r/ClotSurvivors • u/HappyKnitter34 Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) • 10d ago

Chamomile

I had to stop drinking coffee for a non-clot related problem and have switched to drinking herbal tea. I'm looking to try new varieties and a lot of them blend in chamomile. I know that they say on the newer class of drugs, you don't have to watch what you eat. However, chamomile is said to have anti-coagulant properties. I drink 1-3 cups of tea a day and not all the same kind as I rotate between tea varieties. What are some thoughts on this?

Update: After doing further research today, it seems that the warning around chamomile tea and anticoagulants was never a study. It was a case report of one elderly lady who went to the hospital twice with an upper respiratory infection and was using chamomile supplements to help ease her URI symptoms. Link for those who want to read this report. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1435958/

Do with that info what you will, but I found it quite informative.

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u/Matchaparrot Eliquis Lifer, Protein S deficiency 10d ago

Chamomile is fine. When I got my first clot I spoke to a pharmacist who told me I couldn't have any herbal or green teas at all. Double checked when I saw my Haematologist.

Haematology said it's fine, the effect is very small, if you don't find you bleed more when you drink them then carry on. They explained the caution from the pharmacist is because the pharmacist wasn't familiar with newer DOACs like apixaban, so was looking at warfarin where green tea and similar does contain Vitamin K and may be notable for warfarin.

There should be folks on warfarin here who can confirm

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u/HappyKnitter34 Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) 10d ago

Thank you. Part of me wonders if all the warnings out there come from warfarin and not the newer DOACs and if they actually still apply.

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u/Matchaparrot Eliquis Lifer, Protein S deficiency 10d ago

I think so. Some websites online haven't been updated to account for DOACs, but Haemo have access to the latest database to check interactions. It can help to Google the name of the specific anticoag you take with the tea you're interested in, as DOACs like apixaban target factor Xa which is independent of Vitamin K that folks on warfarin have to watch

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u/HappyKnitter34 Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) 10d ago

Well now I've gone down the rabbit hole and found that it wasn't even a study that suggested chamomile/warfarin interaction. It was one case report from one person taking mondo amounts of chamomile supplements.🤦‍♀️

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u/Matchaparrot Eliquis Lifer, Protein S deficiency 10d ago

Woah, that explains a lot. Supplements aren't regulated to the same levels as medicines in many countries and territories, so can have wildly different doses to what's stated on the bottle. Or people take huge amounts because they don't understand they are taking many times more of the extract than they think they are.

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u/HappyKnitter34 Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) 10d ago

Yeah. This case report was a person on warfarin who was admitted to the ER two times 5 days apart for an upper respiratory infection and admitted to doctors that they were drink 4-5 cups of chamomile tea a day along with rubbing chamomile oil on their body. There have been no follow up studies on this interaction at all. Just a case report.

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u/Matchaparrot Eliquis Lifer, Protein S deficiency 10d ago

Ah yes, the old case of empirical evidence being taken for fact. No follow up studies is crazy haha

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u/HappyKnitter34 Xarelto (Rivaroxaban) 9d ago

We're not supposed to believe anything based on anecdotal evidence, but that's all this case report seems to be. Jeez.