Instructed to stop Amiodarone asap by pharmacy?

[Brian1974]

Hi everyone , not posted for a while but tried to answer as much as I can.

Now I have a query.

I was called by my pharmacy whom delivers my weekly day to day tablets to inform me to stop one of my tablets 1 of 7 in the morning dose , the tablet I was told to stop immediately is 100mg Amiodarone which I have been taking every day since I was discharged from the golden jubilee around 2 years ago after first being rushed to Hairmyers on my fourth visit to my local doctors was misdiagnosed with a chest infection .The forth time it was another doctor whom i was seeing for the first time who noticed and as far as i was told ,saved my life as my bpm was around 150 which it stayed at for around another week ,inserted a pump and an acute event fluid had got to the stage where I could not breathe .

Anyways was chronic AF or heart failure and enlarged heart ,sepsis ,infection and another couple of things I was taken to the transplant ward where I slowly recovered with chopping and changing various medications.

After the last 2 years we have had I have still been attending both hospitals regularly the last of which i was fitted with a 24 hour monitor which was around about 1 month ago and the results where my average bpm was 101 I only know this because the pharmacy told me !I try to stay away from looking things like this up because sometimes it is quite scary when you see what is going on .

I read that you can not stop taking a tablet like this without reducing or substituting under close supervision!so why has none of my cardiologists who are all great at their jobs been in touch ?no letter ,no calls not even from my gp who missed the first signs at the beginning and was at my mothers door apologizing that he did not notice it at the start ,maybe this is why I am a bit worried as things seem to be getting mixed up more now !is it just me?or does anyone else have any information as i cannot get through to my hospital ,I was going to just go and ask them to see me at A&E should i really have to be doing this?

Any info would be great thank's

[Heythrop51]

I would suggest you ring 111 in the first instancenas it's a bank holiday weekend.

[bowls12 in reply to Heythrop51]

Pharmacists have special training to check on inter reactions between medication.Pharmacists know more about medicines than doctors.heart specialists.

example: My heart surgeon was not authorised to prescribe, he'd suggested medication to his No.2 who wrote the prescription.

My GP practice employs a pharmacist to check on conflicts with what he GPs have prescribed.

I stopped taking Amiodarone with no ill effects and no replacement after discussion with a pharmacist.

Could there be a middle road? stop taking amiodarone, but have the tablets available so that if you have a problem start retaking.

I would also stop monitoring your pulse, it will vary day to day and hour by hour.

Stay away from A&E you will wait hours and hours, which will cause you to be anxious and your pulse to increase.

[Brian1974 in reply to bowls12]

Thanks for the reply just couple of things to mention of,first I had this for what must have been a few weeks to the point I had to back 4 times to see my GP s was just by luck I seen the temp Gp for the 1st time and she rushed me straight in and as I said have been told few times I was very lucky and that was one of the last appointments on a Friday so you can see why I am a looking for answers .It was the chemist that dispences my boxes every week who called to tell me ,not an actual pharmacist or a GP and defo not any of the 3 Cardiologist that I have seen regularly since ,and when I called about this my doctor's secretary who could no even pronounce most of the medication I take woul not even let me speak to the doctor as she tried to read my records to me from a screen had to call another twice before I spoke to the doctors pharmacist who said the same as the secretary,and that he thought it was right,he only said this because the latest report from cariolgist said that after the last 24 hour monitor I had home said my average heart rate was 101, I did not do this myself .

And have also tried this before with another one of my tablets I think it was carviodorol or similar and abot a week or two later was back in hospital with my head stitched up after a fall which was down to my blood pressure so the tablets was put up again there are all the reasons I am looking for a second opinion,I cannot seem to get through to an actual cardiologist and do not want to go near the a&e .

As it is just now it was only couple of days ago and have enough to keep taking up to o end of week ,thank you fo to you're answer sounds quite similar but I think I will call the NHS line as someone said maybe I am worrying about this because of past was just wanting piece of mind as no person involved in my CHF etc,has told or wrote or anything only my chemist ,ses like a lot of things have been getting mixed up lately so thanks again and Sorry for going on,

[Hidden in reply to Brian1974]

You seem to be confusing the terms pharamacist and chemist.Chemists studied chemistry, a completely different field to pharmacy.

Unless your drugs are dispensed by a dispensing Doctors, usually in a rural setting, a qualified pharmacist must be on duty in a pharmacy.

[Hidden]

Dear Brian1974

There is so much going on here that its no wonder that you are worried about some parts of it.

I find it odd that your pharmacy has so much information about you and I cannot see or understand that they would have the authority to stop/change any of your medication without instructions from your Team/Dr.

Like Heythrop51 says contact 111 now and explain to them what is going on, take your self into A&E to find some answers {they will have full access to all your medical notes } something {as you have already guessed} is not right here.

Take care I hope that it all works out for you

[Hidden]

Pharmacies computer systems are set up in a way that cross checks all drugs that you are taking to ensure that you can safely take them all together.Possibly the data base has just been updated on the pharmacies computer and has flagged a contraindication.

Have you asked the pharmacy why they have given you this instruction.

[bridgeit]

I have no medical training whatsoever, but I think the pharmacist has done a good job by advising you that there could be an issue with one of your meds. I agree with other posts here and suggest you continue with your meds as prescribed by your consultant(s) and do not change their regime until you've spoken with a specialist either via 111, which might be able to put you in touch with a cardiologist, or by calling your specialist clinic's contact number on Tuesday when they're back in the office, or by trotting along right now to A&E. You're not wasting A&E's time; you need urgent and sound advice from a prescriber of your medication, rather than a dispenser.

[Celtic]

Brian, check that out asap with the pharmacy firstly. They may have seen some blood results iof your’s which have concerned them. I say this because like you I was hospitalised unable to breathe about a year ago. Cause was severely leaking heart valve from the mitral valve with fluid everywhere. This resulted in a diagnosis of Severe heart failure and among my medications Is AMIODERONE! I have just this week been diagnosed with severe near kidney failure so please check out whether a blood test on your kidney function may have led to the pharmacy’s intervention All I know at the moment is that it is one of my medications that has resulted in my devastating news, possibly the diuretics zi take but do check out that AMIODERONE. Good luck and do come back and let us know the outcome of your enquiries and how you are.

[Brian1974 in reply to Celtic]

Hi Mate,I get where you are coming from and i get my bloods for my kidneys as I was having trouble before due to furosemide and pains in my lower back so they where reduced but after a hint of build up again was put back on them and the pain has been returning slowly where it is either both sides or just right side never just the left kidney so i think i will call nhs first and maybe head up to a&e i will keep you posted fellow celt and hope it goes ok tomorrow ,!