I don't want to be scaremongering but I take Digoxin among other medication for permanent A/F and these reports about studies into the safety of the drug seem to be appearing every 6 to 12 months and none of them make good reading for anybody taking it. The E.P. I was seeing put me on it and at my last appointment some 8 months ago I seen a registrar who discharged me into the care of my G.P., digoxin and all.
I will be seeing the G.P. in a fortnight and will be asking about the contents of this report.
Click on this link if you would like to read the report.
I will post whatever he says but I'm not very hopeful of him changing my prescription. I may ask to be referred to a specialist again and see what the reply is.
Hello again Marion62, Dadog1 and all. Just a quick note to let you know that after a discussion with my G.P. about Digoxin and it's bad reports, he said that he was'nt too concerned because when a drug is deemed to be dangerous, G.P.'s would quickly be notified and would take the required action, hence, I am still taking Digoxin but will keep one eye on the lookout for any further reports etc..
Hi Mikee - Digoxin didn't agree with me at all. I had never been a weepy, feel sorry for myself person until I took this for a few weeks. It also made me feel in a daze and looking back I certainly shouldn't have been driving with the way it made me feel. I will never, ever take it again! Horrid, horrid stuff. I dare say it agrees with some people, but I certainly wasn't one of them. Do you feel well on it?
Hello Jean, as well as the Digoxin, I take Warfarin and Bisoprolol for the A/F, I also take a bit of a cocktail of drugs for high blood pressure and gout, so although I am certain the medication makes me feel rough a lot of the time, I can't be sure exactly which of the mixture it is.
My late mum had a heart murmor and myodisplasic anaemia, in 2010 she was prescribed digoxin. She already had been having TIAs (which due to her diabetes were initially thought to be hypos!) and her doctor said the digoxin would help her. Within 2 weeks, the minor dementia caused by the TIAs (she had long periods of lucidity with short periods of loss of memory and awareness) turned into full blown dementia. GP refused to accept that digoxin was the problem until we found some mention on line that digoxin could be associated with exacerbating dementia in some patients. Unfortunately it was too late for our mum, the damage was done but we did manage (through the hospital) get her off the digoxin (she was 89 at the time). This is what we found:
For me personally, digoxin is awful. I took it for one day and it made me feel like I was about to have a heart attack, so I stopped immediately and informed my cardiologist.
Having said that, it might work for some, and I'd interpret this one article cautiously. An important aspect of this study is that it is correlational. They did not "randomly assign" digoxin to groups, so you have to ask yourself: were there pre-existing health differences between those who were prescribed digoxin and those who were not? Could pre-existing health differences, rather than digoxin itself, explain the results? We don't know. The author of the article made the same point: "Digoxin is used most frequently in *sicker* patients and those with *multiple health conditions*. ... [so] it is possible that some confounding factors were not accounted for because the researchers were limited to the data available from existing studies and did not collect any new data."
Thanks for all of your interesting comments about Digoxin. The main concern for myself is how these studies and reports into the safety of the drug come to the fore every so often and have been doing for a few years now. I really do think that if there is any danger with Digoxin, then, people who are taking it should be informed of them when they are initially prescribed it.
Thanks for the link, Mike. I have read other reports on Digoxin and none are encouraging. Yes we are all different and react to drugs in various ways. Digoxin was added to the Bisop I was already taking, when I last slipped back into AF. It was awful and made me feel dizzy, out of control, my digestion was all to pot and nausea followed eating. After 5 weeks I told the Cardio nurses I was not going to take it any more. There was no argument or discussion. All a bit worrying.
Hello Dadog, could I ask you if you were prescribed anything to replace the Digoxin, I have Asthma so I'm limited as to what I can take. They took a chance with the Bisoprolol and it does'nt appear to affect my chest too much, but I think they may be reluctant to up the dose from what it is now.
Hi Mike. They didn't replace the Digoxin with anything. It is more of a rhythm controller and I was OK on that score. I wouldn't have taken it anyway. I'm still on the Bisoprolol but it is affecting my chest a bit ( I was an asthmatic as a young man) so will be asking GP if I can try something else - like Verapamil hopefully.
Bisop isn't as bad as some beta blockers but some years ago, my then GP took me off beta blockers altogether as I was getting regular problems with breathing. I hope you can get it sorted, as asthma is bad enough without provoking it even more. I'll stay in touch and let you know how progress goes. Let us all know how you get on.
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