Question to GP Maarten: Blocked blood vessel and expensive medicines
Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand.
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Dear Martin,
A swollen left leg was diagnosed as dangerous after an ultrasound because of a blocked blood vessel. I was admitted to the BPH and stayed there for 3 days with a lot of medication that had to be injected. If they worked, I was allowed to continue to heal at home with medicines to be taken orally.
After the check, most of the drugs expired, but eliquis 5 mg (apixaban) remained. I saw on the invoice that these are quite expensive: 20 pills 5.880 baht.
My question is there a cheaper alternative? Little has changed in my stream in terms of size. Medications I was given: aspirin 81 mg, biopress 16 mg half tablet, daflon 1000 mg, tylenol 500 mg,
Your advice please,
Yours faithfully,
B.
*****
Dear B,
You've probably had heparin injections. The biopress (candesartan) is for blood pressure. Note: biopress is also for blood pressure, but is slightly different.
The daflon did nothing.
Eliquis is an excellent choice. Indeed expensive. You could also try dabigatran or rivaroxaban. Those are just as good.
- Dabrigatran (Pradaxa) If you are older than 75, 2 x 110 mg daily for six months and if you are younger 2 x 150 mg.
- Rivaroxaban (Xarelto) 20mg per day.
Don't ask me prices, they are different everywhere.
An alternative is Warfarin, but for that you have to have your blood checked very regularly. Think of thrombosis service.
I also recommend a compression stocking of pressure class 3. However, its usefulness is up for debate.
Good luck,
Dr. Maarten