Pulmonary Embolism Support Group

By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.

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Marevan to Xarelto Switch

Tr0n
Tr0n
Original story :) http://www.dailystrength.org/c/Pulmonary_Embolism/forum/19669533-another-pe-noob-questions-and

Today I made the switch from Marevan to Xarelto. My cardiologist suggested newer anticoag. medicine and after some blood tests anticoag. docs made the switch to Xarelto.

So of course today I find several articles about Xarelto lawsuits (posted June 2, 2015) where uncontrollable internal bleeding occurred and let to death.

http://philadelphia.legalexaminer.com/fda-prescription-drugs/florida-xarelto-lawsuit-alleges-blood-thinner-caused-wrongful-death/

http://newyork.legalexaminer.com/defective-dangerous-products/study-suggests-xarelto-carries-higher-risk-for-gastrointestinal-bleeding/

Also a study that shows that patients taking Xarelto had a risk for gastrointestinal bleeding that was twice as high as patients taking warfarin.

http://www.bmj.com/content/350/bmj.h1585

I understand all anticoag. medicine has the risk of bleeding, but it's still kinda unsettling to read this stuff

What is your experience with this drug?
rmb
rmb
I'm not on xarelto but I suspect the uptick in law suits is really just opportunistic attorneys. I read somewhere that one of the earlier new anticoagulant law suits awarded a lot of money and so once xarelto came out, attorneys were poised to jump on the bandwagon.

Read that study closer. It's saying the risk can't be ruled out, not that there is a definitive risk. Actually the study says: "In this commercially insured database of adults in the United States, neither dabigatran nor rivaroxaban use was associated with a statistically significantly increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding relative to warfarin. Evidence from observational studies such as ours should prove useful to clinicians in selecting the appropriate anticoagulant for patients after incorporating other information about the safety, efficacy, and effectiveness of these agents, as well as their cost and patients preferences regarding anticoagulant therapy."
RetiredNavy02
RetiredNavy02
I've been on Xarelto now since 2012 with no issues. Bleeding when cut is no worse than on Coumadin. Like RMB mentions, its a new medication much like Dabigatran which is also in the news so lawyers are embracing the opportunity to create lawsuits.

The medications not for everyone, like any medication, some patients do better on it than others. There's still a lot of unknowns (is the one size fits all dosing for everyone).

R/Tom
Tr0n
Tr0n
Did you or do you experience any side effects after prolong use?

I didn't have any problem with warfarin, so I'm wondering what the difference will be.
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