Blood clots are a condition that can prove quite deadly. Just to give you an idea, roughly 274 people die from clots on a daily. And believe it or not, more people succumb to blood clots than they do AIDS, car crashes, and breast cancer combined.
Now as alarming as this stat is, there is medication available on the market that has been hailed as a life-saving treatment for this deadly health issue. One such medication is Xarelto.
While it is fairly new compared to its traditional counterpart warfarin, Xarelto has a proven track record of saving lives. Additionally, many patients with blood clots prefer Xarelto as a remedy for their blood clotting issues.
If you’ve ever asked “what is Xarelto”, and tried to determine if it’s best for you or a loved one, keep reading as we answer some frequently asked questions.
5. What is Xarelto?
The FDA approved Xarelto (rivaroxaban) in 2011 as a medication to prevent blood clots from developing due to a specific irregular heartbeat or hip replacement surgery and to treat DVT and a pulmonary embolus. This anticoagulant has also been approved as a long-term preventative treatment for those with a tendency for reoccurring blood clots.
4. What Are the Side Effects?
Common side effects of Xarelto are easy bruising and minor bleeding. Now while many people won’t actually experience more severe side effects from the medication, if they do they’ll want to seek medical attention.
Some severe side effects include the following: severe headache, dizziness, black/bloody stools, vision changes, slurred speech, unusual pain/swelling, frequent nosebleeds, and dark urine among other things.
3. Are There Dietary Restrictions?
One of the great things about Xarelto is that unlike other anticoagulants, those that take Xarelto don’t have to follow a vitamin K diet. There is no need to avoid eating things like spinach, kale greens, and carrots because Xarelto doesn’t interact with vitamin K.
2. What Happens If You Forget a Dose?
If you forget a dose of Xarelto, it’s important that you take it as soon as you remember. However, if you remember to take your forgotten dose near the time of the next dose, you don’t want to take a double dose.
1. How Does Xarelto Compare to Warfarin?
There are several differences between Xarelto and warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven). For starters, the latter requires the person taking it to have routine blood tests to help monitor the course of the treatment.
Also, there is an extensive list of medications that warfarin interacts with, whereas there is a limited list of other medications that interact with Xarelto.
Now some will also site Xarelto being pricier than warfarin, but that’s really dependent on a person’s insurance. But you can learn more about the prices associated with Xarelto from the experts at PricePro Pharmacy.
And as we already mentioned, there are no dietary restrictions that accompany Xarelto. Warfarin requires dietary limitations of vitamin K heavy foods.
Is Xarelto for You?
With the question of what is Xarelto being answered, the next question you should have is if it’s for you? While there are several noted benefits of Xarelto over its competition, that’s really something you’ll want to decide with your physician.
However, if you or someone you know already has experience with Xarelto, write for us. Our readers would love to read your experience.
