Another medication added in- Empagliflozin 10mg. Anyone on this medication for heart failure & atrial fibrillation?

[Nickybhf]

Just wanted to ask if anyone has been told to take this medication for heart problems. I posted earlier today about mum managing to get a cancellation last week with cardiologist. I forgot to mention that he recommended taking Empagliflozin alongside her regular medication as he said it helps control blood sugar levels and also helps to protect the heart. Has anyone else been told this?

Has this medication helped you? I really hope it helps with the heart problems, I’m just concerned about it reducing blood sugars too much. My mum doesn’t eat a lot since she was diagnosed as she has a lack of appetite and feels full after eating small meals. Mum is also on metformin-3 a day.

[Lezzers]

I assume as your mum is on Metformin that your mum has diabetes. Empagliflozin & dapagliflozin were meds that were originally (and still are) meds that are used to treat people with diabetes, but whilst treating diabetes it was found that these drugs really helped those with heart failure as well. So as a result these have been introduced into the heart failure regime of meds and are considered to be one of the 4 pillars of meds used to treat HF. I don't know the science behind it but empagliflozin seems to help more with HF & diabetes, whereas dapagliflozin is usually given to those who don't have HF (happy to be corrected if I'm wrong though) My husband was put on dapagliflozin and the almost immediate difference in his energy levels was absolutely amazing. Like all things these meds can have side effects, thrush being one of them, but that doesn't mean your mum will get this, my husband has been takin dapagliflozin for about 18 months & the only side effect was weight loss which has now stabilised.

Perhaps you could ask your mum's medical team to explain why she's taking these meds and how they will help her.

Good luck 🤞

[Nickybhf in reply to Lezzers]

Thank you so much, it’s good to know that your husband’s energy levels have improved. Mum is almost always tired so I hope these tablets help with that.

[Lezzers in reply to Nickybhf]

Hopefully 🤞

[Deejay62 in reply to Lezzers]

Hi Lezzers I have stage 3 heart failure and in November I was put on dapagliflozin. I haven’t got diabetes but I’m borderline. Since being on dapa my heart as improved a lot. My heart function went from 15% to 23% in about 4 months of taking it. I have been doing a lot more but life is still a struggle with breathlessness. There are a cocktail of meds given to people with heart failure and that is the latest one added. Most of the people I know are given dapa. Ive heard about the other one on this forum I think, but it does sound similar. Dapa is also given to people whose kidney function is low.

[Lezzers in reply to Deejay62]

Glad to hear dapagliflozin works so well for you & that your quality of life has improved in such a short space of time, hopefully your heart function will continue to improve 🤞 that's interesting to know that dapagliflozin is given to help kidney function, my husband also has mild kidney disease that unfortunately seems to have deteriorated a bit so hopefully the dapagliflozin is helping him with this

[Silvasava]

I'm on Dapagliflozin, my energy levels have improved. I have Afib and Dilated Cardiomyopathy, not diabetic. Due an echo around August and hoping my EF has improved.

[Nickybhf in reply to Silvasava]

That’s brilliant, I hope mum has better energy levels from this medication.

[Silvasava in reply to Nickybhf]

Might take a while to kick in. Make sure she doesn't suffer from thrush though. I've had a couple of 'itchy' sensations but appropriate cream sorted it and it was in the early days. The quicker you act on it the less troublesome it's likely to be. Hope Mum benefits from it xx

[Sljp0000]

Just remember Empagliflozin works by taking glucose out of the body through the urine. Beware of UTIs and Thrush 🙄

[Nickybhf in reply to Sljp0000]

The consultant did mention that, thank you. Fingers crossed that won’t happen

[BeaVerGal]

hi- I have recently been prescribed Dapagliflozin. It’s meant to have a positive affect on heart ejection fraction ie ability to pump blood . It started life as a drug to support those with diabetes and was later found to be effective for heart patients .

I have noted no I’ll side effects . I assume my heart ejection fraction will have improved but I won’t know that until I get an ECG. I was also put on entresto several weeks before

I had an ICD incident earlier in the year and was put on creased bisoprolol. ( now 7.5 mg/day -2.5 taken at night ) And have found that I’m often breathless or have laboured breathing which is very frightening and frustrating. Does anyone else note this with bisoprolol?

[Adlon57]

Just on this Empaglaflozin 10mg for three weeks for high blood sugar, have diabetes 2 but metformin not bringing it down, have been on a diet for months, but 88 not good, have numerous other medical conditions, in reality terminally ill, irreparable brain damage, double seizure, but heart "only good organ in my body", regular urine flow and skin rashes seemingly only side effects now?

[Nickybhf in reply to Adlon57]

Has it helped? Hope it helps lower your sugar levels. Glad you’re not getting too many side effects from this tablet.