Pricey Dr. Roach: I’m taking the blood thinner Eliquis. I ponder if I can cease taking it and go on one thing pure, like tea or one thing else. Thanks.
— M.Okay.
Pricey M.Okay.: Please don’t.
Way back, farmers observed that cows have been dying from inner bleeding in the event that they ate candy clover hay that had stayed damp and gotten moldy. A scientist on the College of Wisconsin within the Nineteen Twenties recognized the culplrit: dicoumarol, a naturally occurring chemical within the moldy hay that was stopping the cows’ blood from clotting. The analysis was supported by the Wisconsin Alumni Analysis Basis, which discovered that the substance from the moldy hay blocked the impact of vitamin Okay.
A associated, extra highly effective anti-clotting compound was synthesized and named “warfarin,” which was initially marketed as a rat poison. In 1951, an individual trying suicide with warfarin recovered absolutely after remedy with vitamin Okay, and docs realized that this drug utilized in low doses is perhaps efficient for individuals with an inclination to clot an excessive amount of.
The model title of that drug was Coumadin, and it labored and has extended many lives. Naturally occurring substances have made among the most necessary medicines for hundreds of years.
Anticoagulants have to be used cautiously. Life-threatening bleeding can happen if doses are even a bit of too excessive. They’re solely used if the chance of a blood clot (particularly within the lungs, coronary heart or mind) is excessive. Warfarin was used for a few years, however has been partially supplanted by newer medicines, like apixaban (Eliquis). The newer formulations don’t require blood testing. Nonetheless, the dose must be exact and customized for you by your physician.
There are a lot of pure substances that may partially block the tendency to type blood clots, however few are each protected sufficient to make use of and highly effective sufficient to considerably scale back the chance of an individual with a illness that causes elevated blood clotting. Most pure dietary supplements and teas that purport to take action are NOT protected and efficient so that you can use rather than your prescription medication.
Learn the label rigorously; it should inform you this the tea or complement is just not for use to deal with any medical situation. It’s not a good suggestion to cease your medication with out an specific instruction out of your doctor and a plan for an alternate.
Pricey Dr. Roach: I’m a person with steady again ache. I used to be (and nonetheless am at 76 years younger) a carpenter. I’ve had a number of again surgical procedures (disc removals, fusion, opening of the areas across the spinal wire). I proceed to abuse my again, however I really like my work, because it provides a lot satisfaction.
Consequently, I take plenty of ibuprofen. I just lately completed an article about a person whose physician instructed him his kidney failure was associated to overuse of ibuprofen. Is that this a actuality that I must be involved about?
— P.F.
Pricey P.F.: It’s completely an actual difficulty, with at the very least 2.5 million episodes of acute kidney damage annually within the U.S. brought on by anti-inflammatory medicines like ibuprofen.
For any given particular person, the chance is someplace between 1% and 5%. That being stated, the chance will increase as we age, and taking ibuprofen in case you are dehydrated (from sweating, vomiting or diarrhea) additionally will increase the chance of creating acute kidney damage. Individuals who take massive quantities of anti-inflammatories are additionally more likely to have deterioration of their kidney perform over time.
I feel you’ll be smart to get your kidney perform checked periodically. You possibly can proceed to take ibuprofen in case your kidney perform is within the regular vary and secure, however lower (or cease) your use in case your kidney perform is declining.
Readers could e-mail inquiries to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu.
Discussion about this post