An Introduction to Dalteparin Side Effects
As with any medicine,
dalteparin sodium (
Fragmin®) can cause side effects. However, not everyone who uses the medication will have problems. In fact, most people tolerate it quite well. If side effects do occur, in most cases, they are minor and either require no treatment or are treated easily by you or your healthcare provider.
(This article covers many, but not all, of the possible side effects with dalteparin. Your healthcare provider can discuss a more complete list with you.)
Serious Side Effects of Dalteparin
Some side effects with dalteparin are potentially serious and should be reported immediately to your healthcare provider.
Most of the serious side effects are related to bleeding, an inherent risk with "blood-thinning" medications. Some of the warning signs of these serious problems include:
- Unusual headaches, dizziness, or weakness (which may be signs of bleeding in the brain)
- Unusual bruising (bruises that develop without known cause or grow in size)
- Blood in the urine
- Blood in the stool (usually seen as red or black stools)
- Nosebleeds
- Bleeding gums
- Bleeding from cuts that takes a long time to stop
- Menstrual bleeding or vaginal bleeding that is heavier than normal
- Coughing up blood.
Heparin-like medications (such as dalteparin) may also cause a serious problem known as heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). HIT is a reaction to heparin (or heparin-like medications) in which the body develops antibodies to the medication. These antibodies activate blood platelets, increase the risk of blood clots, and decrease the measurable platelet levels in the blood.
There are often no noticeable symptoms of HIT until clotting begins to occur, and HIT can be deadly. For this reason, your healthcare provider may wish to monitor your blood platelets when you first start taking dalteparin (or another heparin-like medication).
Although dalteparin appears to be less likely to cause HIT than regular (unfractionated) heparin, there is still a small risk of this problem.
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