Afib meds

[Gilbert1953]

I’ve had afib fr years and it has been dormant. This past year it is becoming active and I’m taking eliquis and metoprolol 200mg daily and fast acting metoprolol 25mg when I feel afib. Now cardiologist says nxt step is to be admitted to hospital fr three days to see if I can tolerate new med. sounds scary but I’m afraid I will have to go for it. Has anyone else had this done?

[Dawsonmackay]

Can you repost the dosage each of Eliquis and Metropolol?

[etheral]

I assume that Tikosyn is the drug that is being tried. You need to be monitored in the hospital because of a slight chance this could result in VTach which would require immediate intervention. Your Q-T interval will be checked with n EKG frequently to help predict this. I spent three days in the hospital being monitored for this and had no symptoms or complications. The result was that I have been in normal sinus rhythm for almost 3 years without any complications from the drug itself. I believe this drug has saved my life and prevented many other complications. You should not be worried about the hospitalization itself and I hope you obtain the same results thank you Good luck

[Hidden]

Yes, I’ve done that in hospital, it worked well.

[jeanjeannie50]

That sounds like a hefty dose of Metoprolol you're on. One night, while in hospital, I was given 100mg and got out of bed next morning and collapsed. My cardiologist rushed down to me later and pushed a stream of paper in front of me saying, look what your heart is doing? The squiggles there meant nothing to me, but I think my heart rate and BP had dropped way too low.

My AF nurse later told me I must never ever take more than 12.5mg as it could kill me. Of course we are all different and I may just be over sensitive to that drug, who knows!

How are you feeling taking that much?

Jean

[Gilbert1953]

I’m feeling very tired today after a night of afib. I see a new cardiologist today fr his thoughts.

[clemsonwebdesign]

I started Betapace (sotalol) in the hospital years ago. Standard procedure. Toprol isnt helping to keep you in rhythm, your new meds will. Just be sure to keep up with the eqliuis and pray you don't lose your coverage. Eliquis is over $450 for 30 day supply and the cheaper alternative, warfarin, has tons of side effects. and lots of overhead testing/cost. I'd also look into a afib ablation from a high volume center. My afib ablation changed my life.

[Gilbert1953 in reply to clemsonwebdesign]

I’ve been on weight watchers since January 1, which resulted in way less sugar, losing so far 17 lbs and I had the worst afib episode yet. I think mine was brought on by stress since my husband and I are raising our three grandchildren who are teenagers with emotional problems, also my husband had cancer twice within the last 12 months and we r getting ready to move near family.

[djmnet]

200 mg of metoprolol can't be right????

[Gilbert1953]

I was taking 109mg of toprol but had another afib episode. I’m hoping the new med works cause I feel very old, sob etc after an afib episode. Thanks fr yr response. I’m 66

[Hidden]

This is a lot better for you than meds - give it a try and see if it works for you ….

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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...

[Sixtychick]

I had to stay in hospital for 3 days when they put me on Sotalol.