Getting over fear (riding on blood thinners)

zippytech
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Bethesda, OH US
8/21/2024 2:26pm

If you are worried about getting hurt stay off it. plain and simple, if not go out and have fun, I do and I have been on the same stuff.

 

kage173
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8/21/2024 2:59pm

That's gnarly. Have you asked your doctor specifically what the risk is if you hit your head? If it is more of a problem on this medication tHan normal?

In my experience I never tell them about riding the motorcycle because they instantly freak out. I ask about specific conditions, specific actions and potential results. Then I make my own judgements.

Bret
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8/21/2024 3:42pm

I won't give you advice about riding while taking blood thinners. I will tell you that when I was on them I didn't ride. I bruised very easily when I was taking them and I didn't want to risk the chance of internal bleeding that could result in death. Fortunately I only had to take them for a year and I was able to ride again.

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braaap
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8/22/2024 3:27pm

Talking from experience, it’s not worth the risk. While I was on warfarin I got hit in the head by a ram while loading them in a trailer. It wasn’t a very hard hit but my face swole up tremendously. Scary stuff. 
A month later, after my face swelling went down, I was playing softball and got hit in the shin by a ball. Once again, it wasn’t that hard of a hit but my leg swole up so much I could hardly walk for a couple weeks.  
At that point, I didn’t do shit for the rest of the 6 months I was on warfarin and damn sure wouldn’t ride my dirt bikes. 

The Shop

DaveB771
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Minneapolis, MN US
8/22/2024 3:30pm
braaap wrote:
Talking from experience, it’s not worth the risk. While I was on warfarin I got hit in the head by a ram while loading them in...

Talking from experience, it’s not worth the risk. While I was on warfarin I got hit in the head by a ram while loading them in a trailer. It wasn’t a very hard hit but my face swole up tremendously. Scary stuff. 
A month later, after my face swelling went down, I was playing softball and got hit in the shin by a ball. Once again, it wasn’t that hard of a hit but my leg swole up so much I could hardly walk for a couple weeks.  
At that point, I didn’t do shit for the rest of the 6 months I was on warfarin and damn sure wouldn’t ride my dirt bikes. 

Warfarin is nasty stuff. My oncologist is OK with me doing as much of my normal activity as I want, within reasonable limits, since I'm on Eliquis.

FahQ
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NJ US
8/22/2024 6:54pm

Anybody know if blood thinners help with arm pump? 

1
8/22/2024 8:38pm
McG194 wrote:
In May I started to step up my training for our Hare Scramble series that starts in September. After a pretty strenuous week my knee (which...

In May I started to step up my training for our Hare Scramble series that starts in September. After a pretty strenuous week my knee (which is bone on bone arthritic) swelled up to the point I couldn't walk the Saturday of Memorial Day. I went to urgent care and got a steroid shot and went on a dose of oral steroids to get the swelling down. Went for an ultrasound the next Tuesday and they found a blood clot in my calf. Luckily the MRI of my entire chest was clear and no other issues. The ultrasound tech said she has seen more blood clots in the past few years than she has in her 20-year career so I'm not alone in my condition. They put me on Eliquis blood thinners to break up the clots which I'm still on. 

Long backstory but what I'm dealing with is I just got back on my KTM and my Turbo Levo 3 weeks ago. My bicycle is fairly easy to tone down a little, I just ride blue trails and don't push super hard. The big problem is on the dirt bike I'm riding stiff and scared. I went out to our turn track and did one slow out lap and the first time I kicked up the pace my first thought was what if I lose the front and take a handlebar to the gut and bleed out internally. Riding so stiff with no flow at all is just making it more likely that I do crash. 

Any ideas on getting over the fear of bleeding out so I can enjoy and feel safe riding again. I'm 57 years old so my fastest days are in the rearview, but I do want to ride as fast as I can. I probably just need to get the first crash out of the way. 

You could make the choice of not being on blood thinners. 

It's our choice what we pUT in our bodies

 

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MXZ
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8/22/2024 9:23pm

I’ve visited the site for years, but only now joined to comment on this. I’m a practicing hematologist and deal with this issue quite a bit. I think it’s a lot more complicated than most think and a lot of oncologists oversimply it (and in so doing may over treat). Just because you have a clot doesn’t mean you have to be on a blood thinner lifelong. There are a lot of things that go into how a blood clot should be approached - provoked vs non-provoked, distal vs proximal, superficial vs deep. From what you are saying yours was distal (below the knee). In these cases there are situations where you don’t even need to treat them, but I don’t know your specifics so I won’t comment on that. When anticoagulation is warranted it is generally for a minimum of 3 months and from there it can potentially be discontinued. 

There isn’t a one right way to do this, it’s about you weighing the risks and benefits of what you want to do. Stopping the blood thinner may be the best thing for you - if you are going to ride the risk of having a major bleed during a crash may be far bigger than the risk of another clot off of the blood thinner. Other options could be decreasing the dose of the blood thinner to a preventative dose rather than a treatment dose or even switching to Warfarin. Warfarin isn’t my favorite, but if you were out in the middle of nowhere and got sent to a small hospital with a bad bleed it’s something they’d be able to easily reverse. 

I don’t know your specifics so talk with your doctor and if you’re going to ride tell them. Figure out what makes the most sense in your situation. Some people will have clear reasons to stay on a blood thinner (like in this thread cancer and APS have been mentioned), but a lot of people don’t. 

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kennyc
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Liberty Hill, TX US
Fantasy
8/22/2024 9:42pm Edited Date/Time 8/22/2024 9:43pm
MXZ wrote:
I’ve visited the site for years, but only now joined to comment on this. I’m a practicing hematologist and deal with this issue quite a bit...

I’ve visited the site for years, but only now joined to comment on this. I’m a practicing hematologist and deal with this issue quite a bit. I think it’s a lot more complicated than most think and a lot of oncologists oversimply it (and in so doing may over treat). Just because you have a clot doesn’t mean you have to be on a blood thinner lifelong. There are a lot of things that go into how a blood clot should be approached - provoked vs non-provoked, distal vs proximal, superficial vs deep. From what you are saying yours was distal (below the knee). In these cases there are situations where you don’t even need to treat them, but I don’t know your specifics so I won’t comment on that. When anticoagulation is warranted it is generally for a minimum of 3 months and from there it can potentially be discontinued. 

There isn’t a one right way to do this, it’s about you weighing the risks and benefits of what you want to do. Stopping the blood thinner may be the best thing for you - if you are going to ride the risk of having a major bleed during a crash may be far bigger than the risk of another clot off of the blood thinner. Other options could be decreasing the dose of the blood thinner to a preventative dose rather than a treatment dose or even switching to Warfarin. Warfarin isn’t my favorite, but if you were out in the middle of nowhere and got sent to a small hospital with a bad bleed it’s something they’d be able to easily reverse. 

I don’t know your specifics so talk with your doctor and if you’re going to ride tell them. Figure out what makes the most sense in your situation. Some people will have clear reasons to stay on a blood thinner (like in this thread cancer and APS have been mentioned), but a lot of people don’t. 

Question for you, given the huge spike in clots in the last few years - do you see any medical evidence in the correlation of C19 vaccine(s) and clotting?  I am okay if you don't wish to answer on a public forum, but thought I would ask.  My Oncologist said "it is very curious" but there were no studies supporting it yet.

Also - care to share your opinion on Eliquis/Xarelto vs Warafrin?

 

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DaveB771
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Minneapolis, MN US
4/7/2025 4:28pm

Had another discussion with my oncologist/hematologist about getting back on the bike while I’m on Eliquis due to pulmonary blood clots from cancer. He tells me eliquis is cleared from the bloodstream in 4 hours, and at least in my case, skipping the previous evening’s and the morning dose on a riding day would be an adequate precaution. That was the easiest negotiation with a doctor I’ve ever had. Also, pulmonary blood clots are a very common side effect of cancer. 

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1
4/7/2025 4:41pm

Had a 5’ X 6’, 2” think fiberglass boat hatch come down on my head last week. No blood but major goose egg.  Dr said go get CT scan of head due to aspirin and Plavix.  Happy to say no brain bleed.  

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DaveB771
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Minneapolis, MN US
4/7/2025 7:06pm
Had a 5’ X 6’, 2” think fiberglass boat hatch come down on my head last week. No blood but major goose egg.  Dr said go...

Had a 5’ X 6’, 2” think fiberglass boat hatch come down on my head last week. No blood but major goose egg.  Dr said go get CT scan of head due to aspirin and Plavix.  Happy to say no brain bleed.  

My doc now tells me Eliquis and aspirin are equally likely to lead to internal bleeding. 

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NSP139
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Temecula, CA US
4/8/2025 8:01am
Had a 5’ X 6’, 2” think fiberglass boat hatch come down on my head last week. No blood but major goose egg.  Dr said go...

Had a 5’ X 6’, 2” think fiberglass boat hatch come down on my head last week. No blood but major goose egg.  Dr said go get CT scan of head due to aspirin and Plavix.  Happy to say no brain bleed.  

My Doc said I was good to go with Plavix and aspirin to ride my mountain bike and dirt bike luckily I only have about 5 months left and I can get off it all!

1

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