How Does Eliquis Work & Other Eliquis Questions Answered
speciality medications
Eliquis (apixaban) is an anticoagulant, or a medication that can help prevent life-threatening blood clots.
But how does Eliquis work? How does its active ingredient break up thick blood and unhelpful platelets to reduce your risk of poor short- and long-term outcomes?
Whether you or a loved one is taking Eliquis, knowing the answer to these questions can help you have a better experience and advocate for your most successful outcome possible.
Here, we’ll go through the most common questions we see about Eliquis and give you practical, to-the-point information you can use to manage your health effectively.
What Is Eliquis? How Does Eliquis Work?
First, let’s talk about anticoagulants in general.
Anticoagulants are known colloquially as blood thinners, or medications that can help prevent blood clots from forming. Blood clots themselves are dangerous because they can stop blood flowing properly through your veins or arteries—much like a dam stops water flowing down a river.
The wrong dam in the wrong place can cause logistical nightmares. So too can a blood clot that forms in your complex arterial system.
Blood clots can lead to health issues including:
- Strokes
- Pulmonary embolisms
- Heart attacks
The risk factors that cause these conditions are complex.
Dr. Brynna Connor, M.D., a board-certified family medicine physician who specializes in regenerative medicine, reports that “People of any gender, race, and ethnicity can experience heart disease. Risk factors that make people more likely to get heart disease include high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, history of smoking, diabetes, being overweight, eating an unhealthy diet, not getting enough exercise, and drinking too much.”
(You’ll see some lifestyle shift recommendations that counter these risk factors later on in this guide.)
If you have a condition like atrial fibrillation—which comes with irregular heartbeats and pooling blood in the heart itself, leading to clot formation—anticoagulants may be required to stop your condition from causing a very dangerous situation.
Apixaban, the active ingredient in Eliquis, has been thoroughly studied (in clinical studies involving nearly 4 million people!) for its efficacy with atrial fibrillation. It’s highly effective, when taken correctly, in reducing the risk of stroke and systemic embolism.
How do anticoagulants stop blood clot formation?
Different anticoagulants may work in many ways.
Eliquis works by inhibiting a substance called “Factor Xa,” which is an enzyme that plays a key role in the way blood clots. (Specifically, it converts a substance called “prothrombin” into “thrombin,” which is a necessary ingredient in the blood clotting process.
Essentially, it boils down to this: Inhibit blood clotting factors, and you’ll see fewer clots.
In fact, by blocking Factor Xa, Eliquis reduces the ability of blood to clot and lowers the risks associated with clot formation.
How Long Does It Take for Eliquis to Work?
Or, in other words: After you take Eliquis, how quickly do you benefit from those risk-lowering effects?
Eliquis works very quickly after patients start their dosing regimen. It should start to work just a few hours after ingestion. Peak blood concentration usually happens after about 3-4 hours.
The effects of Eliquis will endure for about 24 hours after each dose.
This is one reason why it’s important to take Eliquis every day, at about the same time each day. Doing so will help you avoid too many ups and downs in terms of blood concentration (which can come with frustrating side effects) and keep the medication working as effectively for you as possible.
Can You Crush Eliquis?
Patients who have difficulty swallowing tablets whole may be tempted to crush Eliquis down into a fine powder.
With the approval of your doctor—make sure you ask them–-this may be an acceptable option for you to explore. If you crush Eliquis safely and then ensure all of the powder transfers to a dosing container, you can mix Eliquis with something easy to consume (like applesauce or water) to take your medication.
If you take this route, consume your Eliquis immediately after crushing it. Postponing administration only increases the risk that something will happen to your powdered medication and could affect the med’s potency.
What Forms Does Eliquis Come In?
Eliquis can come in several forms.
The most common forms of Eliquis are 2.5mg and 5mg tablets.
To figure out which version of Eliquis is best for you and your needs, talk to your doctor. They’ll be able to gauge your symptoms and your healthcare goals, then specify a dosage and administration frequency that should work well for you.
What Does Eliquis Look Like?
Eliquis is a medicinal tablet.
These tablets do have a somewhat distinct appearance. Eliquis comes in a pink, oval, biconvex shape. Each tablet should have an “894” on one side, and either a “2.5” or “5” on the other that corresponds to its dosage strength.
Eliquis is generally packaged in a bottle or in a blister pack.
A blister pack will contain a series of individually sealed tablets. This can make it really easy to travel with medication or determine your dose. It also prevents cross-contamination or moisture.
A bottle, like the orange one you get from a brick-and-mortar pharmacy, will contain a specific number of tablets and may come with your specific prescription information on the outside.
What Are Storage Tips for Keeping Eliquis Safe?
Once you bring Eliquis home (or receive it in the mail from an Canadian online drugs store), abide by these practical guidelines to keep your medication in tip-top shape:
- Keep your Eliquis in its original packaging.
- Keep your Eliquis at room temperature, and away from any excessive moisture.
- Do not allow pets or children to have access to your medication.
What Is Eliquis Used For?
Eliquis has been approved to treat a few different conditions.
These include:
- Atrial fibrillation (AFib), which increases the risk of blood clots forming in the heart, potentially leading to stroke.
- Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which involves clot formation in deep veins, usually in the legs.
- Pulmonary Embolism (PE), a situation in which clots travel to the lungs, blocking blood flow.
Eliquis works to treat these risky conditions by inhibiting clot formation, reducing the likelihood of formed clots traveling to the brain or legs, and even dissolving existing clots.
Eliquis is also used “off label” to help treat other thrombotic conditions, but these are usually determined on a case-by-case basis and should be discussed extensively with your doctor.
Is Eliquis an Anticoagulant or Blood Thinner?
Above, we equated these two terms, since they’re often confused and can mean very similar things.
Technically, the two terms do have specific and slightly differing meanings:
- An anticoagulant is a medication that prevents blood clotting through inhibition of specific clotting factors (like Factor Xa). They don’t thin the blood; they prevent it from clotting.
- Blood thinners, on the other hand, represent a larger category of medications that reduce the ability of blood to form clots in a variety of ways.
Eliquis is an anticoagulant.
It’s not the only one, though. If you’re in need of anticoagulant action, you may have a few medications you can choose from.
How Does Eliquis Compare to Other Anticoagulants?
Aside from Eliquis, one of the more popular anticoagulants on the market is Warfarin.
Warfarin (or its branded medication Coumadin) is an anticoagulant that reduces blood clotting by inhibiting the body’s ability to make factors that contribute to clotting—in this case, materials called “vitamin K-dependent clotting factors.”
Eliquis and Warfarin may have a similar purpose and effect, but they are different in several critical ways.
For example:
- Eliquis doesn’t require any specific dietary restrictions, but people who take Warfarin may need to adjust their food intake significantly to maintain consistent levels of vitamin K.
- Eliquis shouldn’t carry with it a huge risk of major bleeding, whereas Warfarin may constitute a bigger bleeding risk. (Research indicates that Eliquis users experience about 25% fewer major bleeding events than those on Warfarin.)
- The routine blood tests required with Eliquis tend to be fewer than those required with Warfarin.
What Side Effects Should I Expect with Eliquis?
If you’re taking Eliquis, you should be aware that the following side effects could affect your experience:
- Bleeding: Increased risk of bleeding, including nosebleeds, bleeding gums, or prolonged bleeding from cuts.
- Bruising: Easy bruising, even with minor impacts.
- Nausea: Mild nausea which usually subsides as the body adjusts.
- Fatigue: Feeling tired or fatigued.
Usually these common side effects will go away as your body gets used to the medication.
Mitigating these side effects could be as simple as monitoring your condition, staying as hydrated as possible, and prioritizing rest if you’re feeling tired. If these side effects persist, talk to your doctor to determine your next best steps.
There are also some serious side effects that are associated with Eliqius. While these effects are rare, if they do happen, you’ll need to seek medical attention at once.
These more rare side Eliquis side effects include:
- Severe bleeding—e.g., coughing up blood, blood in urine or stool, or particularly heavy menstrual bleeding.
- Allergic reactions, including hives, itching, swelling, difficulty breathing, or chest tightness.
- Liver problems—e.g., yellowing of the skin or eyes (jaundice), dark urine, pale stools, abdominal pain, or persistent fatigue.
Talking to your doctor on a regular basis through consistent follow-up appointments and persistent monitoring of your own symptoms can help you avoid long-term ramifications to your health if any of these side effects pop up.
Does Eliquis Interact With Other Medications?
Eliquis may interact unhelpfully with other medications.
When your doctor considers a prescription for Eliquis, they’ll look at the other prescription medications you may be taking. If you’re already taking an anticoagulant or are on certain classes of antibiotic or antifungal medications, you may not be a good candidate for Eliquis.
Once you’re taking Eliquis, there may be non-prescription, over-the-counter medications you’ll need to avoid to be as safe and responsible with your health as possible. These include NSAIDs like ibuprofen and naproxen, as well as aspirin.
If you’re taking Eliquis, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor up front about OTC medications that you can take when impromptu pain management is required. And, if you do require additional prescription medications after your initial Eliquis prescription, make sure your healthcare team is aware and considers any possible downstream interactions.
Practical Considerations for Taking Eliquis
If you’re just getting started with this medication, here are a quick series of questions that you may be asking:
How to Manage Missed Doses of Eliquis
Missing doses of a medication should never be the goal, but if it happens, having a plan is key.
Once you’ve realized that you’ve missed a dose of Eliquis, do the following:
- Take the missed dose as soon as you remember, as long as it’s on the same day.
- If you don’t remember until the next day, just take your next dose.
- Do not take extra doses to make up for the missed one.
- Return to your regular dosing schedule the next day.
If this starts happening on a regular basis, talk to your doctor and your support system about ways you can up the consistency of your dosing schedule. Inconsistent doses of Eliquis are not as effective as regular dosing, and you could be increasing your risk of unwanted health outcomes.
Are There People Who Should Not Take Eliquis?
There are certain groups of people who should avoid taking Eliquis, or only do so under the explicit direction of a knowledgeable healthcare professional.
These groups include:
- Individuals who have a history of significant or risky bleeding disorders
- Patients who have artificial heart valves
- Patients who have severe liver disease
- Anyone who is pregnant or is planning on becoming pregnant
- Anyone who is breastfeeding
If you belong to any of these categories or you join one of these categories after you start taking Eliquis, let your healthcare team know at once.
Don’t stop taking Eliquis on your own, without a careful plan to wean yourself off the medication that’s approved by your doctor. Stopping any medication suddenly can be dangerous for your health.
Are There Lifestyle Shifts I Should Consider While Taking Eliquis?
There are a few diet and activity shifts that patients on Eliquis can weave into their lives that should pair nicely with this medication.
These shifts include:
- Prioritizing a balanced diet—one rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. While Eliquis does not require dietary restrictions like warfarin, a balanced diet will give you more energy and help you feel better.
- Engaging in regular physical activity that gets your heart moving (whether that’s dancing, walking, lifting, or running) can help you improve your cardiovascular health.
- Avoiding alcohol, when possible, or limiting your intake.
- Committing to regularly scheduled appointments with your healthcare provider.
Has your doctor determined that Eliquis might be a good choice for you?
Once you have a valid prescription, you can upload it and buy your Eliquis through NorthWestPharmacy.com (without having to get up from your couch).
Have any questions at all? We’re here to help.
Chat with our team of customer service representatives and licensed pharmacists, or read our Canadian pharmacy reviews page. The team at NorthWestPharmacy.com looks forward to supporting you and your healthcare needs.
