Anticoagulants (blood thinners) are group of medicines that decrease human body's ability to form blood clots. They don't really 'thin' the blood, but the term 'blood thinner' is often used to help people understand.
Human body has inherent capacity to form and destroy blood clots, and this process happens continuously and simultaneously to maintain a healthy blood flow as well as seal off any bleeding. This is the same process responsible to stop bleeding after a skin cut. The problem occurs when human body starts forming blood clots in undesirable situations. Take for example a patient who underwent open heart surgery and had his diseased native heart valve replaced by a metal valve (read more about heart valves here). A blood clot on a metal heart valve will directly interfere with its function and can cause serious, even fatal, problems. In such situation, and many more, it's essential to decrease body's capacity to form blood clots. Diseases like Pulmonary Embolism, Stroke, Deep Vein Thrombosis etc. requires blood thinners to be prescribed for varied intensity and duration. Its obvious that if reduce body's ability to form blood clots, bleeding risk is slightly increased. This is why patients on blood thinners should be closely monitored by healthcare providers to ensure optimal medication dosing and identify any bleeding early.
Here is a list of commonly used anticoagulants or blood thinners (and common brand names in brackets). If 'chemical composition' of your medicine has one of these names, you are taking blood thinners.
Warfarin (Coumadin, Warf), Acenocoumarol or Nicoumalone (Acitrom), Dabigatran (Pradaxa), Rivaroxaban (Xarelto), Apixaban (Eliquis), Edoxaban (Savaysa) etc.
There are certain anticoagulants which are given in injectable form. They work the same, except that they are quicker in action, can be adjusted more rapidly to body's requirements, and can be stopped in case any bleeding complications arise. The commonly used injectable blood thinners are: Unfractionated Heparin, Low Molecular Weight Heparin (Clexane, Fragmin), Bivalirudin (Angiomax), Fondaparinux, Argatroban etc.
Please note that the brand names I have mentioned here are for representation only and I don't intend to endorse any particular product or brand. There are many other brand name drugs available in the market with similar drug composition. Please exercise caution while reading this list. Also, pharmaceutical marketplace keeps adding new drugs which may make this list incomplete.
While blood thinners are crucial and life saving, due to its nature of action it does add additional risk for bleeding. Bleeding risk is minimized by following certain good practices:
1. Routine follow up with healthcare provider for any dose adjustment that may be needed. This is particularly true for patients who take Warfarin or Acenocoumarol because here dosing is dependent on blood levels called INR (International Normalized Ratio) or Prothrombin Time. Actions of Warfarin and Acenocoumarol are not as predictable across different human bodies. More so, they interact with a variety of food items and other medicines making standardized dosing regimen impossible.
If you are on Warfarin or Acenocoumarol, discuss with a dietitian regarding food habits that interferes less with the medicine. As a general rule, green leafy vegetables should be completely avoided or to be taken in a fixed amount every day.
2. Don't stop or re-start blood thinners unless instructed by your healthcare provider.
3. Its routine to stop anticoagulants a few days prior to planned surgery. Please ask your doctor about it rather than you stopping it yourself.
4. If you are taking blood thinners and notice abnormal bleeding (for example gum bleeding while brushing your teeth, bleeding from nose, or new onset reddish/bluish skin patches etc.), promptly seek medical attention.
5. Certain pain medication increases bleeding risk when taken along with blood thinners. Generally, pain medicines should be used with extreme caution along with blood thinners.
I am sure I haven't addressed all the questions pertaining to blood thinners or anticoagulants. Please feel free to contact me for any additional queries. Thanks