21yr old stroke survivor

[JQ]

Hi, I'm a 21 yr old female who had a iscemic stroke 3 months ago caused by my pill. I'm almost back to normal now living my life which I was before the stroke.

I'm on clopidagrel to thin my blood which I need to be on forever.

I want to hear from anyone in the same age bracket - to talk to.

[jen_e-g25aries]

caregiver,

whoever told her to stay on a blood thinner isnt sniffing spacedust,  they are right.  the reason hy they had her stay on the blood thinners is because unfortunately now that she has already had a stroke she is at high risk to have another, regardless of her perfectly "normal functioning" body. it sounds to me like you must have wuite a few medical degrees yourself, so you probably skipped that page in your medical journal!

[C.F.]

I also had a stroke and all of my top doctors said that it is more dangerous to stay on blood thinners for your whole life than to be off of them....especially if it was because of the pill!  For example, if a person on blood thinners were in a car accident, they would most likely bleed out.  I was only on them for a year and then I was put on aspirin and now on baby aspirin.  You should look into these options.

[caregiver222]

At for the life-long dependency on so-called "blood thinners" for an otherwise healthy woman in her twenties with a stroke of known etiology I stand by my criticism of her treatment protocol. I am reminded of the line by my favorite television doctor "Rocket Romano" from the show ER. "Have they even established they HAVE medical schools in Croatia?" Your comment Jen, that it is always necessary to continue on blood thinners" indefinitely has no basis in fact or logic. I do not recommend self-treatment. There certain circumstances where blood thinners would not be contraindicated, such as an elderly person with known atheroscheloritic deposits that permanently narrow the interior diameter of the blood vessels. My gut feeling is that this woman needs another (second) opinion - from an M.D. - preferably more than one M.D. The thing to remember ios that all medications that interfere with clotting mechanisms have their own dangers - if you fall off a bicycle and hit your head, for example, and are on thinners, you have a higher liklihood of bleeding into the brain - There is a "risk-benefit" analysis, and in the case of the young woman who posted I am concerned that this ratio was not adequately addressed.

[caregiver222]

And yes, aspririn is often an acceptable low-risk option.

[caregiver222]

For the record, clopadagrel, or Plavix, is being pushed by Dr. Garret Fitzgerald of the University of Pennsylvania, as an alternative to aspirin that does not use the COX molecules. Bristol-Meyers manufactures clopadagrel, and is in the midst of a massive marketing effort to promote this expensive drug as well as keeping track of it's post-stroke utilization in a massive drug study, the ethics of which are getting mixed reviews. This is not to say that this drug is bad or harmful or to refleck adversely upon Dr. Fitzgerald. Many lifesaving treatments have been developed by the American drug companies. It is a fact, however, that there are many rice-bowls involved, and there is often more in the selection of a drug by a physician than meets the eye. Low dose aspirin has been safety tested for over a century.

[Tressa999]

I definitely think you should get 2nd and 3rd opinion about lifelong blood thinners.  If you are no longer taking the medication that caused the stroke, then there are much safer alternatives to something as risky as you're taking--aspirin, garlic, fish oil, nattokinase, gingko, etc.