Blood-thinning Medications You Need to Know

Blood thinners are medicines that are used to thin the blood and prevent blood clots. Blood clots alone can trigger a variety of serious diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. Blood thinning drugs are needed by people with certain medical conditions such as heart disease, vascular disease, heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation, heart valve replacement, congenital abnormalities, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, thick blood, and people who risk of developing postoperative blood clots. Not only in the form of drugs, blood thinners can also be found easily in several types of vegetables, fruits, nuts, or herbs.

Blood-thinning Medications You Need to Know

When there are wounds, blood cells will make a process to stop bleeding. That is a normal process the body has to freeze blood. However, this process can be a problem when blood clots become clotted because blood cells clot excessively or clot in the wrong place. This situation can block the flow of blood to the organs, so blood thinners are needed for the conditions mentioned above to prevent blood clots. There are two types of blood-thinning drugs, namely:

• Antiplatelet

This type of drug prevents platelets (platelets) from sticking together in blood vessels. Examples of antiplatelet include aspirin, clopidogrel, ticagrelor, triflusal, and ticlopidine.

• Anticoagulants

Anticoagulant drugs work by inhibiting the work of blood clotting factors that the body has, thus slowing down the process of blood clots forming in your body. Anticoagulants include warfarin, heparin, enoxaparin, fondaparinux, rivaroxaban, dabigatran, and apixaban.

Rules for use and side effects of blood-thinning drugs

Be sure to follow the doctor's recommendations for taking blood-thinning medications. The reason, blood-thinning drugs can interact with certain foods, vitamins, and medicines. Tell your doctor about all the drugs and supplements you are taking. You also need to have regular blood tests to check how well your blood clots and to check the effectiveness of the drug. It is important for you to ensure that the dose is enough to prevent blood clots without causing side effects. As for the side effects that can be caused by blood-thinning drugs are:

• Bleeding is the most common reaction, it can be bleeding when the menstruation increases, nosebleeds, bleeding gums, urine or stool mixed with blood and red or black, or wounds that continue to bleed.
• Stomach ache.
• Dizzy.
• Muscle weakness.
• Hair loss.
• Red rash

To reduce the risk of bleeding, doctors will usually limit activities that are prone to collisions such as soccer. But you can still do safe sports like walking, jogging, or swimming. You also need to be extra careful when using sharp objects such as knives, scissors, or other sharp objects. Blood thinners also increase the risk of internal organ bleeding after injury, for example due to bumping on the head or fall. Therefore, you are advised to see a doctor immediately if you have an injury even though it does not cause visible bleeding.

Natural Blood Thinners You Can Find At Home

In addition to medical drugs, there are also some natural blood thinners, including:

• Turmeric. The curcumin content in turmeric works to prevent platelets from clumping.
• Ginger. The salicylate content found in ginger is similar to aspirin which can help prevent strokes. Foods that contain salicylates such as avocados, berries, chilies, and cherries, can also help prevent blood clots.
• Cinnamon. The content of coumarin found in cinnamon acts as a strong anticoagulant, and can reduce blood pressure and relieve inflammation in arthritis or other inflammatory conditions.
• Vitamin E. Food sources of vitamin E are also touted as mild anticoagulants which can help prevent blood clots.
• Other Foods. Some of these foods are believed to thin the blood, such as garlic, tomatoes, grapes, pineapple, pomegranates, and berries, walnuts, almonds, and cashews. And mackerel, tuna and salmon.

But you also need to pay attention, further research is needed to ensure the natural blood thinners above are as effective as medical drugs. In addition to blood thinners, for those of you with heart and blood vessel disease, your doctor will usually recommend implementing a healthy diet by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, healthy oils, low or nonfat dairy products, and protein. Most importantly, you are still encouraged to consult and check yourself regularly to the doctor to get the right treatment according to your condition.