Flecainide query

[scorp1o]

I take 50mcg Flecainide am and pm to reduce AF and as a preventative it works. I still have attacks - but about 3-4 monthly instead if weekly. But once an attack begins, Flecainide doesn't seem to stop it any more. I immediately take 3-4 tablets, which means I'd have 6 that day but attacks often last 7-10 hours. Any advice?

[secondtry]

Suggest you discuss with your medics increasing your regular Flec dose to 200mgs per day asap.

[dmac4646 in reply to secondtry]

Its is generally easier to stop attack starting by a higher regular dose than stopping it.

[Bob56]

I used to have Flecainide to prevent AF episodes and it was very effective for many years. I wouldn’t necessarily find that my AF episodes went quickly, and I would often have them for 12 hours or more, and this period got longer as I got older. Eventually, they did stop working and my last episode could not be halted by tablets alone and I had a cardio version. This was subsequently followed by an ablation. Since then I have been largely AF free, but have had a couple of episodes quickly sorted by Flecainide .

My cardiologist explained that over time it was likely that Flecainide would stop being effective, purely because the heart gets older and more prone to AF episodes. He described the ablation as resetting the clock, and that is exactly how it feels. I don’t feel I am completely AF free but the Flecainide is now doing it’s job and is my friend again! You can certainly increase your dose, but as we know the usual limit is 300mg per day and very high doses would increase the risk of side effects. It could well buy you more time, but as I found it wasn’t a permanent solution, without some other intervention.

Good luck

[Hidden]

Here's some advice. Try it, and if it works for you, let me know.

-----------------------------------

After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer. If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again (easier said than done of course). It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 1 or 2 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt?? I also found that strenuous exercise does no good – perhaps you make yourself dehydrated?? Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck! - Rick Hyer