Amiodarone

[Rebec16]

I’ve been to the hospital today for preassessment prior to cardioversion today. I’ve been switched to amiodarone. I’ve read lots of negative things about it has anyone had a positive experience?

[BobD Volunteer]

See two posts back.

[Hidden]

I had it after open heart surgery for a few months and it didn’t cause me any bother at all and I’m very sensitive to meds. 🙂

[Rubymurray25]

I have had it four times and three times instead of a DC cardioversion and it has reverted me back to normal heart beat, the doctor monitors it all the time it is being administered so I was more than confident . I have never taken it other than as a cardioversion procedure.

[bennie06]

I was on Amio for 12 months with no problem. If you want some evidence based statistics re side effects;

doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2014.2...

Good Luck

[engvey00]

I had the same process about a month ago. No problem with the med and the cardo version was very easy on me with no after effects.

[Hidden]

Whatever is your trigger for Afib, it must be very low to have Afib for 2 years straight. I would suggest you see a Nutrition Response Tester to see if he/she can identify a gland or organ in the body that needs help (plus will help you in eating the right foods to reduce your Afib problems). This might not help you, but here is the data I have put together over the years regarding my Afib trigger (sugar and dehydration):

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

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 (this is why all doctors agree that afib gets worse as you get older). 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 (afternoon) 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??

I'm pretty sure that Afib is caused by a gland(s) - like the Pancreas, Thyroid (sends signals to the heart to increase speed or strength of beat), Adrenal Gland (sends signals to increase heart rate), Sympathetic Nerve (increases heart rate) or Vagus Nerve (decreases heart rate), Hypothalamus Gland or others - or an organ that, in our old age, is not working well anymore and excess sugar or dehydration is causing them to send mixed signals to the heart - for example telling the heart to beat fast and slow at the same time - which causes it to skip beats, etc. I can't prove that (and neither can my doctors), but I have a very strong suspicion that that is the root cause of our Afib problems. I am working on this with a Nutritionist and hope to get some definitive proof in a few months.

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

PS – there is a study backing up this data you can view at:

https//cardiab.biomedcentral.com/a...

I use the following WEB site to know how much sugar is in different foods:

fatsecret.com/calories-nutr....

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thanks for this very helpful post.

[HarrySubs]

Hi.. I am a 61 year old male with a thyroid issue which is treated by 150mg of Levothyroxine. I have been in and out of AF for about 4 years with a heart consultant insisting that I needed an ablation. 15 months ago, I was put on Amiodarone 200mg by a different consultant. to see how I got on... After the first week results were astonishing and back out of AF...As expected I was very sensitive to sunlight and would get hot flushes sometimes in the evening. Since then I weaned myself down to 100mg with no adverse reaction 6 months ago. However, my liver values have creeped up to a higher than normal level... I am now taking less than the smallest dose of 100mg and awaiting results.... I had lost the feeling of my pulse, my heart now beats like it use to and I have lost the anxiousness which I had before taking the medication. No side effects except sensitivity to sunlight...so far brilliant.