peripheral neuropathy

Has anybody come across being a side effect of Sotalol?

[jeanjeannie50]

Not too sure what peripheral neuropathy is poppyseed. However I certainly have an aching body and took Sotalol in the past.

[Hidden in reply to jeanjeannie50]

I hope u don't mind me asking, what do you take now? And do you feel better for coming off Sotalol

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Hidden]

I went on to Amiodarone and for the last two months have stopped taking that too as quite well now. Only on warfarin now. Sotalol me me feel very odd, I think 'spaced out' is a good description.

[JoeO in reply to Hidden]

poppyseed, could you email me at [e-mail]

[Hidden]

Thanks for sharing

[MarkS]

I think peripheral neuropathy is a side effect of diabetes. I haven't heard about it in connection with sotalol.

[Hidden]

Approx 30% of this disease can be accounted for by Diabetes, the rest are due to other causes. I found a clinical study that showed this disease as a side effect of Sotalol, it's rare but a possibility. I have symptoms of PN but I do not have diabetes but I have been on Sotalol long term. I would love for it to be the cause and not anything else. I am going to visit GP and see if I can change. Especially now if Sotalol is no longer offered for AF. It will be interesting if my symptoms improve especially my eyesight.

[Mrs-Gilly]

Hi Poppyseed

I experienced frightening tingling/pins and needles in my hands at night, mainly the distal part of my hand, my little and ring fingers, when I was put on Bisoprolol 2.5mg (another beta blocker) and Flecainide 100mg. I was frightened this would be permanent. It gradually worsened until the whole of my right hand went completely numb and I had to hunt for it with my left hand under the bedclothes in the dark and try to massage some sensation back. I then started waking with "no hands"; they both felt as if they had been cut off at the wrists and I couldn't find them as I had no sensation.....nightmarish. (Nightmares can also be a side effect of Bisoprolol!). I had to struggle to put the light on to persuade myself they were still there and I wasn't dreaming!

Apparently both drugs can have this side effect and I gradually stopped taking either of them as my sleep was so disturbed. At my next appointment, the cardiology registrar rather poo-pooed my complaints but I insisted that I felt over-medicated (I am very slight). He altered my prescription to 1.25mg Bisoprolol a day and 50mg Flecainide prn. I am lucky as my AF was incidental to cardiac changes as a result of hypertension, and since that has returned to normal bounds with the help of Losartan, I rarely get long lasting irregularities of heart rate, so have only used Flecainide about once recently. Things improved a lot until the other day, when perhaps I spent too long handling stuff on the supermarket chiller shelves and the ring finger of my right hand went persistently and painfully numb and purple. No amount of massaging it or blowing hot breath on it helped. It improved once I was out in warmer air. But I now dread the winter.

I also experience hair loss, dizziness when rising from bed, extreme itching on occasions when I don't appear to have been bitten, bloodshot eyes and a runny nose - I sound glorious don't I? It is hard at this time of year to know if some of this is down to hayfever-type symptoms or known side effects.

Mrs Gilly