The Fatigue Factor: Do Blood Thinners Make You Tired?

Journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes 2023 suggest: Nearly 1 out of every 5 patients experience fatigue after taking blood thinners. You may not have this in your general awareness that your veins and arteries are the carriers of your blood flow. Do blood thinners make you tired? Irregular heart rhythm is a sign that doctors may prescribe you the application of blood thinners for people with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke or pulmonary embolism.

Have you seen that thick layer of blood stick over the periphery of your body part where the injury occurred? This is generally what they cite in the medical term “blood clot” in layman’s when blood forms a mass by sticking together blood platelets, protein, and cells.

Do Blood Thinners Make You Tired?

The medications in medical science to support heart attacks often become anticoagulants or blood thinners that intervene in the natural flow of blood and affect it negatively. We remember getting this vague question: “Do Blood Thinners Make You Tired?” surfacing while imagining the blood clotting process.

To understand Fairly, Do Blood Thinners Make You Tired? Yes, it sometimes does. We’re comprehensively covering this topic here. Although, make sure for clinical advice, always choose the doctors and healthcare professionals. We’re here for educational and informational purposes to direct you to the qualitative approach for basic knowledge and understanding.

See More: Anticoagulation Safety

Understanding Fatigue: In the Shadow of Blood Thinners!

What is Fatigue?

Fatigue is a feeling of getting tired, weak, and exhausted. This feeling can be either from your mental or physical conditions and depends on factors such as your medical condition, medication side effects, drugs, sleep deprivation, and other lifestyle changes.

If you’re experiencing drowsiness or sleepiness, low motivation, or tired from your work, you’re probably undergoing fatigue. However, there is no one cause to have fatigue.

The incorrect dose of the blood thinners may land you over serious side effects and damage you even more than do good. Also, the poor interaction of other drugs, vitamins, and supplements can harm the effectiveness of the priority drug and manifest the diversion of side effects.

Blood Thinners Side Effects Fatigue

Blood thinners are the medication that professional doctors prescribe to prevent blood clotting. But, we must accept that no allopathic medicine leaves you without side effects. Here, we shall discuss some common side effects related to blood thinners.

Can blood thinners make you tired? Yes, they do. However, some symptoms are mild to severe, following side effects are most commonly found in patients.

1. Bleeding is the number one cause behind blood thinners’ side effects fatigue is commonly found in almost every patient taking the blood thinner medication.
   • Bleeding can be internal and external; while bleeding is life-threatening, you cannot unequal the intensity and risk factors for internal and external bleeding.
   • What thins the thick blood – when it becomes too thinner crossing the appropriate medical bar, bleeding occurs, often due to excessive dosage or inappropriate and untimely application of the medication.
2. Bruising Over the Skin, when those dark circles pop up over the region of injury or physical trauma, the bruising takes form there, which can be visible.
   • When tiny blood vessels near the skin’s surface get broken, the blood leaks into the surrounding tissues. It causes that particular skin region to suffer discoloration after blood gets pooled under the skin.
   • However, the bruising condition is not so severe and may get healed on its own with time when the body reabsorbs the leaked blood.

Around 2 to 3% of patients having blood thinners experience bleeding according to the American Journal of Cardiology.

Headaches, Nausea and vomiting, Diarrhea, Hair Loss, and Skin rash are some other common side effects in 1 to 6% of patients undergoing different blood thinner applications of medications. However, the severity cannot be defined by us since it will be permanently based on the specific health conditions and the patients and under the streamlined observation of professional expertise.

Generally, the application of thinner drugs for blood is not recommended during your pregnancy or while you’re in your breastfeeding period.

See More: Short-Term Disability Pregnancy Pre-Existing Condition

Does Eliquis Make you Tired?

While taking the Eliquis, approximately 2 to 6% of patients have experienced fatigue. This is a commonly heard side effect of this anticoagulant called “Apixaban” an FDA Approved Generic Medicine under the brand name “Eliquis.” So, to ensure, does Eliquis make you tired? – You need not have to conduct an extensive thought line about your medicines and prefer to visit the clinic as the expertise would always make the difference in knowledge and preparations.

Apixaban or “Eliquis” is recommended by the “National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.” Its application has a range of medical prescriptions as follows.

• It is used as Blood Thinners, reducing stroke risk and preventing blood clots.
• Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation
• Embolism
• Deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
• Pulmonary Embolism (PE)

In many cases, fatigue caused by these drugs may be mild and fades away after a few days, while in other cases it can also lead to severe health consequences.

According to the reports, Apixaban or Eliquis is considered as most commonly prescribed medication ranking 48th with more than 13 million prescriptions in the United States recognized by the World Health Organization’s model of essential medicine list.

Can eliquis make you tired? Yes, they do make you feel fatigued or tired, although the intensity may vary depending on the patient’s health condition.

The side effects of Eliquis can be potentially fatal. The Food and Drug Administration in the US clears and approves Andexanet alfa as an antidote for the side effects of Eliquis or Apixaban.

Does Xarelto Make you Tired?

Remember as it is the prescription a professional doctor gives in case of your blood clot problems, this medicine is called Rivaroxaban under the brand name “Xarelto.” It can also be prescribed for heart stroke risk and medical atrial fibrillation conditions. However, there will always be cases where you’ll experiences Xarelto side effects that may tire you.

Side Effects for the Xarelto

• Bleeding
• Bruising
• Headache
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Muscle Pain

Some common symptoms may be easily caught to gauge the side effects after having the Xarelto. You must immediately contact your doctor for a clinical resolution if you find any following Xarelto side effects fatigue.

• Difficulty in Breathing or Shortness of Breath
• Blood in Urine or Stool
• Discomfort in Chest or Chest Pain
• Pain in legs or Swelling
• Severe Headache or Vision Changes

According to the research, there is 1.4% of people get severe side effects from Xarelto. Bleeding is although the most common side effect. This bleeding is considered both major and minor bleeding in clinical trials.

Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding and Liver function abnormalities are the other severe side effects that may be reflected by the use of Xarelto.

• 0.3% to 0.33% per year cases of GI Bleeding with the use of Xarelto, whereas Liver Function Abnormalities (LFA) are elevated by using Xarelto between the range of 0.6% to 16.3% per year.

The premature discontinuation of Xarelto increases the risk of thrombotic diseases in patients. However, please note here that individual experiences with the Xarelto application may vary widely and can be different or opposite based on the individual patient’s health conditions and other dependent factors of drug reaction and immunity concerns.

Warfarin Side Effects Tiredness

Warfarin is another anticoagulant medication that is used to prevent blood clotting conditions. You must talk to your doctor if you are experiencing specific warfarin side effects, although tiredness is not common, found in many cases along with other side effects of blood thinners.

Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, feeling cold, skin rash, or itching can be other warfarin side effects that may arise from the use of the medicine. The warfarin side effects of tiredness are prevailing due to other health conditions, and in some cases, this fatigue can be more fatal and dangerous.

Some severe warfarin side effects may include the following health conditions.

• Intracranial Hemorrhage
• gastrointestinal (GI) Bleed
• Hematemesis
• Intraocular Bleeding
• Hemarthrosis

Jantoven and Coumadin are the two brand names under warfarin. Although, these brands’ names are specific and vary based on region or location. Marevan, Lawarin, and Warfilone are other brands under this anticoagulant medicine.

Conclusion

This is a structured well research informational article that gives an overview of the anticoagulant resolving your curiosity about do blood thinners make you tired or not and preparing you for your general awareness before your clinical takeouts.

References: Eliquis

• “First antidote for reversal of anticoagulation with factor Xa inhibitors apixaban and rivaroxaban.”
• “Comprehensive evaluation of apixaban in treating venous thromboembolism.”
• “Role of Apixaban (Eliquis) in the Treatment And Prevention of Thromboembolic Disease.”

References: Xarelto

• Susan R K, Lim Wendy, Dunn AS, et al. Prevention of VTE in nonsurgical patients: Antithrombotic Therapy and Prevention of Thrombosis, 9th ed: American College of Chest Physicians Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines. Chest. 2012;141(2):e195S-e226S.
• “Understanding blood thinners, Harvard Medical School, These medications don’t actually “thin” your blood but help prevent dangerous clots.”
• Roxana Mehran, Gibson CM, Bode C, et al. Prevention of bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing PCI. N Engl J Med. 2016;375(25):2423-2434
• Rivaroxaban Is Associated With Higher Rates of Gastrointestinal Bleeding Than Other Direct Oral Anticoagulants: A Nationwide Propensity Score–Weighted Study. Ann Intern Med 2021; Oct 12, 2021

References: Warfarin

• A Patient’s Guide to Taking Warfarin.
• Tan CSS, Lee SWH. Warfarin and food, herbal or dietary supplement interactions: A systematic review. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2021 Feb;87(2):352-374.
• Nadeem S, Khilji SA, Ali F, Jalal A. Continued use of Warfarin in lower dose has safe maternal and neonatal outcomes in pregnant women with Prosthetic Heart Valves. Pak J Med Sci. 2021 Jul-Aug;37(4):933-938.

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