Vagal AF, taking Propafenone 325 mg

[Choroba13]

I would like ask about experience with Propafenone or named also Rythmol. I have mostly vagal AF and the doctor suggested Propafenone 325 mg twice a day. I fee nauseated in the evening, not in the morning.

[SRMGrandma Volunteer]

Hi Choroba. I also take Propafenone 425 mg. I started to take it following my ablation twice/ day and then after the first three months went down to once/ day and am currently slowly weaning off of it altogether, and yes, I had some nausea with it too. Make sure to take it with food. It took me a few weeks to feel normal on it, and I must admit I'll be glad to be done with it completely, which I hope will be accomplished without difficulty in the next few weeks. Aside fro feeling nauseated is it working well to keep your heart in rhythm?

[Hidden]

I took the brand Arythmol for 3 years. It worked extremely well except it affected my memory, otherwiseno other side effects.

Koll

I was on 300 mg a day.

[Hidden]

Hi, I was supposed to take this just before a cv but I managed 2 days on it and I was violently sick, according to my EP /Cardiologist some people just can't tolerate it . I do have a problem with the majority of these heart medications though, I can't tolerate most of them , atenolol, Rythmol, and there are 2 more but for the life of me I can't remember their name, probably as I was on then for a matter of days before being taken off them. After my 3rd cv I'm now on Ivabradine and doing very well, so well I keep wondering when it's all going to go pear shaped!!!

Stay well

Avril

[destept in reply to Hidden]

Unfortunately I am one of those that do not react well to pills. I took propaphenone(USA) as PIP and did not help.When I was instructed to take it Daily, after10 days I developed live,hear failure which reversed in 3 days after stop.I think i am one of the unlucky ones.

[BobD Volunteer]

I spent a lot of me pre ablation time on propafanone which as you say comes in a variety of names all with rhyth in them.

I never came across that dosage mind you as here in UK and Europe the pills seem to come as 150mg or 300mg. Are you in USA? 325 or 425 seem to be high doses all at one time as the highest I was ever on were 300mg but admittedly three times a day. Absolute poison level is 1200mg in 24 hours.

The only problem I ever had was a metallic taste in my mouth from memory. Try to make sure that you are leaving 12 hours between doses.

[SRMGrandma Volunteer in reply to BobD]

The 425 mg is a long acting capsule, vs the 150 mb tablets that are short acting. They are not common and actually were quite difficult to find. We only found one pharmacy within 50 miles that has them! Hopefully I have filled my last Rx for them!

[Varina8]

I have been on propafenone 150mg three times a day (in Europe). At the beginning I had no PAF episodes for a year. During the last year several very short bursts of af and a few lasting 3-4 hours. Only side effect I've ever had is stomach pain if I do'nt eat something at the time for my tablet. I want still continue with propafenone because I'm feeling very well most of the time.

[marykhall3]

It made me feel odd and less focused than usual. It also made water taste like metal unless I used lots of lemon. The taste one is on the list but my Dr Still thought I was odd. I did not know about the side effect before it happened. I so hope the side effects lessen for you overtime. Sometimes they do.

[Buffafly]

I was on Propafenone 150mg three times a day but felt very sick in the afternoon so tried 2x150mg daily and that worked well. It did affect my sense of taste and seemed to make my IBS worse (alternating diarrhoea and constipation) but that could be managed.

I had very few noticeable AF episodes for 7 years until I caught two viruses at once and then everything went pearshaped!

[EngMac]

I read an European study that showed anti-rhythmic drugs can worsen vagal AF in some people. They did for me. This is good to know in case AF gets worse and not better.

[Choroba13 in reply to EngMac]

I would like to know the the name of the medical journal. I wrote an answer and suddenly it disappeared. Here in US the concept of Vagal afib is not well researched and often unknown to doctors. Propafenone has some beta blockers qualities and beta blockers are disaster for vagal afib. I do remember they fed me in the beginning with Atenolol ,another beta blocker and I really suffered. Vagal afib is more often attributed to men than to women. Last time I saw my doctor who knows about the vagal afib he suggested another medication like tykosin ( spelling?) and if that doesn't,t work I would have cryoablation. There is still a great amount skepticism about ablation because it always redone. It seldom works for the first time. They all wait for some advancement in ablation.

[PeterWh in reply to Choroba13]

Could be waits for years!!!,