5 Days Prior to Your Exam: Ideally, anti-clotting medications are stopped 5 to 7 days prior to your colonoscopy to reduce the risk of bleeding during or after your procedure. If you take anti-clotting medications such as Coumadin®, Plavix®, PRADAXA®, Effient®, Brilinta®, or Xarelto®, then please discuss these medications with the prescribing physician (i.e. cardiologist, neurologist, or primary care provider).
You are on these medications for an important clinical reason (i.e. heart disease, cardiac stent, atrial fibrillation, stroke, mechanical heart valve, history of blood clots). Please let us know if you are not allowed to stop these medications or if you are advised to use Lovenox or Heparin prior to your colonoscopy. If you have diabetes, your primary care provider will advise you how to manage your medications prior to the colonoscopy (i.e. insulin).