Diltiazem and grogginess

[Sunny-fl]

My EP switched me from 30 mg diltiazem 3 x day to 120 mg time released diltiazem 1 time a day and after a week I am feeling groggy and a little sick to my stomach. Would dil have this side effect? If so, hopefully i will adjust to it. This afib constantly changes and is hard to cope with.

[Buffafly]

Sorry no-one replied to you before. I used to take slow release Diltiazem and I found there were several different formulations and some suit better than others. You should always have the same one but I was given Adizem first, then pharmacist changed it to Slozem because he was out of stock and I tolerated it much better so I made sure I got that one every time. Have a look at the extra ingredients to see if there is anything that might disagree with you or ask a pharmacist.

[KMRobbo]

Yes I was on modified release diltiazem from July 2017 to may 2018. Unfortunately I was mostly on 200mg daily such made me tired gave me a lot of brain fog and a poor memory recall. It also gave me a major exercise intolerance. I was able to try 120mg on two occasions but only for a short spell and this was much better for me but different folk have different sensitivities to drugs.

I had tried Tildiem 200mg and adizem 200 mg and they were much the same.

I also had adizem 120 mg and slizem 120mg. As I said for me better than the 200mg.

If you were happy on the 3 times 30 mg then i would ask to go back to it- less convenient but if you feel better for it so what? Unless there was a good reason to move you?

I do believe you can get 60 mg modified release - maybe these could do the job? - Doctor discussion.

An other alternative to consider with your doctor could be verapamil 120mg modified release . I was on this previously and it was a lot better for me. It is another calcium channel blocker and it did not make me tired nor give me brain fog

I had an ablation and am no longer taking diltiazem but if I was I would be asking to move from it.

That said it was a lot better, for me, than beta blockers like bisoprolol!

Hope this helps

[Hidden]

Hi Sunny. Saw your post and wanted to answer before cooking dinner. When I was still on meds-diltiazem- years ago this is what happened to me. One of the things I have learned over the years about me and medicines is that one large slow-release dose does not work well for me. I was taking diltiazem in 3 divided doses and doing ok. While in the hospital one of the hospital docs (not mine) switched me to the same dose but once a day-slow release. Didn't talk to me first. I suspect it was easier for staff to bring me one pill instead of three. When the nurse came in with the slow-release I explained how time release doesn't work well for me. (I am also a nurse-but retired). She made a fuss because she had already poured it and charted it. I wasn't feeling well-enough for an argument so I broke all my own rules about standing up for my rights as a patient and took the pill. What happens is time-release medicine breaks down too fast in my system giving me more of a bolus than a third of the med. My pulse went up, heart started racing, anxiety through the roof. They wanted to go into 'test' mode and ordered unecessary radiology procedures. I insisted they call MY Electrophysiologist at his office. He told them what med to give me to calm things down, cancelled the tests, gave me a Xanax (which I'm allowed) to help my anxiety and by afternoon was much better. All this was totally unecessary. And by the way my EP wrote an order."Listen to the patient. She knows what works for her." This might not apply to your situation but it is food for thought. Not everyone can take medicine this way- in a time release capsule and I suspect this problem is much more common than doctors are aware. The hospital doctor tried to apologize without really admitting he should have spoken to me first before changing a long term treatment plan already in place that was working well. He said he thought it would be easier on me to take a pill once a day instead of trying to remember to take 3 x day. I told him it was not his decision and if he had talked with me first the entire awful day wouldn't have happened. I'm a good advocate for myself but if I feel too sick, tired, overwhelmed to do this for myself I take someone with me. Hospitals in the US have 'hospitalists'-doctors who work strictly in the hospital and very often they write orders based on what a nurse may have charted and without seeing the patient first. Not a good way to practice medicine. Just a thought. Take care. irina

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

PS And by the way what's wrong with taking 3 pills a day. It's not that hard. Maybe the time release is what they stock. Whatever happened to taylor the treatment to the individual patient, not the other way around!