Even a simple fall can give you a nasty bruise or could even cause internal bleeding. People often worry about how routine medicines like blood thinner pills will affect their lifestyles. With a few simple steps, taking a blood thinner can be safe and easy. In fact, more blood thinners and alcohol than 2 million people take blood thinners every day to keep them from developing dangerous blood clots. Staying Active and Healthy with Blood Thinners is a 10-minute video that shows how small changes in daily routines can help people take blood thinners safely.
Moderate Alcohol Use and Reduced Heart Disease Risk
- Plavix increases the risk of stomach bleeding when coupled with daily alcohol use.
- No one should assume the information provided on Addiction Resource as authoritative and should always defer to the advice and care provided by a medical doctor.
- Over-imbibing can affect how quickly your blood clots and can increase your chances of falling.
If you have atrial fibrillation, your doctor may prescribe blood thinners (especially anticoagulant medicines) as part of your treatment plan. For example, a blood clot can form elsewhere in the body and travel to the heart, lungs, or brain. This type of blockage can lead to life-threatening conditions such as pulmonary embolism, stroke, or heart attack. Blood-clotting in the circulatory system is referred to as thrombosis. Blood thinners are medications given to people with a high risk of dangerous levels of blood-clotting.
Related medical questions
- They protect you from bleeding too much if you’re injured or have surgery.
- New research has found that moderate consumption, meaning one or two drinks per day, can decrease cardiovascular disease risk.
- If your doctor does prescribe Eliquis with an antidepressant, watch for possible symptoms of bleeding.
- If your doctor has prescribed one of these medicines, it’s because you have heart disease or another condition that increases your risk for clots.
- Heads up that some of these “don’ts” don’t apply if you’re on one of the newer blood thinners, like Rivaroxaban (Xarelto®) or Apixaban (Eliquis®).
- Short-term effects occur because of how alcohol impacts receptors in the blood.
Other medicines can change the way your blood thinner works. Your blood thinner can also change how other medicines work. And if you have an underlying health condition such as diabetes or kidney disease, ask your doctor whether it’s safe for you to drink at all.
Drinking too much alcohol
There are currently no reports of Eliquis interacting with cannabis (commonly referred to as marijuana) or cannabis products such as cannabidiol (CBD). But as with any drug or supplement, talk with your doctor before using cannabis with Eliquis. If you’re concerned about your medications interacting with any lab tests you have, talk with your doctor. Before you start taking Eliquis, talk with your doctor if any of the factors above apply to you. Your doctor can determine whether Eliquis is safe for you to take. The relationship between alcohol and deep vein thrombosis may depend on what, and how much, you pour in your glass.
- Doctors may recommend benzodiazepines (such as Xanax) for people having hip or knee surgery.
- Acetaminophen can cause liver damage if you take more than the recommended dose.
- Females retain more alcohol in the bloodstream than males, so they are at higher risk of developing problems from combining alcohol with medications.
- The effects of Xarelto can be affected by alcohol, and those taking the medication should limit the amount of alcohol used.
What Type of Blood Thinner Is Aspirin?
Eating foods with too much vitamin K
