Are bed-bound ME/CFS patients typically prescribed blood thinners?

[Jaybee00]

Do non-ambulatory bed-bound patients typically need to take blood thinners prophylactically to prevent blood clots?

This is a general question. I know if you are in the hospital and bed-bound they give you blood thinners. I would think the same the same caveats apply to BB ME/CFS patients?

 

[Peter T]

When I was primarily bedbound, several years ago, I had one or possibly more presumed TIAs and was then prescribed aspirin, but have subsequently been moved onto a different blood thinner. Though being bedbound may have been a factor contributing to the presumed TIA, it was not the direct medical rationale for the prescription.

 

[Jonathan Edwards]

It is a reasonable question but thee are lots of situations where people are immobile for long periods with chronic disease and anticoagulants are not routinely used. I guess that the risks of anticoagulation are proportional to the length of time used so risk benefit reduces in these situations. In hospital people often have other reasons to clot - like surgeries or infections.

 

[Evergreen]

This was discussed a bit on another thread.

I've been thinking about this idea that you and @SNT Gatchaman were discussing above. I thought how clotting risk works might be relevant (and if someone understands this better and can explain this better, pitch in!): People are at risk of clots from inactivity when there has been a sudden big change in their activity level, for example, because they break their leg or they're hospitalised. But I was told that in people like me, ie with long-term low activity level due to ME/CFS, the cardiovascular system adjusts, and so I'm not at a particularly high risk of clots. This seems true - otherwise we'd expect people with very severe ME/CFS to be getting clots all the time, whereas I haven't come across reports of that.

Lying in bed when ill for other reasons does appear to be a clot risk but for those with long term disabilities clots seem not to be a major issue - as indicated for severe ME/CFS. I think the evidence is that the risk of clotting just from immobility is low.

and a few links in this post, including increased risk in multiple sclerosis.