Flecainide and bisoprolol

[pirnough6]

Been on 100mg of flecainide two times a day with 2.5 bisoprolol and after one week feeling very ill. Bad headaches, breathlessness, very low blood pressure 95/56 , swollen legs and an increase of  body weight of 12lbs. What should I do as my cardiologist is away on holiday.

[dedeottie]

Have you seen your G.P.?

[pirnough6 in reply to dedeottie]

No thought of going tomorrow but usually they are not happy to change any medication suggested by a cardiologist.

[dedeottie in reply to pirnough6]

That is true but they maybe able to get some answers for you by contacting another consultant just to make sure that your symptoms dont warrant stopping one of the meds straight away. My G.P. did this for me when i was having what i thought were worrying side effects but all was well in the end. Let us know how you get on.x

[Annekw in reply to pirnough6]

I had to half my Bisopral,to 1-25 with my GP`s permission,I feel so much better!

I felt like a zombie on 2-5mgs,I just rang my GP,he'd had other complaints so knew what I was on about!

Cardiologist was ok about it apparently 2-5mgs is a standard starting dose!

[Hidden]

See GP in absence of cardio people. Is there an arrhythmia nurse you could ring who may be able to advise ? 

[PeterWh]

If you saw NHS then the hospital should have a deputy or registrar.  If saw privately then normally they have an arrangement with another consultant.  Phone cardiologist's secretary.

[pirnough6]

No I don't have a nurse I can ring

[pirnough6]

I went privately so will ring his secretary. Thank you

[Hidden in reply to pirnough6]

That should work. 

[Buffafly]

The leaflet in the tablets I used to take said sudden increase in weight should be reported asap. Not medically qualified but your symptoms are signs of heart failure (ie not pumping well enough) so I hope you are seeing GP today, usual treatment would be meds to get rid of fluid which a GP can prescribe.

[pirnough6 in reply to Buffafly]

I have an appointment this afternoon

[stargazer61]

I will try not to be too negative here, my mood is very low just now, but i had all that and more with same dosage of flecainide and 5mg of bisoprolol and was phoning eps secretary, who i had to recontact after a week,(obviously not an emergency scenario to her) gp wouldn't mess with cardiologist's recommended dosages, and when eventually spoke to cardiologist (by which time i had began reducing the tablets myself)and said i was so bloated i was in pain and so dizzy i couldn't walk or talk to people,i was told to 'just stop the tablets'. i ignored that and continued to step my dosage down slowly and gradually on my own. Still waiting to speak to ep. Not impressed with any 'help' i've been given, went for hypnosis and nutrtionist support, yoga and pilates. Anyway - i am okay - just to reassure you that others have weird side effects too!

Truly wish you better help than i got, it's hard not to envy those who have marvellous experiences with their medical assistors, i only want the same for myself and everyone else in this scary situation!

ps for anyone who knows me on the forum - i have an appointment with the ep later this month - yay! Hope he is able to help my journey forward positively!!

[tony85]

I had much same problems. But when I cut out most medicine I felt much better.  I now only take wafarin, diovan and lippitor.

[pirnough6 in reply to tony85]

Been to the doctor and she has reduced my bisoprolol to 1.25mg and given me a tablet to take at night for my headache. She said the weight gain and swollen legs was due to the blood pressure tablets. She wanted to deal with my AF First and deal with my blood pressure tablets later

[cassie46]

I would say that the fluid has to be addressed urgently.   In 2014 I had bad fluid retention, gained 2 stone in 10 days, had been under gp but they did very little some mild water pills.   I ended up an emergency addmission to hospitol, I was put on a drip of fluroseimde and cathater.  I was admitted to Cardiac ward with heart failure because of the fluid, and then told I had AF.  I was there for 14 days.    Your breathlessnes is probably due to the fluid, I had this, chest was clear but could not breathe, I had fluid on my abdomen.    Please be very careful as said above your heart is not pumping properly  thus causing the fluid.  I came home 2 stone lighter and that was the fluid as it was measured each time the bag was changed.

Cassie

[cassie46]

PS is the fluid gets worse and your breathing worse go to A & E.  Excessive fluid should be drained under medical supervision

cassie

[JonathanPittsCrick]

I have found that flecainide taken 50mg three times a day (morning , mid-afternoon and night) is just as effective as 100mg twice a day and causes less side-effects (especially disturbed sleep). Having said that It's much more likely the bisoprolol that is causing your problems as it can slow the pulse too much and drop your blood pressure, so reducing the dose will help (as your doc has done) – and even better changing to digoxin which does not lower the blood pressure.

People with AF can get fluid overload and may need low dose diuretics to prevent it building up. Your doc can check if this is the problem (and not just a side-effect of amlodipine or similar BP drug) by looking at your jugular veins.

[pirnough6 in reply to JonathanPittsCrick]

Thanks for that I might try breaking the dosage of flecainide over 3 sessions. My blood pressure is much more reasonable now but tbe headaches continue all through the day which is very unpleasant

[JonathanPittsCrick]

I wonder if the headache is caused by your blood pressure treatment – what is it?

[pirnough6 in reply to JonathanPittsCrick]

I have a lot of tablets, felodipine 10mg, furosemide 40mg, irbesartan 150mg, and hypovase 1mg 3 times a day.

[JonathanPittsCrick]

I think the drug most likely to cause headache is the full dose of felodipine (which also causes ankle swelling) – keeping down to 5mg a day is generally more comfortable but some people can't take more than 2.5mg. Hypovase (prazosin) can also cause headache.  Obviously if your blood pressure is now too low you can safely reduce the dose of treatment step by step, provided you keep checking your BP at home. I would suggest you try this and discuss the result with your doc so you can say what dose suits you AND keeps your BP OK (around 120/80).

[pirnough6]

Tha k you  for that good advice.