Finally home-Happy New Year to you all

[Diddyd]

Finally got out late evening yesterday and very relieved to be home.

Plenty of rest today although my blood pressure keeps dropping low. I hate these drugs but am hoping my body adapts. I have normal blood pressure without drugs so they were worried in controlling my rate, it may drop too low.

Currently on 2 x 40 mg furosemide; 10 mg Bisoprolol; 125micrograms digoxin; 2x 5mg apixaban and 2 x 120 mg diltiazem in a day. Heart rate is achieving 80-100 bpm at rest but as soon as I get up and walk around it goes anywhere 110-150bpm so whilst doctors felt I was safe to come home, optimum rate control not reached.

As it is New Year etc they have asked me to stay on this dose to avoid any trips back to hospital and wait to increase the diltiazem to 2 x 180 mg a day in 2 weeks time.

How have others got on with diltiazem? Does the completely wasted feeling get any better?

[PlanetaryKim]

Happy New Year! Glad you get to spend it at home! Must be a relief.

[Desanthony]

Glad to hear that. All the best for 2021

[Buffafly]

Hi, I used to take 240mg daily at one point, now 180, very happy with it but when I took it with Propafenone I felt like a sloth. I’m amazed you can get out of your chair with the combo of meds you are taking 🦥

[Diddyd in reply to Buffafly]

It is a bit of a struggle but am hoping some of the exhaustion is down to a week in hospital and getting use to the drugs. 🤞🏻 I have lost 5Kgs in fluid so can move more freely which helps too. 😊 The only Christmas in my entire life where I have lost weight and not gained 😊

[jeanjeannie50]

Happy New Year Diddyd, so pleased to hear you're home and hope you're soon feeling so much better.

How is you're name pronounced! Is it something like Ditheed?

Jean x

[Diddyd in reply to jeanjeannie50]

It’s not my real name as the site recommended a pseudonym. It’s diddy as in small and d for my surname. 😊

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Diddyd]

That's made me laugh, there was I thinking you were Welsh. Happy New Year.

Jean

[Slidingdoors99]

Hello! Well Diltiazem does agree with me ( I wish is would lower my pulse rate more though!) I take 180mg twice a day. It’s good that you’re home!

[Diddyd in reply to Slidingdoors99]

That’s good. Am hoping it’s an adjustment period

[irene75359]

Can't help with the meds combination but hoping everything calms down. Best wishes.

[Mike11]

The wasted feeling is the bisoprolol, not the diltiazem. Very odd to mix a beta and calcium blocker anyway. I have to switch to a calcium blocker when in bad AF which involves a day coming off of my beta blocker. I'd look at dropping both in favour of nebivolol if your doctor agrees.

[Diddyd in reply to Mike11]

Beta blockers don’t really have much effect on me and I was on 20mg a day of Bisoprolol with digoxin so I wonder if it is the combination as I definitely did not have this feeling on that. They have given all three that act on the AVN because they have tried different combinations on their own before getting to this point. It has taken this combo to actually make inroads into stabilising my rate as I seem to be very resistant to drugs. The other problem I have is that I have normal blood pressure and all of these drop blood pressure so they are slightly concerned about bradycardia and low bp. I have to self monitor ECG and blood pressure for them. Thanks for the suggestion of nebivolol. I will explore that further with the doctor.

[pusillanimous]

I don't like the tired feeling only 2.5 mg per day Bisoprolol often gives me, especially as I take it with Alzam for panic attacks and anxiety, so I asked my Cardio if I could change to Nebivolol, as I had read good reports of it here, but he did not recommend it as Bisoprolol acts directly on the heart - especially as my AF is symptomless and well controlled with it and Xarelto as an anti-coagulant - so since he writes the prescriptions there was not much I could do about it, and specialists are thin on the ground in the part of South Africa where I live !