To stop Verapamil or not

[Rosemaryb1349]

I had a relatively successful ablation on August 1st 2018 and for several months I had no AFib at all but was still on Digoxin and Bisporolol 7.5. I had a follow up appointment with my EP in Aberdeen who said I could just stop taking both of the above but would remain on Rivaroxaban for life. I stopped the Digoxin immediately and gradually, over a period of several weeks weaned myself down to 2.5 mgs of Bisoprolol. I stayed on that dose for a further 3 weeks and then discontinued it. At almost exactly 1 week later I started a run of what turned out to be Aflutter which I was eventually hospitalised with and converted back to NSR using my Pacemaker (Overdrive) I left hospital with a prescription for Verapamil 120 which I have been taking since early April. 1 week after the conversion back to NSR I suffered a fairly short (by my standards) run of AFib which self converted after about 10 hours followed by an even shorter one 10 days later which lasted about 1 hour. Yesterday I had my follow up appointment with the Cardiologist at Inverness hospital to see how things are going and he was very pleased that I had had no further episodes of either Flutter or Fibrillation since and he suggested that if I wanted to I could discontinue the Verapamil and "see what happens". It has always been my aim to be able to stop all drugs except anticoagulation but I feel so well again now and have none of the awful side effects that I had with Bisporolol that I cannot decide if stopping the Verapamil is risking inviting the AFib back in again. I always remember reading on here that AFib begets AFib. The Cardiologist was quite blasé about if it comes back just start taking the tablets again, but once started would taking the tablets stop it again so successfully? I would welcome opinions please.

[seasider18]

When I had my pacemaker fitted I was taken off verapamil as they said it slowed the heart down.

[Rosemaryb1349 in reply to seasider18]

Hi Seasider, my cardiologist said that verapamil does a bit of both rhythm and rate control but that it was up to me to decide if I was coming off it. Still undecided bit thanks for your reply.

[seasider18 in reply to Rosemaryb1349]

I like consultants who tell you to decide for yourself