The medication clopidogrel is used for preventing strokes and heart attacks in people who have heart disease or a recent heart attack, blood circulation disease recent stroke.
Clopidogrel is used with aspirin to also treat new or worsening chest pain, unstable angina, new heart attack and to keep the blood vessels open.
The medicine clopidogrel is a platelet inhibitor and works by reducing the chance of a harmful blood clot will form by preventing the platelets from clumping together in your blood.
The drug clopidogrel can also increase the chance of serious bleeding in some people.
Clopidogrel is a prescription only drug and is available only with a doctors prescription.
The side effects of clopidogrel are headaches, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, indigestion, stomach ache or abdominal pain and nosebleeds.
People who take clopidogrel should avoid eating grapefruit or drinking grapefruit juice which can block an enzyme that helps activate clopidogrel.
Plavix contains the active drug clopidogrel which is available as a generic medication.
The generic drug is an exact copy of the brand name medication.
Generic medications are just as safe and effective as the name brand but are usually much cheaper than the brand name of the same medication.
When taking clopidogrel you should take it with a glass of water.
Depending on what you're taking clopidogrel for you may need to stay on the medication for 12 months or sometimes longer after a heart attack or stent placement and even longer in some cases.