My husband saw the below article in Bloomberg about Ivabradine as an “alternative that selectively slows the firing rate of the heart’s sinus node, which regulates the speed at which the organ pumps blood.”
Quote:
To normalize the rhythm of the heart for people with POTS, cardiologists are turning to the off-label use of a drug more commonly prescribed for heart-failure patients: Amgen Inc.’s Corlanor. Pam Taub, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, says she’s prescribed Corlanor, which goes by the generic name ivabradine, along with specific exercises, to hundreds of patients with POTS, including many so-called Covid long-haulers. “Within a month or two, patients will come back to me and say, ‘I feel better, my heart rate is now much lower,’ and then I start titrating them off the drug,” she says.
It’s important to identify the signs of POTS early and intervene before patients “go into this downward spiral,” says Taub. Wearing compression garments, increasing salt intake, and gradual exercise done initially in a horizontal position, such as recumbent cycling and swimming, are mainstay treatments for POTS. Heart medications known as beta blockers and calcium channel blockers have also been used, though these can lower blood pressure and make patients feel worse, Taub says.
Unquote.
I’m seeing my electrophysiologist on the 29th and will be asking him.
Quote:
To normalize the rhythm of the heart for people with POTS, cardiologists are turning to the off-label use of a drug more commonly prescribed for heart-failure patients: Amgen Inc.’s Corlanor. Pam Taub, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, says she’s prescribed Corlanor, which goes by the generic name ivabradine, along with specific exercises, to hundreds of patients with POTS, including many so-called Covid long-haulers. “Within a month or two, patients will come back to me and say, ‘I feel better, my heart rate is now much lower,’ and then I start titrating them off the drug,” she says.
It’s important to identify the signs of POTS early and intervene before patients “go into this downward spiral,” says Taub. Wearing compression garments, increasing salt intake, and gradual exercise done initially in a horizontal position, such as recumbent cycling and swimming, are mainstay treatments for POTS. Heart medications known as beta blockers and calcium channel blockers have also been used, though these can lower blood pressure and make patients feel worse, Taub says.
Unquote.
I’m seeing my electrophysiologist on the 29th and will be asking him.
