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Anticoagulants: What to Do if You Miss a Dose

Topic Overview

Call your doctor if you are not sure what to do if you missed a dose of anticoagulant.

Your doctor can tell you exactly what to do so you don't take too much or too little anticoagulant. Then you will be as safe as possible.

But here are some general rules for what to do if you miss a dose.

  • If you remember it in the same day, take the missed dose. Then go back to your regular schedule.
  • If it is the next day, or almost time to take the next dose, do not take the missed dose. Do not double the dose to make up for the missed one. At your next regularly scheduled time, take your normal anticoagulant dose.
  • If you miss your dose for 2 or more days, call your doctor.

Do not double the dose in any one day to make up for a missed dose.

You can keep track of your medicine doses in a daily medicine planner (What is a PDF document?).

Credits

By Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer Jeffrey S. Ginsberg, MD - Hematology
Last Revised December 28, 2011

Last Revised: December 28, 2011

Author: Healthwise Staff

Medical Review: E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Jeffrey S. Ginsberg, MD - Hematology

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