continue taking Metoprolol nor Pradaxa. Then in 2019, the A-Fib returned and I was put on Sotolol and Eliquis. So my cardiac electro-physiologist did a second ablation. He let me quit the Sotolol but not the Eliquis. I have not had an A-Fib episode since. I have leg weakness, pain in my shoulders, legs, hands, arms, and knees especially upon waking in the morning. It is not arthritis. I am trying to get my cardiologist to let me quit the Eliquis. This is not the first time I have had joint, muscle, and/or bone pain from a drug. It happened after I had taken Carafate for a year. The answer I’ve gotten from every doctor I’ve consulted about this is that joint and muscle pain are not a side effect of Eliquis. It is reassuring to read these post from people who have experienced similar things!

I had an episode of A Fib and after it was cardioverted they put me on Eliquis 5 mg, twice a day. Within 2 weeks I had a SEVERE onset of numbness in my feet too! Then about a week later I started having muscle spasms all over my body and some weakness too! These spasms are happening 2-4 times every hour, all day and night! And they are not like the spasms you get in a muscle after exercising. I might get a spasm in muscle in the compartment of my thumb, then my whole hamstring, then in between my ribs, all in the same HOUR! And there's this crazy muscle twitching in muscles too. This is super weird because I'm only 59 y/o and have always been very active and exercised daily. I've also felt super fatigued about 2-3 hours after I take each dose of Eliquis. I never, not ever, go to sleep before midnight and never take naps during the day. Since I started taking it I'm dying for a nap at noon and I'm falling asleep every night at 9 pm. The behavior change is so remarkable that my husband has commented how strange it is too. I don't think this medication is nearly as benign as the company is telling the Drs. Never in my life have I said that I just can't take a medication but I'm not going to keep taking this. The side effects are too severe and I feel vaguely like I'm dying.

I am also a Mayo Clinic patient from Illinois on Eliquis and your comment caught my eye, cmanucci1, since it accurately describes my clinical course in all details and which has progressed. No reasonable explanation so far.