Amiodarone

[Maura5]

Does anyone else experience episodes of AF despite being on Amiodarone ? I’m almost three months post ablation. Thanks

[Harrycat]

I had a really bad experience with Amarodion,now there is a red warning on my records, as well as flashed on the computer do not administer Amarodion

[Maura5 in reply to Harrycat]

Hi, yes I know about the side effects, no other choice at the moment but so far so good

[Spoiler in reply to Harrycat]

Agree, not me either!!!

[Alfieros in reply to Harrycat]

Hi Harry. What were your side effects if you don’t mind me asking?

[MarkS]

Do I take it that you still get AF despite being on Amiodarone? That's the worst of both worlds - you get no/little benefit with all the side effects of such a toxic drug. Are you also on something to limit your heart rate, e.g. beta or calcium channel blocker?

[dragonflyjan]

I was on it but it had no effect on my af

[Leeson]

4 months from ablation , back on Ameoderone unfortunatly, was one of the reasons I had ablation in the first place, this awful drug, still getting ectopic beats, but more than before ablation.

[Maura5 in reply to Leeson]

Oh dear, bad news for you. I have been put on amiodarone 1 x 200mg per day from 2 months after my ablation which I had in mid July as I have been greatly troubled by bouts of AF since the procedure. I will see my EP end of October which will be around the end of the 3 month blanking period. So hopefully I am taking it short term.....

How were you affected by it and how long did you take it for? Thanks Maura

[Leeson]

Unfortunatly I had taken ameoderone for quite a few years, but it completely destroyed my thyroid, now have to take thyroxine to replace not having a thyroid. But it worked for me stopped my af, but got ectopic beats, that's when I decided I needed the ablation to get off these tablets, four months out of ablation, and back on Ameoderone with worse ectopic beats than before ablation. See my specialist in a few months, and going to ask him for an alternative to this drug, presently take 200mg per day too.

[Spoiler in reply to Leeson]

Have they tried flecainide? Are you a candidate for it??

[Maura5 in reply to Spoiler]

I have tried flecenaide but unfortunately didn’t work for me

[Amcech]

It did not help my af. I took it for about 6 months. It did raise my bp and made my body hurt. I now take flecanaide which has stopped the afib so far. I take 100 mg twice per day.

[tony85]

Amiodarone is a very effective but dangerous medicine. From personal experience I would say that taking it for three or four months should be okay but longer, you can start to have very bad side-effects . longer than six months can produce symptoms that could be fatal.

This medicine is only used when others fail.

[Webste]

Hi Maura, what kind of ablation procedure did you have? i.e. Cryo? I took amiodarone for about 5 days and felt like I was going to die. The good news is, I converted on the 5th day. Bad news is it reverted back to Afib after about 3 days. I've been taking 100% absorbable magnesium for about a month plus now, which I've read low levels can be a significant cause of Afib. I've read it can take up to 6 months to replenish low magnesium at the red blood cell level. The problem is, I've been in Afib since I started the Magnesium. Currently I'm on Flecainide, since about 1 week ago and scheduled for another cardioversion in about a week. My first cardioversion didn't work. My EP says even though the flecainide may not convert me, it's like a "marinade" for the Cardioversion..... Anyway, this is all new to me. I started having proximal Afib about 1.5 years ago, then all of a sudden it wouldn't convert. I'm hoping the magnesium and cardioversion will clear it up. However, it may require an ablation, the surgeon in this area has had excellent results with Cryoablation. I will never take amiodarone again.

[Maura5]

I had an RF ablation for paroxysmal AF. I’ve been taking amiodarone for a month now, feel ok so far. I tried flecenaide but it made my symptoms worse. Good luck