How does Flecinide work?

I read on the site many articles about using Flecinide as pill in the pocket. When I asked my cardiologist if this would suit my pAF he insisted I had a CT angiogram first in his words 'to see if my blood vessels were ok' I had one and it was found that I had plaque in my LAD artery. He said that it would be dangerous to prescribe the drug but did not explain why. Can anyone tell me how this drug works and why it would not be suitable for me as loads of other people seem to use it. Merry Christmas AF free to everyone.

[BobD Volunteer]

My understanding is that flecainide has the potential to cause ventricular arrhythmias if there is any eschemia or reduced blood flow within the heart's arterial system. It is for this reason that it should only be prescribed by and preferably monitored by tertiary care (hospital consultant) in the first instance and then only after due checks to make sure that there is no other cardiac disease. (Echocardiogram and or angiogram).

As far as how it works --again my limited understanding is that it slows down the recovery speed of the muscle cells so that they are unable to keep fibrillating. I once heard it likened to flushing the toilet. You flush it and have to wait for the tank to re-fill before it will flush again. The cell contracts and then has to wait before is can contract again. The electrical signals therefore get wasted due to the governance of the drug. I always thought that was a good explanation.

By the way, the above also applies to propafanone which is a similar anti arrhythmic drug.

Bob

[Hidden in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob that explains it well. He is a very caring cardiologist so I am lucky. Merry Christmas to you. Anne

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Hidden]

And to you and yours.

[KFog in reply to BobD]

I know it's a sodium channel blocker and that blocking the flow of sodium ions (charged sodium atoms) will down the crazy electrical signals. Not the best of explanations, but you can add that to your toilet analogy.

[Mazza23]

I can't take it either as I have cardiomyopathy so must be how the drug works on different conditions

[Jusiskin]

I had an unsuccessful ablation last Monday and was sent home on Tuesday asked to take 2x50mg per day off Flecanaide daily, with the proviso 'if tolerated' on the discharge letter. By Wednesday I started having severe double vision and my AF went into overdrive. I stopped the medication the following day and feel now vaguely normal again. Quite a scary experience !

Judith