Flecainide

[Hanibal]

Hi,

A common side effect for Flecainide is light headedness.

Probably a daft question but based upon your experience, how long should it last?

I've been taking it for a few years but just had the dosage increased and can't remember how long this side effect lasts.

Thanks

[Paulbounce]

Hi Hanibal.

At a guess I would say your body adjusts in two to six weeks. I would think in a few weeks you will see a gradual improvement. Remember I'm not a doctor and my time scale is based on my personal experience.

Paul

[JayDJ]

What is your BP reading when you are light headed?

[Hanibal in reply to JayDJ]

128/79

[JayDJ in reply to Hanibal]

Was just checking that your BP wasn't the cause which it was with me.

[Hidden]

Hi Hannibal, I took flecanide as a pip then everyday over 5 years, until it stopped working. I do remember being light headed and it probably only lasted less than a minute but felt like much more. Good luck to you

[Singwell]

For me it was on and off for about 10 days.

[1Golf]

Hi Hannibal, I find that this drug robs me of any stamina. I also too have experienced headaches a d occasional light head incidents. All these have improved with reducing the dosage. Hope that helps.

[Hanibal in reply to 1Golf]

My present situation is wholly due to an increase of this med.

I feel worse now than before on the smaller dose. If it hasn't improved in the next couple of days, I'll be telling the doc to move it back to the original dosage.

We keep being told that AF doesn't kill you and the Flecainide is for quality of life but this is ridiculous...

[F-M-C-MM]

Hi HanibalI found Flecanide to be ineffective sometimes and went through stages of increasing and decreasing, it as sometimes it didn't work and other times on increasing the dose it literally jolted me back into sinus rhythm.

However, on one occasion when it didn't work I had to take the maximum dosage over the day which caused an extremely frightening reaction. Everybody is different but based on my experience, get advice before attempting the maximum dose, and make sure you are not alone when taking it if possible.

[Gumbie_Cat in reply to F-M-C-MM]

I had Flecainide as a PIP, alongside Bisoprolol. It worked the first time, but it took two days - and really jolted me back with a heart rate in the thirties. (Or did the 2.5 mg of Bisoprolol do that?)

Three weeks later used it again. Brought the heart rate down but did nothing to the rhythm. Then daily Flecainide was suggested, it still did nothing. The only thing Flecainide did for me was to make me constipated - so I’m not sure that improved my QOL really 😂

Feeling more than a little disillusioned with antiarrhythmic drugs. Though they work fine for other people!

[secondtry]

I agreed with cardio to go from 100m to 200mgs Flecainide. I remember feeling weird for 3 months but it stopped the AF and can't confidently pin an issue on Flecainide. Years later still taking it at the same dose and feel absolutely fine.

[Budken]

I had been taking Flecainide since 2011. In the beginning I had some dizziness, but it went away after a few weeks. This was at a dosage of 2x50mg. In 2016 I started experiencing occasional episodes of Afib. My Cardiologist upped my dosage to 2x100mg. This eventually stopped the outbreaks, but only after stopping Metoprolol 25mg which he had also prescribed. Evidently the Met was causing the problem. Sorry for the long story. However the past year or so, I was experiencing almost constant lightheadedness or more exact, a feeling of off balance, like I was going to fall down. I was sent to an ENT, as well as eventually to a Neurologist. They found nothing! Then in January, my current Cardiologist here in Leipzig, told me to stop taking the Flecainide altogether, and only take it if needed, PIP. Since I stopped taking the Flecainide I notice that I no longer have that off balance feeling, and no more constant fatigue. I am now sure it was the Flecainide causing it. I do not see him again until May, so will then ask him about it.

[Hanibal]

Thanks, everyone for your input...

I moved up to the higher dose (max) of 300mg per day.

What a disaster!

Dizziness, nausea, palpitations, tight chest and my Afib actually got worse!

I spoke to a Doctor in my local surgery and she immediately reduced the dose back to the original and asked me to call back in a few days to advise her of my progress.

The to my surprise, she called me back to ask that I come in to see her the next day bc she had referred my problem to a senior partner and despite the tests and machines that go ping, she wanted hands on. She satisfied herself that BP and HR could only improve with the original dosage reinstated. For the first time in a long time I actually felt that someone was listening - she'd even lined up alternative medication if it came to that and she booked an appointment for me to see her again so that she could see the job through..

For sometime, I was unable to get past the arrhythmia to on my home BP machine and when she checked it she used a sphygmomanometer and calculated it old school. At a matter of interest, she commented that the practice had decided to abandon the battery driven machines......

Anyway, I still feel slightly strange but happy that my Afib episode has passed, for now.

Thanks again

[ColbyLH in reply to Hanibal]

I was prescribed flecainide 2x50 about 5 years ago for frequent PVCs…(24,000 PVCs a day) Electrophysiologist tried several other rhythm drugs to no avail..I was very leery of the black box warnings that come with the drug, but it was an ablation vs flec option, so opted for flec…it dropped my PVCs to less than 100 in a week and it has worked remarkably well…..yes with the dizziness you describe and occasional numbness/tingling in hands..ELP said I could try to quit it , but after all this time, I worry my heart is used to it and quitting would trigger afib…or worse at this point…Your symptoms using it are pretty normal apparently! I wonder if any of you longer term flec users have tried tapering off or quit cold Turkey? Thoughts on this?

[doodle68 in reply to Hanibal]

''Dizziness, nausea, palpitations, tight chest and my Afib actually got worse!'' add breathlessness and feeling faint to the list .

I guess I am among the few for whom Flecainide doesn't work. I was prescribed 50 mg twice daily.

I have just tried it for the second time on my EPs insistence I give it another try knowing I had side effects the first time , the side effects were even worse this time around, on one occasion I wanted to pass out 3 times in half an hour not ideal when you live alone out in the countryside and need to be fit to drive.

My last episode of P-AF while taking Flecainide lasted 10 days, 5 more than my previous record. The final thing that made me say no more was taking my puppy out for a walk and finding myself sinking to my knees in the field and having to crawl to the fence.

I lasted 3 months the first time I tried daily Flecainide over a year ago but couldn't cope when my then episodes of AF every couple of weeks lasting 12 hours became up to 22 hours every other day. When I stopped the Flecainide my normal pattern of P-AF returned after a few days of a low chaotic heart rate.

I spoke to the Arrhythmia nurse who agreed I should stop it for a second time, when I stopped I had days of chaotic heart beats 'unclassified ' or 'bradycardia' registering on my Kardia and felt as breathless and ill as I do when in P-AF .

Then came 3 days of relative normality , a welcome break before going back into P-AF which doesn't seem quite as bad as being in AF while taking Flecainide.

I think Flecainide came too late for me, I should have been prescribed it as a PIP when my episode were few and shorter not long and close together.

[Hanibal in reply to doodle68]

Shoot!

How awful for you. I can empathize as that's about where I am these days and the extra Flecainide that the Cardio recommended is now in the bloody bin. My GP is looking for alternatives...