Taking Eliquis and Metoprolol for A-fib: Concerned about side effects

I'm 81yo. Have Tachycardia and occasional AFIB. Taking Metoprolol 25mg 1xday and baby aspirin, that's all. Metoprolol works for me. No side effects. I now feel free to do strenuous hiking and occasional jogging w/o any side effects and rarely any palpitations.

this is on Metoprolol

Serious side effects of Metoprolol
Along with its needed effects, metoprolol may cause some unwanted effects. Although not all of these side effects may occur, if they do occur they may need medical attention.

Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following side effects occur while taking metoprolol:

More common
Blurred vision
chest pain or discomfort
confusion
dizziness, faintness, or lightheadedness when getting up suddenly from a lying or sitting position
slow or irregular heartbeat
sweating
unusual tiredness or weakness

General
The most common adverse events were related to bleeding. Common adverse reactions were anemia, hemorrhage, and nausea.[Ref]

Hematologic
Patients with diabetes had more bleeding events than non-diabetic subjects. Hemorrhage includes hematoma, and vaginal and urethral hemorrhage. Postprocedural hemorrhage includes postprocedural hematoma, wound hemorrhage, vessel puncture site hematoma, and catheter site hemorrhage.[Ref]

Very common (10% or more): Minor bleed (11.7%)

Common (1% to 10%): Anemia postoperative, clinically relevant nonmajor bleed, hemoglobin decreased, anemia, hemorrhage

Uncommon (0.1% to 1%): Postprocedural hemorrhage, hemoglobin decrease of 2 g/dL or more, transfusion of 2 units or more red blood cells, fatal bleed, thrombocytopenia, hemorrhagic anemia

What I have typically done if prescribed any medications, is to do a search on what the side effects are. Eliquis appears to have quite a few; however, we also need to recognize that the drug companies are obligated to list any and all side effects. All drugs have side effects. I guess the question you need to ask is, are the side effects worse than the condition the drug is trying to remedy. I don't like the idea of drugs personally because I believe that in most cases, they start a person on the treadmill of taking drug after drug to alleviate side effects. I speak from experience here. I never used to question what my doctor prescribed until I got up to the point of 5 drugs. I began a major research project at that point and realized that doctors are taught how to treat symptoms and not causes. I prefer to find out what the underlying cause of my illness is. If drugs are needed to start me on the right path, I can accept that; however, I do my homework.

Concerning 81 mg aspirin:
https://www.aarp.org/health/drugs-supplements/info-2021/aspirin-recommendations.html

I take them both Eliquis for about 3-4 years the other seems like forever. Only issue are that I frequently feel a bit "woosy" with the first dose of Eliquis in the AM -- may be like that for about an hour. Otherwise nothing to note. However, I would venture to say with Rx it seems very evident that different Rx affect different people differently.

Be careful. I ended up with 15 listed side effects of Eliquis. Both Eliquis and Metropolol cause hair loss. I had The Amulet implanted two months ago and no longer take blood thinners and never will again as I have long-lasting side effects.

I never understood why doctors wanted my blood to clot faster anyway. It seems counterintuitive.

Hi, vivianne777. My experience was similar. Concerned that I might have developed blood clots in my legs causing occlusions there, my PCP prescribed ultrasound imaging which found no clots! Looking into my abdomen, my gastroenterologist prescribed a CT Scan which yielded a detailed report by a radiologist who was most revealing. I hope that whoever ordered your CT Scan gave you a copy of the report, which would have been a primary basis for you and your physician to decide on a treatment plan. Martin

Hi, @timely. I can recommend two articles giving a lot of information about Carvedilol.

One is from the company that makes it: https://www.COREG.com.

The other is from the FDA: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2006/020297s020pi.pdf.

Let us know if they helped prepare you for discussions with your Internist and your Cardiologist. Martin

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