nosa47

I was, like you and anybody else that is/was on Plavix, very hesitant and leary about stopping the medication after one year. It seems that you only hear the horror stories when something goes wrong but in reality, in the majority of the cases, people stop taking plavix after a period of time after stent implantation with no ill effects. Many cardiologists recommend a one-year course and a few advise of taking it for life. I took plavix along with a full-dose aspirin (325 mg) after undergoing a mini-bypass surgery (midcab) on the LAD and a drug-eluting stent implant (Taxus) on the RCA.

I stopped the plavix on my cardiologist's advice after 13 months since he recommends a 12-months course for most his patients (not sure if there are exceptions). I did not taper it off, I just stopped it the second day after my visit to his office. I am still taking the full-dose aspirin and will be doing so for life. I had no side effects whatsoever from stopping the plavix except for beneficial ones. I no longer suffer the constant bleeding and bruising from shaving and bumping into things along with GI symptoms that I used to have, and feel generally a lot better than I did before.

Having said that, every patient's case is different. Are you taking a good care of yourself? i.e. eating a heart friendly diet and excercising, not smoking, managing your weight, blood sugar, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, stress and other knows risks factors? If you are taking care of these issues, and you do not have a history of easily re-stenosing or clotting and there were no complications since your stent implants, it has been my experience (and others on this board) that there would be no problem stopping the plavix.

Once you make your decision based on the factors I mentioned above and on your cardiologist's advice, you will overcome the fear and worry factors and take the appropriate action. If your are not already taking a full-dose aspirin, ask your doctor if you should do so( highly recommended) and that, of course, should be for life. Do some research on this board under "plavix" and you will find some old posts that might be of value for you in making a decision. I hope everything works out fine for you.