Plavix...Aspirin...and the pouch
As far as coffee goes all I can say is just take it easy and see how it goes for you. I drink a couple of cups each morning and usually have no problem. It will occasionally bother me a bit but the same was true before surgery if I drank too much of it.
Steve
In the same "vein", I'd ask your doctor whether it would be OK to take one in the AM and the other in the PM, and not try doing that on my own.
Here's an abstract of an article which addresses the use of Plavix (clopidogrel) in gastric bypass patients. Sounds scary, except that there's a reason that antiplatelet drugs are prescribed after a stent is inserted; it's a matter of the risk/benefit ratio assessed by your cardiologist.
- Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2007 Jul-Aug;3(4):443-5. Epub 2007 Apr 2.
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Risk of massive upper gastrointestinal bleeding in gastric bypass patients taking clopidogrel.
Caruana JA, McCabe MN, Smith AD, Panemanglore VP, Sette Camara D.Department of Surgery, Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo, New York, USA.
BACKGROUND: The antiplatelet drug clopidogrel (Plavix) is widely used in patients who have undergone coronary artery stenting or had a stroke. Because morbid obesity is associated with atherosclerosis, some of these patients are candidates for weight loss surgery. We chose to determine the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding after gastric bypass in patients taking clopidogrel. METHODS: Patients who took clopidogrel after gastric bypass were identified by specific review of the subset of patients who had had upper gastrointestinal bleeding requiring hospital admission and transfusion. All who bled underwent emergency endoscopy. RESULTS: Of 11 patients taking clopidogrel, 4 (36%) presented with significant upper gastrointestinal bleeding 25-234 days after gastric bypass. All stopped bleeding with discontinuation of the drug and treatment with an intravenous proton pump inhibitor. CONCLUSION: Gastric bypass patients appear to be at high risk of bleeding complications when taking clopidogrel. On the basis of the available published data from another high-risk group (i.e., those with a history of peptic ulcer disease), co-treatment with omeprazole may be indicated when clopidogrel must be continued.
PMID: 17400519 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
/Steve
