flecanide

[marykhall3]

I am so overwhelmed by side effects from most medications. I have always been very sensitive to drugs. Is there ever such a thing as a lower dose. Or does it have to be 2 tablets per day. Going to one would seem to radical as my afib is not 100% controlled. Slight reductions would be worth a try.

[Uttled00]

Hi

Every case is different but speak to your doctor and EP about trying a controlled reduction. I have recently reduced my morning 100mg to 50mg, with consent of the medical professionals, and things are ok at the moment. Assuming things continue to go well I will try reducing my evening 100mg to 50mg sometime in the next few weeks but fully accept that this may not work for me and have to go back to my original dose.

[SRMGrandma Volunteer]

You are not alone in being super sensitive to side effects. It's often a difficult thing to find the right does of just the right medication and often a reduced dosage can be effective. It just takes patience to figure it out. And maybe flecanide is not the drug for you, and another drug would be effective and you'd feel better. Work with your EP to titrate your dose or try something different.

[Rellim296]

Everyone takes flecainide twice a day as its effect is short lived, so it might be a bad idea to only take it only once. It should be taken on an empty stomach or an hour before food.

It is a powerful and effective drug and ideally you should discuss what best suits you with your prescribing doctor.

Some people take 150mgs x 2 per day, so if you take 50mgs x2 you are on a low dose and 100mgs x 2 is a moderate one. I understand 300mgs is the max dose in 24 hours.

On the other hand instead of two daily doses, flecainide can be used as a pill in the pocket and taken to control an attack of AF. It has always worked for me. My instructions are to take 50mgs and if I still have AF after an hour to take another 50mgs, but some people have been told to take a larger dose right away. Again, discuss this.

[marykhall3 in reply to Rellim296]

I take 100 mg bid. I seem to have fairly intractible afib and just got a pacemaker for a problem where my heart does not increase its rate when moving. Therefore my 02 would drop when walking etc. still just 2 weeks out from that. Seems to maybe be helping. I feel pretty disabled by the fatique the meds cause though. I will ask my EP soon. Maybe after a little more healing and see how the pacemaker is doing.

[Rellim296 in reply to marykhall3]

Some people get on well with flecainide and others don't. Just see what your EP has to say and hope it will improve a bit in the meantime!

[marykhall3 in reply to Rellim296]

Thank you!

[Hidden]

My cardio favours even doses during the day even after pressing him that evening/night is my worst AF time.

I am on 100mg x2 per day and plan to use a pill cutter to go down to 75mg x2 per day in the next 3 months all else being well.

I was also interested in a post here where somebody took 50mg at 4pm, 7pm and 10pm; I will ask my cardio about this.

[marykhall3 in reply to Hidden]

great ideas thanks

[stargazer61]

I am also sensitive to tablets, but have had to make some tough decisions on my own.Well i did what no one advises and reduced flecainide by myself as no one was listening to how ill and fatigued i was, i felt like i'd stepped off a rollercoaster all the time and even having a wash was difficult, until i started a new yoga class and lo and behold i could bend over with no dizziness, i felt great - it dawned on me that i hadn't had my tablets as yet that day and as the chemist only had 50mgs of flec, i cut from 2 x 100mg to 3 x 50 mg spaced out over the 24 hr period.

2 weeks later i cut 5mg of bisoprolol to 3.75mg,(against advice of cardiologist to just cut it out if i felt that bad) a week later i cut to 2 x 100mg flec, and i plan to stick there, and not touch my apixaban. I can use the computer without my head reeling and the vertigo has lessened to dizziness, i can do a little more than before. However ideally i would have preferred to talk this over with an ep, but it is taking so long to do this, i've had to allow my ablation to be cancelled because i want to meet him and discuss it first. Praying he will understand where i'm coming from and treat me like a person not a statistic. Sorry if this comes across bad, i'm not having a good day today, fed up of the lot of it and feeling kind of abandoned to research it all on my own, trying not to over-think everything whilst gathering enough info to make informed decisions etc.

I think you should go for gradual reduction, spaced out through the day, with any advice you can get. Don't trust anyone telling you to give up in one go, i think that is madness - but stress i am only a patient and going off what i have picked up through a computer!I am trying everything i can think of, my latest comfort is playing a slow calm heartbeat in the background, occasionally muttering 'my heart is strong and beats in a regular rhythm'. Wishing you the same!

[PeterWh in reply to stargazer61]

If you have an AliveCor (or equivalent) and an approved cuff BP monitor (eg Microlife WatchBPHome A (A is the model for AFib) and you take both regularly at the same time morning and evening (eg 7.30am and 8.00pm and tabulate them out then GPs and consultants are more likely to tweak medicines to optimise because they have patterns and trends. Make notes of special events. I know this works for me with both my GP and my EP. At moment on a tweaking phase with GP. If she had just been reliant on readings taken at the surgery (which wer normal) then she be adjusting.

[marykhall3 in reply to stargazer61]

Wow not goid at typing on my phone but i totally appreciate uour post and your self advocacy

[Kodaska]

Largely because of being treated on the basis of statistics and not my own situation, I've become something of a contrarian, so my approach may not work for others.

Flecainide is poison to the brain and, judging by the many side effects it offers, to the body as well. My advice, for what it's worth, is to take the stuff only if you'd rather have side effects (possibly lasting the rest of your life) than whatever AF symptoms you're having.

Flecainide's elimination half-life is about 20 hours, which is fairly long. That means that the dose you take at 7:00 a.m. is only half-gone by 3:00 a.m. the next day. Also, a number of drugs, such as diltiazem, increase the amount of flecainide in your system. I agree totally with stargazer about managing one's medications.

[Kazibo]

Ive been taking bisoprolol 2.5mg once a day scince last july nd was sick of the slowed down feeling so just saw my cardiologist nd I have to start reducing it to 1.5 mg aswell as one 50mg flecanide which im supposed to take twice a day fr a month to wean me off the bisoprolol and to try me on the flecanide. Ive only just decided im goin to try taking one flecanide if I need it because im worried about the long term effects of these drugs. Ill see how I feel in the next few days and if I feel ok ill carry on, if not ill start to take it as prescribed. I just hate being on this medication worried about them causing more problems to my body because Im already feeling some numbness and tenderness and more pronounced veins in some areas, eg; thighs and arm muscle, which seems to be spreading and which I forgetfully neglected to mention to the cardiologist. Ill just see how it goes anyway nd will mention this next time.

[marykhall3 in reply to Kazibo]

probably because these drugs make us forgetful. LOL

[Kazibo]

Yeah thats likely true Mary lol