Newly prescribed Flecainide

[Enjoy]

I am always a little apprehensive when my medication is changed. Due to quite bad fluid retention my Diltiazem has been halved and I am to start on 2 x 50 mg of flecainide a day.

Please does anyone take this combination?

It always sounds so Scarey reading the leaflet inside the box and living alone I think - no-one would know if I had a bad reaction to the new meds. Maybe I should sit up all night knitting to make sure I can observe any changes!!!!

I have also been given a short course of Prednisolone but I have had these before.

[Jason1971]

I don't take Diltiazem, but when I started Flecainide it was done under hospital supervision. I spent a day and night in hospital and was checked regularly. I had no adverse reaction and was released the following morning and taken it ever since.

I'm not sure if this is practice in most areas, but if this was to happen to you, then hopefully that would put your mind at rest.

[meadfoot]

I was told by my cardio when discussing anti coagulation that I would need to start flecainide under medical supervision in hospital. As it happened I was taken into hospital not long afterwards before being prescribed flecainide with a very bad AF episode and was given intravenous flecainide to chemically convert me to NSR.

I have taken flecainide tablets ever since. That is two years ago now so things may have been changed on the 'under medical supervision' front.

I would be inclined to ring my EP to check it out if you are worried.

Be well.

[Finvola]

I was prescribed 100mg Flecainide twice daily and no mention was made of monitoring or checking its effects. I made sure to start taking it after a Bank Holiday on a weekday - just in case of problems but so far, nine months later, all is OK. Rather than worry, it is a good idea to phone your physician.

[Rellim296]

AS I was leaving hospital after an ablation, I was given flecainide and told to take it and there were no instructions or supervision. I had a few tablets and had to get more from my GP. I had no problems of any sort.

You are on quite a low dose. I started on 100mgs x 2 per day and ended up taking 150mgs x2. It worked wonderfully well and I was totally AF free for a long time. It doesn't suit everyone and can eventually have side effects (like numb feet) but they are far better than having AF.

Rather confusingly, the instructions say flecainide is to be taken on an empty stomach or an hour before food. I used to take it first thing in the morning and wait an hour before having breakfast and then six at night and again, wait an hour. I also tried taking it for a while at 11 am and 11 pm which had advantages.

[Hidden]

This is terrible thing to say, but I don't read the leaflets because they list every single thing that MAY be a side-effect.

Many anti-arrhythmic drugs will state a side-effect of arrhythmia for starters !!! I think one of the side-effects of my drugs is sudden death. Luckily, so far so good

K

[Rellim296 in reply to Hidden]

Koll, I think it's worth chatting with the pharmacist and asking what you need to know about a drug and then you don't have to bother with the scary stuff in the leaflet.

[Enjoy]

Thank you all so much for the reassurance. I will start 7 a.m. tomorrow morning and will have the whole day to see how things go. It was the line in the leaflet that said "Treatment may be started in hospital" and common side effects "difficulty breathing". It was for the breathlessness that I consulted my GP but the Cardiologist 10 months ago suggested that this was my next change of medication.

Thanks again everyone - its lovely to have somewhere to turn to.

[Chris147]

I take 50mg twice a day along with other meds no problems at all i did make sure i was not home alone on the initial dose. I am very allergic to some meds so it can make you nervous perhaps take it and be positive it keeps the af at bay really hope it works for you. Chris

[CTG99]

I'm on both Diltiadem (Tildiem Retard 2 x 90mg daily) and Flecainide (1x50 and 1x100 daily) and am not noticing any side effects. I was on 200 mg Flecainide but hit the problem with blurry eyes so we dropped it to 150mg with the 100mg at night when it didn't matter if my sight was blurred.

Caroline

[Enjoy in reply to CTG99]

Thank you Caroline - that's just the sort of thing I wanted to read before I play a few logic games on the computer before going to bed. I have taken two doses of Flec. so far and no reaction. I keep telling myself that any adverse reaction would have shown up by now - I hope.

Being Asthmatic I had a very bad reaction to Sotalol and Bisoprolol and that rather squashed my confidence in new tablets.

Thank you again. Evelyn

[CTG99 in reply to Enjoy]

Hi Evelyn, a month down the line, how are you getting on with the Flecainide / Dialtiazem combination?

Caroline

[Enjoy in reply to CTG99]

Flec. stopped after three days. I am now waiting for a change from the diltiazem to Ramipril and am now on the list for oblation. I am not too sure that I like the idea of Ramipril - it seems to have a long list of side effects - but then they all seem to have that.

Thank you for asking - its lovely to know that people understand any little apprehension we have on a change of tablets.