My husband had a heart attact a little
over a year ago, there was blockage
and a blood clot, 96% blockage. He had a
stent put in and has been taking aspirin,
toprol and plavix. At the last Dr. visit
we questioned about how long to take
plavix and the Dr. said he could stop,
which he has. He is still taking aspirin
and toprol. I am a worried that maybe he
should still be taking plavix to prevent
clotting in the stent, how can you be sure
its ok to stop taking it?
International guidelines say that Plavix
should be taken at least for a month after
implanting the stent. Patien then can
continue taking Plavix for the next 9-12
months. Aspirin should be given for life
if there isn't any contraindication
(peptic ulcer). If there is a
contraindication for Aspirin you can
replace it with Plavix.
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dodo1
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 2
Posted: 07-15-08 19:42pm
Dr. Nikola
wrote:
International guidelines say
that Plavix should be taken at least for a
month after implanting the stent. Patien
then can continue taking Plavix for the
next 9-12 months. Aspirin should be given
for life if there isn't any
contraindication (peptic ulcer). If there
is a contraindication for Aspirin you can
replace it with
Plavix.
I am a 38 years old male,on September
20, 2007 i had a heart attack, 5 days
later I received a drug eluted stent on
90 % blocked LAD.
The Cardiologist told me at that time
due to the fact I have a drug eluted
stent, I will be on plavix for rest of my
life,Fact wich i am not very happy with
it. My question is it safe to stop
taking plavix after 1 year or maybe
2 years?
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Norwester
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 10 Jul 2008 Posts: 6
Posted: 07-16-08 02:45am
Theres a percentage of cardiologists that
are recommending taking it for life but in
my (somewhat limited) experience they're
in the minority. I had 2 of the Cypher
drug eluting stents implanted Nov 2006 and
have seen 3 cardiologists and 2 GPs since.
The longest that any of them have
recommended Plavix is 12 months.That said
I'm just now beginning to taper off. I
am,as most are reluctant to let go of the
thing that is holding off clots,strokes
etc. Conversely I'm extremely tired from
bleeding more than usual from small
cuts,bruising for no apparent reason and
living in fear of being in a BAD
accident.Also there have been studies
linking long term use to brain hemorrhages
among other bleeding problems. I mentioned
tapering off and you may want to google
"Plavix Rebound" (see my post further
down)for an explanation. Millions of
people have taken it and stopped with no
problems.
dodo1 You may want to check with other
doctors for their opinions but I think the
majority will tell you 12 months which is
what the AMA & AHA are recommending.
Of course you'll be taking asirin for
life. I'm taking 325 mgs daily rather than
81 mg as my doctor said we'd much rather
err on the side of too much rather than
too little. That sounds reasonable to me!
To "dodo1":
Do you take Aspirin together with Plavix?
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dodo1
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 2
Posted: 07-17-08 10:14am
Dr. Nikola
wrote:
To "dodo1":
Do you take Aspirin together with
Plavix?
Yes I do. I am taking 81 mg aspirin
daily , also I am taking 40 mg of
lipitor, 2 mg of coversyl, and I am
taking some fish oil pills.
The problem is I am getting so tired
and some times even short of breath, I
went couple of times to Emergency room
for this, they did ECG, some blod tests
and told me my heart is fine, so I am
tending to believe my problem may come
from medication.
Hopefully today I am going to find some
answers, finally after 6 months I have
an appointment with a specialist. ( I
live in Canada, the medical care is
free, but is so free that you don`t
really get access to it, unless you are
almost dead and you are lucky and
did not die yet).
So I would like to find more opinions
about my problem.
Thank you for your help!
Dodo
It doesn't seem likely to me that
medicines you are taking can cause your
symptoms. I believe that you should
perform stress-test or chronography to
confirm or exclude presence of coronary
heart disease. You can consult some
cardiologist about this.
