Amiodarone and deep breathing

[Idahohorse]

Has anyone experienced long term effects of Afib treatment with Amiodarone? I was hon it for six months and have heard horrible stories, but my PA keeps telling me it is doing its job.

Another question: Comments please on deep breathing exercises?

[Rubymurray25]

Hi, I was on Amiodarone for 7 months and it caused me eye issues but nothing else , due to the eye issues I am now on Dronedarone and 6 months down the line all good. The Amiodarone can work long term for a lot of people according to something I read but obviously not me. I always do deep breathing exercises the moment I feel any slight movement with my heart and even more so when I feel the slightest stress, it really does calm me down, just simple 7 secs in hold for 4 and release for 6 or similar.

[CDreamer]

Hi - my husband has been on Amiodarone now for nearly 3 years with no horrible stories to tell and maintained NSR so it has been very beneficial for him as he was in persistent, symptomatic AF and on the verge of heart failure. He’s now 87 and on a maintenance dose of 100mg/day.

Without doubt it is a very toxic drug for which you need careful monitoring - mostly through bloods and watchful for any symptoms of toxicity which you should have been warned about - mostly Thyroid and lungs but also you need to be VERY careful about sun exposure as risk of skin cancer as Amiodarone increases skin sensitivity to sun. OH has had about 5 removed from his head, back and shoulders and some of his ear removed in the last few years so don’t hesitate to get any unusual marks checked out really early.

Being a rancher and in mountain territory - triple the use of sun screen would be my suggestion - certainly our EP keeps stressing that point for my husband!

Deep Breathing - my breathing exercises are based on the work of Patrick McKeown and James Nesbitt - some good videos on YouTube - and focus on nasal breathing and LSD = Long, Slow, Deep breath in a controlled way and aim for 6-6 seconds each breath, so aiming for 6-7 breaths per minute - but in and out through the nose. Most people tend to breath through their mouths and it is this bad habit which can cause a lot of problems and Nesbit talks about even claims that breath can heal heart arrythmias - with a LOT of practice.

One of the reasons that Yoga is so good is that it’s based on breath work as are other forms of exercises such as Tai Chi and Pilates.

This link to video explains some of theory behind what happens and why - hope it helps.

youtu.be/kJwhCCECRCM(Not working as expected?)