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Muscle Weakness and Eliquis - How to diagnose/test for cause?
I've always had somewhat loose ligaments but it is getting much worse since taking Eliquis, which I started about 1.5 years ago. I am now 75 years old. I take a low dose but my body is very sensitive to all medications. I am hesitant to get a Watchman, and am wondering if there is some diagnostic procedure to determine if Eliquis is causing the problems of muscle weakness?
I appreciate that many people have posted about this concern of muscle weakness in relation to taking Eliquis - WHAT DO THE DOCTORS SAY???? Mine tend to know very little about this.
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Statins are also known to make people have sore muscles. Are you also on a statin?
The only way to see if apixaban is the culprit is to stop it. Except that it's risky if you have a CHA2DS2-VASc score higher than about 2.0. That's for a cardiac arrhythmia like atrial fibrillation. If you have other comorbidities that increase your stroke risk, then you need another metric, but your doctor has you on apixaban because he/she has figured it out and you are too high a risk. Still, you're in the driver's seat and can stop apixaban on your own if you feel you can incur the risk personally for a few days to see if stopping the apixaban also stops the pain. You doctor would ask you to at least substitute it with aspirin to help manage the pesky risk. Maybe consult your physician?
@gloaming To stop and see what happens is the logical reaction, but for me the side effects off were even worse, truly a 10 in pain, but little my little are bettering. Evidently not every body has the same reaction. I have a feeling age, dose and loose muscles are part of it. For me there were other factors that were most likely the cause of the clots, so after six months the medication was stopped with the advice that if I had a very swollen, painful leg to go to the ER. Knowledge that for some these side effects is helpful, even more so that little by little one's body works through them. For those for whom it would be dangerous to simply stop, perhaps switching to another blood thinner that did not have the basic formula of Eliquis. Great to have a place to ponder and perhaps help create solutions.