Can leflunomide cause bleeding to the back passage?
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The following was taken from a drug information fact sheet:
"Taking leflunomide can also affect the blood count (one of the effects is that fewer blood cells are made) and it can make you more likely to develop infections. If you develop a sore throat or other infection, a fever, unexplained bruising, bleeding or rash, or if you become breathless, or develop any other unexpected new symptoms after starting leflunomide, you should report to your doctor or rheumatology nurse specialist as soon as possible.
Leflunomide may affect the liver. This may cause problems ranging from abnormalities in the blood tests without causing ill health to severe liver damage which may be fatal. If you develop symptoms such as unusual tiredness, abdominal pain, or jaundice (eyes or skin turning yellow), inform your doctor or rheumatology nurse specialist immediately."
As you can see, the abnormal liver enzymes were enough to get you off this drug. The bleeding in the stools is also probably a result of the medication. Just to be safe, you should probably discuss this with your doctor as soon as possible. Good luck.
Yes. As you already know leflunomide can effect your liver function. Your liver is responsible for producing clotting factors. If your liver is inflammed it will not work as well and therefore not produce as much clotting factor and therefore you bleed more easily.
In addition leflunomide can also reduce your platelet count. Platelets are also responsible for clotting and having low platelets will make you bleed more easily.
Personally if this was happening to me, I would want to know how bad my liver function tests were. If they are very deranged they can cause bleeding problems. I would also want to know what my full blood count was to see if it was low platelets. If both these were normal I would want a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is not the most pleasant of investigations but will inform the doctor what is the cause of bleeding. The most likely cause is haemorrhoids but there are other more serious causes.
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