Atrial Fibrilation

[hensylee]

My bro was not given a choice as to go on it or not. Nobody explained anything about the medicine and as users, who knew. He was also put on coumadin with cardioversion as a follow-up. After some months of coumadin, I called the dr's office and asked when the cardioversion was to be done - the nurse didn't know what I was talking about. He fell through the cracks. She called later and said he should not take coumadin anymore and never mentioned the cardioversion. End of that story. Through emergency and with another hosp & dr, he now has his cardioversion and is better for it. Still on coumadin and being monitored every 2 weeks. Thank you for your post. It is helpful and I will check out your site. God bless

 

[Guest]

You are so right that everyone must be vigilant for themselves. I did a consultation on a lawsuit once where a woman bled into her eye. The person in the cardiologist's office who was adjusting the warfarin doses wrote this in the patient's record. Then adjusted the dose for three more months before telling the cardiologist. It was not just a little bloodshot eye, it was bleeding into the interior of the eye. The woman went blind. Doctors are stressed to the limit like so many other people today and can miss things. The recent episode with the hospital in Philadelphia reporting incorrect INRs was not found by the hospital's QA procedures or even a doctor. It was a patient who questioned why their warfarin dose was suddenly being increased.

 

[ALCapshaw]

I had a couple of brief A-Fib events a few weeks after bypass surgery. Then no more for 2 years when they reappeared, usually after exercising or stress. I am now on a low dose Beta Blocker which seems to prevent them from recurring. Higher doses of beta blockers are no fun either, sapping you of energy and putting your mind in a bit of a fog.

'AL'

 

[Andy in Montana]

Amiodorone

Amiodorone

Hi All,
After reading all this stuff about Amiodorone I'm kinda worried. After my mitral valve repair on June 12th 2001 my heart went into Atrial Flutter. I was put on Amiodorone 400 mgs per day (200 in am and 200 in pm). Later they reduced that to 200 mgs once per day. And I was on that dosage about a month. My internist reduced the dosage to 100 mgs per day after an emergency room visit for dizzy spells aparently due to the atrial flutter. On August 20th, 2001 I received a cardioversion. They knocked me out, gave me a small shock and my heart jumped back into sinus rhythm and I woke up 5 minutes later and went home an hour and a half later. After the cardioversion - the cardiologist raised the dosage of Amiodorone to 200 mgs per day. I started cardiac rehab two weeks ago and boy can I tell the difference from atrial flutter to sinus rhythm. I feel really good so far. My heart has stayed in sinus rhythm now for ten days. My next appointment with the cardiologist is in the beginning of October - so I know I'll be on the Amiodorone at least till then. Thus far I have had no side effects from the Amiodorone that I know of - but I have been on this stuff for quite a while now and I'm worried about the long term effets. I understand that the Amiodorone controls how hard the heart has to work - it kinda slows it down. Before the cardioversion my pulse was in the low 50's and now it is in the 70's and it seems to be coming down into the 60's possibly due to the increase in the Amiodorone.
QUESTION: What are the alternatives to Amiodorone?
What if I just quit taking it - would my heart start racing or something?
I'm PUZZLED IN MONTANA

 

[hensylee]

NEVER, NEVER discontinue your medicine w/o your dr's permission. While on amiodarone, be sure they are doing lab tests from time to time. My bro had cardioversion, too and was better immediately. He was prescribed rhythmol and one other that I can't recall at the moment and is doing very well on it, so far. No seeming side effects that I can detect.

 

[Guest]

I agree totally that you should not discontinue the amiodarone. It is working. It will take a long time to wear off and then an alternative would be back to arrhythmia.

You are a good news case. But good news doesn't sell well!!!

 

[Ward]

amiodarone

amiodarone

I started this thread about amiodarone, let tell you what happened. I read quite a lot about this drug on this site and others and when I saw the doctor again I told him that I had read a lot about it and his response was, "Oh you shouldn't do that!" meaning I shouldn't read about it. Needless to say that bothered me. After a little discussion he said, "OK don't take it." My question now is if the drug is necessary, how can he simply say "don't take it"? Anyway, I have not had Afib since that one experience, and maybe the 3 days on amiodarone helped. Either way I'm glad not to be taking it now. Thank you everyone who responded to this thread.
Ward

 

[Guest]

What the doctor most likely did was to write in your chart that you refused to take amiodarone. That way, if you develop a fib and have a stroke, he is covered against a lawsuit.

 

[hensylee]

Shouldn't read about it? You know, in this site I have learned more than any dr could ever tell me about many things and if I hadn't 'read about it', I wouldn't know. Do our drs not want us to know. Drug cos sure want us to know about their stuff and ask the dr for it, but then the dr doesn't want us to read about it? Hello!

 

[Nancy]

The attitude of keeping patients stupid and in the dark is absolutely ridiculus. We don't live in Medieval times anymore. Information in great depth is available on the Internet and doctors have to realize this. Plus many of their patients are quite intelligent. Perhaps a few of them should do some surfing.

In my opinion, an intelligent doctor would sit down with his/her patient and explain to them in detail why they have prescribed this or that med. and discuss what the patient has heard without being threatened. Most patients just want to know that they are being treated safely and properly. If there is a med. with side effects, but it is working for the patient, maybe there is some kind of "workaround" that would make it easier on the patient. Or there might be another just as adequate med. available. The Primary we have says that one thing doctors have is lots of medicine choices, there's always an alternative.

 

[Guest]

What happens after a doctor takes extra time to explain something to a patient?
Quite often it leads to everyone else complaining for the rest of the day because they had to wait to see the doctor.
Unfortunately it is often easier to brush one person off than listen to eight gripes for the rest of the day.
It happens to me in my clinic when someone has extra questions. It is not something that I like to do, but ...
I even had one person complain today because I was taking Labor Day off.

 

[ticktock]

Janie, Perry, et.al
I too take 400 mg Magnesium per day. I found that if I take 1/2 tab in the a.m. and 1/2 in the pm, it does not have the... "lower gastrointestinal" side affects. One pill at one time is a disaster!
I hate to even type this, but since I have started the Mg. I have not been to the hospital once. Oh crud, i hope that doesnt come back to haunt me!
mindy

 

[Nancy]

I'd like to resurrect this thread

I'd like to resurrect this thread

Hopefully this will resurrect this thread because it has lots of relevant info. starting from page one regarding atrial fibrillation and amiodarone, plus lots of other important things.

 

[JimL]

Thanks, Nancy, for resurrecting this thread.
If only I'd read this before my surgery and before my amiodarone experience.

 

[hensylee]

Just re-read majority of this thread and it is so very important for so many to read. I had forgotten about it til Nancy mentioned its revival (and it was way back when Perry didn't know what an EP is - bet you know now, Perry!)

It has been a very long year for my brother and me.
And as a P.S. to the posts I wrote, my brother is a full blown Parkinson victim now - in assisted living - his life as he knew it is gone - and I blame his drs for most of it. Because we tried to tell them that something was wrong and nobody would hear.

This very thread shows how important it can be to do your own research and if you are not happy with what your doctor tells yu, after you have done your homework, explore - explore - hold your own and make him/her explain, explain..............

 

[Nancy]

I'm so sorry about your brother Hensylee. He's one of the reasons I resurrected the thread. Plus I wanted my daughters to read the posts. One of them is taking care of a MIL with afib and the other is taking care of her dad with afib.

The very unfortunate thing is that we cannot turn back time and everyone has to be as informed as they can be. We are so lucky that we have found this website and the common ground that we share. I worry a lot about those who don't have access to all of the information here.

Please, all you newbies read this even if it takes a long time.

 

[joy]

Hi Guys, thanks for resurrecting this thread. Mostly, becaulse I am in AFIB, and the doctors at the NHB will probably try to put me on that drug, and now that I know so much about it, I am going to second guess their opinion. THe naval hospital just likes to ruch patients in and out, and it is rediculous. THey don't even care about people. See my thread in small talk, and you'll see! Anyways, thanks guys!

 

[hensylee]

Joy, there are other drugs that can be used first - amiodarone(cordarone or Pacerone) should be used as a LAST resort. Just argue your point with your dr. - if he/she won't see your point, then jump up and down, cry, make scenes, etc - you know what to do.

 

[sylviayasgur]

hi all!
nancy, thank you so much for resurrecting this thread. it seems lately so many members are either on amiodarone or about to start taking it. this is such a helpful thread.
ann, i'm so sorry about your brother. it must be so heartbreaking for you to see him this way. i am thinking of you.
joy, there are several alternative meds that you may want to try before giving the amiodarone a go. i'm not sure what they are, but maybe others here can help with that. i'm so sorry you have to go through this_ i read your other posts.
joey has been taking amiodarone for about a year now. it has truly been a very effective drug. he was given this because his previous med_betapace/sotolol_ was ineffective in controlling the afib after his surgery.
joey has terrible vision and has his eyes checked regularly. he feels that his vision has definitely gotten worse over the last year. whether this is as a result of the amio or whether this is just a natural progression of his bad eyes getting worse or just age... we're not sure.
joey also has hypothyroidism and takes synthroid. amiodarone affects the stability of the levels and so joey is constantly being tested and monitored to control his thyroid levels and meds.
when he first went on the amio, they did a "lung capacity test" (?) baseline. he has not had one done since. he is not worried, since he has been running up to 4-5 miles several times a week and has started running faster_ his wind is great.
bottom line.... amiodarone is a great and very effective drug. the key, however, is monitoring.
nancy, thanks again for bringing this thread back to life.
ann, i hope things get better with your brother_ please let us know.
joy, i hope you get rid of these afibs soon. keep us posted.
all others, hope you are all well.
-sylvia

 

[Nancy]

I thought I'd let you know how Suzanne's MIL and her dad are doing with the afib.

Suzanne's MIL had a mitral repair and also a Maze procedure (which takes 3-6 months to kick in). She went into afib a couple of days after surgery. They were going to try cardioversion, but the next day she was in and out of normal sinus rhythm and some aflutter. So they held off. She was put on Betapace and Digoxin and Coumadin. She was still a litle irregular yesterday, but the surgeon said everything looked OK, so maybe it was aflutter. I think the docs feel the heart is trying to convert itself to a normal rhythm. Keeping my fingers crossed. They're still making med changes with her and she's still in the hospital at Stony Brook, on Long Island.

Suzanne and Sharon's dad is in Fla. and Sharon is taking care of him. He was going to be put on Amiodarone, but Suzanne objected strongly and he was put on Rhythmol. He feels pretty well, however, the card. in the hospital did not put him on Coumdain. So he has an appt. this week with a new card. He's out of the hospital.

When everyone is all straightened out, my daughters and I are going to have a little private celebration! It's been a very tough summer.