Code Red: Plavix + Prilosec = Deadly Cocktail

Having a heart attack is scary enough, without post-trauma medications increasing your death risk…but that’s exactly what one very popular drug combination does. In fact, combining blood thinner Plavix (a.k.a. clopidogrel) with heartburn drug Prilosec (a.k.a. close cousin, Nexium) could spell death for a very large number of patients.

According to researchers at the Denver VA Medical Center, taking Plavix along with a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) like Prilosec substantially increases both the death risk and the repeat heart attack risk – by up to 25% more than patients taking only Plavix. The study, published in the March 4, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, included 8,025 patients who’d suffered either unstable angina or a heart attack…and found that 63.9% of them had left the hospital with a PPI prescription.

Here’s the kicker. While the Plavix (or similar blood thinner) is considered medically necessary to help prevent future heart attacks, the PPI drugs are prescribed ‘just in case.’ You see, when a blood thinner works properly, it does exactly what its name suggests: it thins your blood by making it less sticky so clots can’t form as easily. Unfortunately, that can also cause a very bad side effect – gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.

To help prevent the GI bleeding that might be caused by the blood thinner, many doctors prescribe a PPI (like Prilosec). And now we know that this combination is definitely not worth the risk.

Bottom line: If you’ve suffered a heart attack and are taking a blood thinner, do not take a PPI drug to possibly prevent potential GI bleeding. The potential prevention is absolutely not worth the proven risk.