Clexane or Enoxaparin: Preventing Blood Clots

Like any other heparin, Clexane can cause bleeding anywhere in the body.

Clexane or enoxaparin anticoagulant is used to prevent blood clots from forming. It’s a low molecular weight heparin. It’s a medicine that is administered under the previous medical prescription.

Main characteristics and indications

Clexane contains the active ingredient enoxaparin sodium. Being an anticoagulant, it’s used for the following:

• To treat clots in the blood.
• To prevent clot formation during hemodialysis.
• To prevent the formation of blood clots before and after surgery or when you have a short-term illness that prevents you from moving for some time.
• To prevent blood clots when you have unstable angina (a disease in which not enough blood reaches the heart) or after a heart attack.

Clexane or enoxaparin: mechanism of action

As we have said, clexane or enoxaparin acts in our bodies in two different ways:

• Preventing existing blood clots from getting bigger. This helps the body break them down so they don’t do any harm.
• Interrupting the formation of new clots in the blood.

Warnings and cautions

Don’t use Clexane if:

• You’re allergic to enoxaparin sodium or any of the other ingredients in this medicine. Nor if you’re allergic to heparin or other low molecular weight heparins such as nadroparin, tinzaparin, or dalteparin.
• You suffer from active bleeding that’s ongoing or conditions with a high risk of uncontrolled bleeding, including recent hemorrhagic stroke (obstruction and rupture with bleeding from a vessel in the brain).
• You have ever had a decrease in the number of platelets in your blood, which is known as thrombocytopenia, or the formation of thrombi due to the administration of enoxaparin.
• You suffer from inflammation with ulcers on an inner membrane of the heart, which is known as septic endocarditis.
• You have injuries to an organ in your body that can cause bleeding, such as a stomach or duodenal ulcer.
• You suffer from significant bleeding processes that are related to a process that regulates the stopping of bleeding, except in the case of a coagulation problem that isn’t related to heparin.

Signs of an allergic reaction to this drug include:

• Acne
• Trouble breathing or swallowing
• Swelling of the face, lips, mouth, throat, or eyes

Like any other heparin, Clexane can cause bleeding anywhere in the body. Never change Clexane for another heparin without first consulting a doctor, as they aren’t exactly the same and don’t work in the same way or have the same instructions for use.

Drug interactions with Clexane

Precautions are necessary if Clexane is to be administered with other medications such as the following:

• Blood thinners (warfarin)
• Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin)
• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, diclofenac, ketorolac)
• Medicines for asthma and arthritis (prednisolone or dexamethasone)
• Diuretic drugs
• Drugs used to increase potassium levels in the blood

Pregnancy and breastfeeding

If you’re pregnant, think you might be, or are planning to become pregnant, consult a doctor or pharmacist when using this medicine. If you’re pregnant and have a mechanical heart valve implanted, you may have a higher risk of blood clots.

Likewise, if you’re breastfeeding, or about to start, you should also consult your doctor before using this medicine.

Effects on the ability to drive

Clexane doesn’t affect the ability to drive and use machines.

Clexane adverse reactions

Stop the treatment and tell your doctor if you have any signs of a severe allergic reaction such as those listed above. Also if bleeding occurs, as this can be serious and life-threatening.

Tell your doctor immediately if:

• You have any bleeding that doesn’t stop on its own.
• You have signs of excessive bleeding such as feeling very weak, tired, pale, or dizzy with a headache or unexplained swelling.
• You have any signs of blockage of a blood vessel by a blood clot, such as symptoms of deep vein thrombosis (cramp-like pain, redness, warmth, or swelling in one of the legs) or symptoms of pulmonary embolism (shortness of breath, pain chest, fainting or coughing up blood).
• You have a painful rash with dark red spots under your skin that don’t go away when pressed.

Other common side effects may include the following:

• Increased liver enzymes
• Headaches
• A decrease in the number of red blood cells
• Redness and itching of the skin