Paroxysmal afib and pausing oral anticoagulant before colonoscopy

Hello @behzad1234 !

I’m sorry you are having anxiety over your upcoming procedure. I certainly understand your concern.

Let me preface everything by saying I am in no way a medical professional.
I did a little research on eliquis and colonoscopy. Also, my dad has atrial flutter and has taken medications for years for this; I do believe eliquis was one of them.

I really don’t think that stopping eliquis for such a short time would greatly increase your risk of stroke. Also, if your doctor isn’t concerned about that, I’m sure it’s fine.

If you are still worried, a couple suggestions:
From what I read, you do not have to stop taking aspirin for a colonoscopy. Maybe you could ask your doctor if you could take this as a replacement for eliquis to reduce the risk of stroke/heart attack prior to the colonoscopy?

Also, please don’t skip the colonoscopy because of this worry. Recently, a friend was diagnosed with colon cancer, and in just a few short weeks died. He was an active person. He was only 64.

Colon cancer is a real threat and can escalate quickly; please get your colonoscopy.

Talk to your doctor about your concerns. I’m sure they can ease your mind.

Best Wishes 🙂

Hello @behzad1234 !

I’m sorry you are having anxiety over your upcoming procedure. I certainly understand your concern.

Let me preface everything by saying I am in no way a medical professional.
I did a little research on eliquis and colonoscopy. Also, my dad has atrial flutter and has taken medications for years for this; I do believe eliquis was one of them.

I really don’t think that stopping eliquis for such a short time would greatly increase your risk of stroke. Also, if your doctor isn’t concerned about that, I’m sure it’s fine.

If you are still worried, a couple suggestions:
From what I read, you do not have to stop taking aspirin for a colonoscopy. Maybe you could ask your doctor if you could take this as a replacement for eliquis to reduce the risk of stroke/heart attack prior to the colonoscopy?

Also, please don’t skip the colonoscopy because of this worry. Recently, a friend was diagnosed with colon cancer, and in just a few short weeks died. He was an active person. He was only 64.

Colon cancer is a real threat and can escalate quickly; please get your colonoscopy.

Talk to your doctor about your concerns. I’m sure they can ease your mind.

Best Wishes 🙂

One more comment, kind of off the topic but what concerns me and I didn’t know I’d be taking Eliquis for the rest of my life, is that it’s expensive. And I’m really not happy about that. It’s not that I can’t go for it but when I went to fill 90 days worth of Eliquis, it was with insurance at the beginning of the year. It was about $380+ dollars for the next 90 days. When my cardiologist ordered it for me he didn’t tell me it was going to be forever, and he didn’t tell me it would cost that much! I hope it comes out with a generic equivalent one of these days, but who knows?