Blood in Stoma Bag While on Eliquis - Normal or Concern?

Hi. I have blood in my bag from time to time. Sometimes gross, other times little. I sent a stoma pic to the surgeon and he said the stoma was very good. He expects periodic bleeding due to the Eliquis 5mg 2x a day.

Any thoughts/comments?

Bob

As long as your surgeon/doctor is aware and says it's OK.

I've been taking 5 mg of Eliquis two times a day for about a year and a half, and I've had no blood coming from the stoma.

Little follow-up to my previous post. In the year and a half that I've been on this site, I don't think I've ever heard of anybody saying they had blood in the bag. The fact that Eloquist is a strong blood thinner, I'd be concerned where the blood is coming from and the fact that it's not a one-time thing.

I don't think that is normal. I take 5 mg of Eliquis twice a day and I have never had blood in my bag. For reference, I have a colostomy. Do you cut the hole on your wafer or use pre-cut ones? The possibility may be your wafer is too tight around your stoma. You may have to investigate further.

Stories of Living Life to the Fullest from Ostomy Advocates I Hollister

Good point on the wafer cutting up the stoma. He mentioned pieces... gross stuff. Eeeeek!

I do recall when I had my large colon and blood clots in my legs, being on a blood thinner made me bleed through my ass.

Any blood in the bag needs further investigation.

Are you no longer on blood thinner?

I had to have two blood clots surgically removed from my lungs. I still have smaller blood clots in the smaller veins of my lungs, which the doctor said would cause more damage to remove. In addition, I have blood clots in both legs and one arm.

I was told I would be on the blood thinner for the rest of my life.

@ A-traveler... Xarelto was my poison.

Like you, clots in legs and lungs. They put that IVF thing in me. The Xarelto was reducing the lung clots. I was at a point I couldn't breathe well. Scary shit not knowing anything about clots, thinking heart attack.

Started massive rectal bleeding a few months later. Had to stop it. Was then put on Humira, Remicade, a host of biologicals. No more blood thinners after that. There are a variety of thinners out there. You just gotta find the right one. Clots totally suck. Didn't even know they are associated with IBD people.

Are you familiar with the filter? Did they advise you of it?

@ Warrior, I had an Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filter placement prior to my colostomy surgery. I was on blood thinner (Eliquis) due to having developed blood clots after a previous surgery. In order to perform the colostomy surgery, I had to be taken off blood thinner. The IVC filter was inserted to catch any clots traveling from my legs before they could reach my lungs. It was needed because I was off the blood thinner. After the surgery and I became stable again, I was placed back on the blood thinner. The surgeon responsible for my care advised me to have the IVC filter removed in ~3 months — I followed his advice and had it removed after 3 months. He said many people never remove their filter but the filter or a piece of the filter could break loose and travel to the heart or lungs causing serious injury or death. In the past, these filters were permanent but the newer ones are removable. Mine was removable therefore I could get it removed. The removal was uneventful and no adverse effects afterwards.

This is what my IVC filter looked like.
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Exactly what I was told about having it removed, and I waited too long so decided not to have it removed. The surgeon said it wasn't an ideal removal, so forget about it.

I did.

Until you mentioned failures. How it wears out or could break pieces off.

With all the CAT scans I have had, I am sure a tech would see some, say something.

Frightening, isn't it?

As a filter, you'd think it would clog, right? Then wait?

Yes, I have heard people keeping theirs and no issues.

I thought having the filter meant you could wean off the thinners.

Well, it's been a few years. No issues with clots. Lots of scans prior to knee and butt surgery.

They do note the filter.

Man, you are definitely going through the wringer.

Your photo of your filter, it's all clean. Was there any mention of how full clotted it was? I believe that is made of titanium steel.

Not sure about mesh or netting. Not worried about breaking off pieces. Just glad it's doing its job and I guess clots caught dissolve over time.

@Warrior, when they removed it, there were a few clots captured in it. They cleaned them out and asked if I would like to keep it. I said, "Sure, why not." For your information, my primary care doctor said I was the first person she heard of having theirs removed.

Whoa... since when are you allowed... even asked to keep parts removed from your body? Damn... would love to have been given back my ass since it's always getting bitten.

You are certainly loved by your doc.