Originally Posted by
datlas
I try to stay out of people's medical issues, but assuming you have Afib, you are supposed to look at your CHADS(2)-VASC(2) score to determine role of anticoagulation. People with a score of 0 don't need any blood thinners. People with a score of 2 or more should almost certainly be on one. People with a score of 1 is where it gets sticky, and the risks/benefits are nearly identical, so it's in the grey zone. My guess is that your score is 1 and that's why it seems like you are getting different opinions.
If your doctors are super-old fashioned they are going by the now outdated CHADS score. You may want to ask more. The newer blood thinners, especially Eliquis, seem to be much safer than the old fashioned rat poison, and do NOT need periodic blood tests. But they are quite expensive, so if you have a stingy drug benefit and have the option to be on warfarin or not, the scale might actually tip towards NOT taking it.
both are using the same scale i assume. Neither are old and the latest one is very young as far as i can tell. I was on eliquis for a year. For the first 6 months i got a nearly free trial and after that the cost didn't matter since I blew through my 7500 max out of pocket. When it was time this year to pay 500/month (I said F that) i tried coumadin. You already know how that turned out. The Doc said the only reason I'm rated a 1 out of 5 for risk is that I have high blood pressure but I didn't have high blood pressure before my troubles and my nerve pain is probably contributing to it. In theory I'm a 0 risk or even if I'm a 1 she said that I could use aspirin or the effing rat poison. My choice is aspirin which is immeasurably easier to manage from my perspective.