cyclocross with anticoagulants

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Permalink Reply by smitty on April 10, 2011 at 3:06pm

I ahve been on Plavix the last three years, seems to be nothing diff, as far as training and racing

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Permalink Reply by Todd Rudaitis on April 11, 2011 at 7:21pm

Same here...

Had a stent placed last June, and perscribed Plavix for 12 months from then, and no issues. Doc says the more physical effort the better!

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Wilcox on August 29, 2011 at 1:19pm

John, first of all plavix is nothing like coumadin.  With coumadin in the doses you will be taking, you will have a propensity to bleed.  Not a big deal if we are talking about a nick when shaving, but huge deal if we are talking about internal bleeding (like a fractured spleen) or worse an intracerebral hemorrhage.  In my opinion, (I'm a pulmonary/critical care physician) it would not be worth the risk.

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Permalink Reply by Lou D'Amelio on August 29, 2011 at 6:35pm

I have to second Thomas Wilcox's answer. I'm a trauma surgeon / surgical critical care physician (and the 90 hours a week I put in explain my 'cross mediocrity).An emphatic NO to any contact or potential contact sports while anticoagulated with coumadin - even a relatively minor impact could result in a fatal brain injury; as he stated, your risk of a bad outcome from a splenic (or other solid organ) injury is also high. Even in the absence of a major injury, you're going to wind up with a lot of soft tissue hematomas from the usual contact with the bike, etc, even in the absence of a crash. Sorry to be a downer - this is a far different ball game than anti-platelet agents like Plavix where racing is a calculated but not unreasonable risk. Check with your doc - unless you have a hypercoagulability disorder (protein C, protein S or AT III deficiency or similar), you may not need to be on coumadin for life - six months is standard treatment duration for PE. I wish you good health, but no cross !

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Permalink Reply by John Fry on October 31, 2011 at 8:07am

Thank you Dr. D'Amelio   i will try to appeal my warfarin life sentence.  i'm a two time clotter and the docs are stern.  you and Dr. Wilcox (above) scared me away from CX.  just ran a 50 miler on pavement and am normally sore.  I'll go for an OT freebie on a CX forum:  do the muscle micro-tears caused by ultra distance running pose a serious internal bleeding issue with warfarin?  John

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Permalink Reply by Lou D'Amelio on October 31, 2011 at 9:10am

It won't pose any serious risk of injury. I've run a couple of marathons and had a little hematuria (blood in urine) afterwards - it's not unusual for long distance runners, even in the absence of any blood thinners. You won't experience any unusual muscle damage from ultrarunning being on coumadin. If you pee red a day or two, I wouldn't sweat it. If it continues beyond that after an ultrarun, I would check in with your doc to rule out an underlying urologic condition, especially if you're over 50.  Good luck.

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