Flecainide

[Entegra19]

Has anyone stopped taking Flecainide cold turkey? I have been told to stop taking it after being on it years. I thought l would have to wean myself off it slowly

[BobD Volunteer]

For my part I have always come off any drugs over a period of time and never had a problem doing this.

[AAJJTt]

Hi, at the beginning of the year following another 12 months of stability and maintaining high exercise tolerance, it was decided on review that I could start to titrate the Flecainide and see if I can maintain NSR without it; I do have a PiP plan as backup.

I was instructed to do it gradually. Reduce from 150mg a day (50-am, 100-pm) to:

1) 50-am, 50-pm - for one month

2) 50-pm - for one month

3) Then zero.

Generally speaking, i think it is logical to reduce over a period of time but in all instances I will discuss with my cardiologist and follow his instructions.

[Thomas45]

Yes, when I was found to be in persistent, though asymptomatic, AF I was told by my cardiologist to just stop. I was a bit reticent so spoke with a GP who has specialist knowledge of arrhythmias and he assured me that I should just stop, so I did and my body accepted that.

I had been on Flecainide for 12 years, the last 10 of which I was on maximum dose of 150mg x 2 a day.

[wilsond]

I am chasing up my instructions regarding this on Friday. I was told to stop flecanide a month before a long awaited review due in April,but not told in what manner.April was put back to August and I just realised I need to check how the EP wants it done. Its to see if I maintain nsr 2 years on from ablation.

Hope so!

I will post on here as soon as I know xx

[CDreamer in reply to wilsond]

That’s not helpful when you’re not given guidance.

[wilsond in reply to CDreamer]

I'm always nervous about sudden changes on medication I've been on long term. Definitely checking.

[baba]

Yes, on EP advice

[CDreamer]

Yes I had to, no problems and felt a lot better once out of my system.

As far as I can see it’s personal circumstances- if stopping because it has worked for you - titrate down; if because you need to stop for other reasons such as it no longer works for you or intolerance sooner stopped the better I was advised.

[jeanjeannie50]

Yes, I've stopped Flec twice suddenly, my heart rate played up a bit but soon settled. Oddly after stopping taking it twice two summers running, my heart rate was perfect for the whole summer periods from around April to October. The third year I tried to do the same thing my heart played up serious style and I had to go back to taking it all year.

Jean

[GGuitar]

Similar to others. Was on 150 (50:100) a day. But found episodes were infrequent and I wanted to come off. I asked consultant and he advised to just do it. I found it was fine for me. Just take as and when now.

[Devondan]

I’m coming off it now, the Arrythmia nurses told me to reduce from 150mg twice a day, to 100mg then 50mg twice a day one week at a time.

Dan

[Ersilia2]

I was told by my EP to stop suddenly as my ECG was showing Toxicity, always check with the Doctors . I was on Flecainide for 2 yrs.Good luck to you.

[Millbrook]

yes my husband stopped flecanide after his Pulse Field Ablation. He had been on maximum dose for 2 years.

[AfibSufferer]

I haven't gone "cold turkey", but have weaned myself off it after a few attempts. A few months after having an Ablation I started trying to reduce my Flecainide dose (I'd been on 100-150mg/day for about 5 years). A couple of weeks after completely stopping I started getting lots of PVCs (premature ventricular contractions). So I restored the original flecainide dose and they went away. I went through a couple of cycles of this, before deciding to tough it out and see what happened. The PVCs came back again but then gradually reduced over the next month or so. I've now been off Flecainide for 7 months. Still get some PVCs if I have a cold or after vaccination, but not really a problem.