Clopidogrel

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Hello Everyone,

For background, I posted a few weeks ago about having a BRAO (eye stroke). I’ve had blood tests and a 72-hour Holter monitor and no reason has been found for the stroke. I asked for an echocardiogram but have been refused that and no further testing will be done.

I’m currently taking 75mg of Clopidogrel per day, along with a PPI (Pantoprazole). As I have chronic gastritis and oesophagitis, I’m finding that Clopidogrel is really upsetting my stomach and giving me chest pain. I saw my GP a few days ago and she will contact the TIA clinic for advice on this, but did say that any anti-platelet will most likely have the same effect.

I feel at a complete loss on what to do about this. My quality of life is very poor, due to these digestive issues, but I’m obviously extremely worried that not taking an anti-platelet will lead to a further stroke.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

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@Islagirl - I will try to make this as SaS as possible (I am notorious for long winded messages).

Firstly, shame that cause of stroke has not been identified, but I suggest this is not something that should be of concern as there are many occasions when cause of stroke is not known and indeed many people lead “normal” lives not even knowing they’ve had a stroke for many years.

Secondly, if no further action is to be taken, that is not necessarily something to be concerned about as again, let’s keep doing tests and find nothing? Is that going to make things bitter or worse? Accept (or try to) that it is known you’ve had a stroke and you are now being treated including preventative medication to reduce risk of second stroke. Note: Only risk of having second stroke is being attempted - there are no guarantees you will not have another stroke as there are no guarantees you will not have an initial (first) stroke.

Thirdly, you have been prescribed medication to help your condition, but clearly it does not agree with you. You have absolutely done the right thing in going to your GP and explaining the situation. The GP must now take action and address your concerns - telling you

is wrong! They cannot say or should not say that. When a medication does not agree with you and you let them know (as you should - so I say well done again) they must try to find an alternative and alternatives as almost always available. Please do not let them fob you off in this manner. Chase it up - you are in early stages of stroke recovery and they must help you and address your concerns - talk directly to TIA consultant if you have to.

Personal note:
Mum seems to or had similar problems to you.
Mum was given low dose of asprin (75 mg) as her blood thinner, but she was not given buddy PPI and unfortunatley and due to long term use of asprin on its own (6 years) this led to a (an avoidable) problem which is noe in the process of being addressed.

So I am not going to say this will work for you, but an asprin instead of clopidogrel may be an option, but I would speak to the GP/TIA consultant to find out what is best for you as we are all different.

This might be similar to what Mum experienced for about a month at the tail end of last year (caused by long term/uncontrolled use of asprin) but she is noe not experiencing this and more happier.
She is currently on Famotidine (20mg) and was on Omeprazole (PPI) which did not agree with her.

I am sorry this was not as SaS as I would have liked, but please try not to dwell too much on this. You are doing the right things and things will work out as long as you persevere and listen to your body as you are doing.

Hopefully the quality of your life will improve once they have found a suitable alternative medication for you.

Wrt to anti-platelets, and medication in general, this might be down to a personal choice as their effectiveness and long term use are open to interpretation. My personal feeling is we don’t know enough about them.

These are my thoughts and that is what they are. Based on personal experiences (as carer rather than patient in this case) and learnings from reading countless posts on this forum.

I wish you peace and good health.

Namaste|
:pray:

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Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. What you’ve said is very helpful. I’ll update when I hear from my GP.

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They could look into alternatives like ticagrelor, and there are others too. Clopidogrel is the most cost effective and safe anti-platelet medication so is often the first line of treatment post ischemic stroke.

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100g of Vytox pine bark extract does the same job with no side effects and has been proven to be more effective than aspirin

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I’ve always had a intolerance to some tablets I’ve had to take in my life. But I can honestly say I’ve never had a intolerance to Clopidogrel thankfully.

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Thanks to everyone for their responses.

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I was told to take Lanzoprazole before taking clopidogrel.

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Hello,

Today I had a call from the stroke clinic. They have advised I return to taking Esomeprazole, which I was originally taking for gastritis. Instead of Clopidogrel they said I should take aspirin. Thank you to everyone who responded to my original post.

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That sounds good and I am glad to see you are going to be taking asprin as the blood thinner and the PPI Esomeprazole which will help manage the side effects of the asprin.

Hopefully you will better going forwards, but do listen to your body and do not hesitate to go back to the GP if you notice anything out of the ordinary.

Take care.
:pray:

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Sorry but I find they rarely find a cause. Why is Anyone taking clopidoggie? Vile side effects. Vytox pine bark does the same job and has been Clinically proven to be better than aspirin.

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I think because supplements are, generally, expensive, difficult to determine purity or quality, and pharmacists and GPs would not have the backed up evidence to advise quantity (mg) in order to advise an efficacious dosage with the many competing brands of said supplement on the market.

Therefore, Clopidogrel, despite its potential side effects is the first line in post stroke preventative treatment.

My pence worth.

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We take because we are given them.
We go to the doctors with a problem and they give us a solution in the form of pills.
They don’t always work and we go back and they give us an alternative.
Then the problem goes away or sometimes it doesn’t.

Herbal remedies and treatments are not things your average patient will consider. Oftentimes these are costly, certainly not as cheap as your “own brand” asprin costing pennies.

Speaking for myself, I hadn’t heard of Vytox pine bark until you mentioned it. Many of the things that @pando mentions are things I have never heard of and I am pretty sure even if my GP has heard of them, they certainly will not prescribe them for me :slight_smile:

I guess it boils down to saving pennies at the end of the day.

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Also I think because the supplement industry isn’t as well regulated and there are a lot of duplicitous people willing to take advantage over that.

So for them, it boils down to making pennies at the end of the day

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@ScottishMagic I challenged my GP and the physio last week about blood thinners as I said you can ger herbal which does not affect your body. They were both pissed off. It made me smile, cause they have such closed minds.:folded_hands:

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They won’t support anything that doesn’t make money :rofl:

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@ScottishMagic I know. They hate when I go in the surgery cause I am full of alternatives.