Xarelto and low iron

Posted by dini @dini, Aug 2 10:09pm

I have had a successful PFA in March and no longer have Afib. I have been on Xarelto for 10 months and have just had blood work that shows my iron and ferritin levels have dropped 50%, from what they were a year ago. My primary wants me to go to a GI Dr for a couple of procedures to investigate possible bleed.
Primary also doesn’t understand why o still need to be taking a blood thinner if Afib is gone. Which I wonder too.
At what point does the risk of a bleed become as important as the risk of stroke?
Information I’ve read has also stated that DOAC only reduce the risk of stroke but don’t actually prevent it.
I feel horrible and have no energy, most likely because of the low iron, and do not want to get into the cycle of having to take another drug to counter the effects of this drug, and then another to counter the effects of that one, etc.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Edward (Ted) Almon | @tedalmon | Aug 3 10:36am

Of the variety of problems we AFIB patients face, a stroke is the scariest to me. Some bleeds can be just as bad but are far less common. I would make sure the Xarelto was the cause of your other issues before discontinuing it.

rcrothers | @rcrothers | Aug 7 9:55am

The only thing I can add is that when I felt overly tired (not knowing I had AFib), I started on an iron supplement and immediately became severley constipated. That lead to very difficult elimination and damage to my sphincter muscle indicated by bleeding, hemroids and a very sore anus. It needed s prescribed ointment to get me back to normal. Beware of iron supplements. Better to get your iron naturally.
I also asked a urologist about testosterone to boost my energy level but was advised against it due to the potential for testosterone to encourage growth in whatever remaining prostate material left after a prostatectomy.

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