Flecainide and doom and gloom sensations

Hi, I have only taken Flecainide 50 mg every 12 hours. It works well for my afib, but I have never had the issues you are having. We each are different though. I also take 5 mg of warfarin daily and metoprolol 50 mg every 12 hours also. The metoprolol makes me kind of tired, but I am not complaining if my afib stays at bay. I take mine around 8:30-9:00 at night and do fine. Hope this helps.

I can only suggest you try various things (with professional advice where meds involved) including just giving it some more time. My cardiologist doesn't favour the roller coaster of just one dose of Flecainide per day as he says it creates instability for the heart and I am thinking the heart is linked via the Vagus Nerve to the brain and maybe to your dreams. Another idea try working on mindfulness, meditation and if you have a faith prayer an hour or so before bed.

Hope something there helps.

AF itself will cause anxiety and feelings of doom and gloom are very common, nightmares/bad dreams may also be a manifestation of the anxiety or a side effect of the meds.

Mindfulness practice does help enormously but also understanding how your body, especially the ANS - which vagus nerve is a major part - will help as when we understand what is happening within our bodies we can often be the observer of the symptoms.

I wrote a post in January about the links between anxiety and AF you may find useful and also

hgi.org.uk/useful-informati...

Best wishe CD.

healthunlocked.com/afassoci...

Hi Nanfranz, I was put on Flecainide many years ago before my cryoablation for PAF. I took it t daily for a couple of months (can't remember the dosage) but found I got extremely depressed and eventually went to my GP. He took me off Flecainide and had to prescribe an antidepressant which I took for about 6 months to get me back into a good mindset. He also filled out a Yellow Card to report it. Depression is a side effect (or was then) and as I has Postnatal depression he thought I had a predisposition.

I now only use Flecainide as a PIP very occasionally with no problem.

All the best

Jackie

I think I know the feelings you describe, mine were not so extreme but horrible all the same. I wonder if the feelings are a form of the 'feeling of impending doom' which apparently is common in people with arrhythmias? My theory is that a sudden disturbance in rhythm which we may not consciously feel sends an alarm message to the brain causing the equivalent of an inbuilt cardioversion. Somebody with much more knowledge can feel free to rubbish this idea if they like but it helps me to have an 'explanation'. Btw I seldom have them since my ablation 😀 When I was younger I had a period when I had hallucinations, a sudden flash of a horrible creature appearing and I was too scared to tell the doctor because you don't want to be diagnosed as crazy when you have small children to care for, stupid I know.... anyway I recently discovered the reason by accident, can't remember what it was unfortunately but if you Google hallucinations it might help?

I have horribly vivid dreams of sadness and doom and I am on bisoprolol.

Like you the feelings from these stay with me throughout the day.

I hated being on Flecainide. My only regret is that I did not have an ablation sooner. I was concerned about the risks but for me being on flecainide for the rest of my life ( I was 55 when I had an ablation) was such a horrible prospect the risk seemed worth taking

Cannot say that I experienced any of those problems as a result of Flecanide. I did however suffer from flutter and severe digestion problems every evening. It got to the point where the side effects were bringing me down and I switched tablets.

I do get these...but not as much as you at the moment.CDreamers links are very useful,I have found them to help a lot when im feeling anxious.

I do think i wouldmention it to my GP,as maybe the combination of the two drugs is counter productive,also it makes sense to me what someone posted about the lone 50mg dose maybe inadequate...

Hope you feel better soon.Do try the suggestions abiut mindfulness and relaxation xx

When I took Flec I was down right depressed. Plus I had visual problems and was fatigued all the time.

When I was first diagnosed with AF I really thought the end had come. I think that this is the main cause of all the negative feelings and sleep problems most of us find we have to deal with. With the powerful drugs we take only adding to these. You have to come to terms with this condition the best way you can as we all react differently. My dread was having to go to A&E each time, I think it just made it worse. The first time I managed to stay at home throughout an episode was the turning point for me and subsequently I gradually stopped being so stressed about AF slept better less dreams stopped worrying and dreading and therefore less and shorter episodes!! As the medics tell you 'It won't kill you' but they're not experiencing it are they!!

I think that many people tend to forget that (we) are in many respects ingesting a chemical, or chemicals every time we take a tablet. The subject of dreams was covered back a week or so ago. Most of us were not exactly having nightmares but neither were the dreams pleasant. My own analysis (for what it is worth), was broken down by mentioning that certain cheeses/brandy would give me horrendous nightmares! The point being is that you should imo bin them straight away, by saying to yourself it is a chemical/ingredient induced dream that has no physical or mental agenda as such. In other words you are not going loopy or showing signs of a psychological/mental problem.