A short while ago I posted on here about Sotalol. Thank you all for your replies and various comments. Looking at all the replies I don’t really see anything that resembles my symptoms ….. and even they are now changing day by day. All the original symptoms that I originally described - brain fog and whole body just so cold. 24 degrees inside house and my body feels like I'm getting up on a winters morning without heating on. Not just extremeties but whole body - seems to be passing.
All that is now passing and all I’m left with is day long weariness. Not drowsy, not falling asleep, no cramps, no vision issues, no dizziness, no lightheadedness … just a weariness. Hopefully, this too will improve as the weeks go by.
As I said, been on it about a month, early days I feel. Interesting though that much of my experiences thus far that I’ve described resembles precisely how I felt when originally diagnosed and went onto Bisoprolol back in Jan 2010.
So now I’ll give you helpful guys a summary of my Cardio Consultants latest letter to my GP:
He starts with what he calls a background diagnosis:
1) Hypertension ( diagnosed in mid 2007, however, probably existed in 2004/5 )
2) Paroxysmal AF ( diagnosed Jan 2010 )
3) Peripheral vascular disease ( diagnosed Apr/May 2024 )
4) Ectopics on holter monitor ( as above )
5) Calcified coronary arteries but only mild coronary stenosis ( as above )
The italics in bold above are my own additions.
As for the rest of Cardiac Consultants dissertation … will try Sotalol for 3 to 4 months, if poorly tolerated or in effective we can either increase Sotalol to 80 mg twice a day or consider switching to a Nebivolol and Flecainide 50mg combo. Could also try Amlodipine 5mg for BP.
So far, so good …. BP holding at 129/80 with HR at 75 bpm. Quite chuffed with those numbers. I have also heeded Consultants advice and have virtually given up booze. Next issue is to increase my exercise ………….. working on that – walking !
One thing is for sure …. am soooo glad I paid money for a private consultation. If I’d shrugged my shoulders and said to myself its not a bad report I’ll let it go, or if I'd left it to NHS, then I really would be in trouble with the Calcified Coronary artery bizzo in a year or so time. Instead of which I have a new med, cut out booze and plan to get more walking in to help with decalcification.
Interestingly, had a text from my Surgery today saying my GP was increasing my Felodopine from 2.5 mg to 5 mg immediately in line with Consultants recommendation with Amlodipine ( seems this and Felodopine are in the same family of drugs).
John