Flecainide for Atrial Fibrillation

[Nfrunner]

I was diagnosed with Atrial fibrillation last year and am currently taking Edoxaban and 1.25 of Bisoprolol to help with symptoms. It has been suggested by my cardiologist that I could try Flecainide as an antiarrhymic medication. I have resisted it as I’m not keen on the possible side affects but wondered whether other Afib sufferers had experience of Flecainide.

[AAJJTt]

I have been on a daily maintenance dose of Flecainide for 5 years - 150mg a day; it’s worked well, currently at 4+ years with no discernible sustained episode. Recently titrated down to 100mg (2 x 50mg).

Have a backup PiP - 2 x doses of 100mg Flecainide and 2.5mg Bisoprolol - if needed. To date, never used.

No anticoagulant at the moment.

I haven’t had any side effects that I am aware of, Flecainide has been a great solution for me. I don’t have any limits and have a very active life - regularly running, cycling, climbing and travelling.

[Nfrunner in reply to AAJJTt]

Thanks for your reply. That’s helpful.

[Drounding]

I've been taking Flecainide for many years with no adverse effects.

Initially as a pip, then 50mg twice daily and now 100mg. I also take 5mg Bisoprolol am.

Flecainide has been great for me.

[KeepingHealthy]

My Cardiologist described me as being totally intolerant to Flecainide because of the side effects, I have never felt so ill. I am now taking 2.5mg of Bisoprolol twice a day and feeling pretty normal again with hardly any AF episodes for nearly 3 months.

[PhilFreeToAsk]

Same medication regime as you. Before I started regular breathing exercises, I was having AF episodes about every 25 days. This is now approx. 75 days and improving, I have spoken to my GP of coming off Bisoprolol as breathing exercises has proved more effective. No point in taking medication if not needed. There is that fine line where the medication along with breathing has stablised the situation. My GP is fully supportive of what I am doing as long as I take a cautious approach. If you are interested in the breathing exercise then let me know and I will post more details.

[Nfrunner in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

I would be interested to know more about the breathing exercises. I have AF episodes every week and the 1.25 Bisolprolol helps reduce the symptoms, although I still find even this small dose inhibits my running. I started with 2.5 last year as a pip but found it made me light-headed. My resting pulse is pretty low (usually in 50s). My cardiologist told me AF only progresses over time so it’s interesting to hear that your episodes have become less. I am on a waiting list for an ablation procedure but probably still 3 months away and only 80% likely to be effective.

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to Nfrunner]

I cannot comment on your cardiologist as our medical conditions are almost certainly different. All I can give is my experience. I have one arrythmia episode in the last 140 days. You have a very impressive resting heart rate.

The breathing is called coherent breathing or 5 breaths per minute. Lots of scientific papers on how it improves heart health. When I spoke to my GP about coherent breathing, he was very supportive. He told me that he does not talk to patients about breath work as they tend to be unresponsive. It was only because I brought it up that he opened up. He recommended me to listen to listen to Dr Huberman's pdocast on breathing.

My Qigong teacher gave me the breathing exercise last October. Nothing to do with Qigong. I breath with coherence for 20 minutes per day. It started with this video youtube.com/watch?v=zMEFBM0...(Not working as expected?) that she recommended. I don’t use this anymore but found a really good free app to time my breath. Coherence breathing has been shown to improve cardiovascular health. My teacher recommended a book “The Healing Power of breath”.

[Nfrunner in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

Thank you. I will definitely check this out.

[NLGA in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

hi could you explain more about your breathing exercises please as I am a AF and asthmatic so would be interested in what’s working for you

Thank you

Just seen your reply thank you

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to NLGA]

The practice is very simple called Coherent Breathing. I do this every day for 20 minutes lying down. It is 5 breaths per minute meaning inhale and exhale is 6 seconds each. I do not do any relaxation techniques. For about 5 minutes of the breathing, I add Resistance Breathing which I believe is Yoga’s Ocean breath. 20 minutes is recommended as a minimum practice time and if problems are very serious then it can be done more than once per day. I use an app on my iPhone to time my breath.

Since starting coherent breathing, I have had 1 AF episode in over 250 days. That episode occurred as I came off Bisoporol (1.25mg) too early.

[NLGA in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

How interesting

Thank you for taking the time to explain that

I will be doing that each evening as that’s when I seem to suffer more with my asthma

Thank you

[PhilFreeToAsk in reply to NLGA]

Good luck and I do hope this works for you. Because I do not have respiratory problems, I can practice this exercise at any time. Don't have expectations and allow the subtle changes within the body to take place. This could be your path to wellness so don't give up at the first problem that you may encounter.

This article may help with a little advice for asthmatics siumed.edu/gme/breath-wellness. Generally good but I think they mean 4 or 5 seconds per inhale/exhale not per minute.

[NLGA in reply to PhilFreeToAsk]

that’s great thank You

[Andyb7612]

Hi there...i have been on flecanide and a small dose of bisoprolol now for around 2.5 years and it has really helped me out tremendously..I too was worried about side effects but so far I haven't had any I am aware of..In the 2.5 years I haven't had an episode of af and I was having them every other day before the flecanide. I started off on a 2x 50mg a day dose but after no episodes for 6 months reduced it to 2x25mg ..i also made a few life style changes as well , such as cut out a lot of sugar , no caffeine and reduced my high intensity fitness training to an easier moderate one...so if your cardiologist seems happy for you to try it , I would give it serious consideration as it might help you out a lot...all the best...

[Nfrunner in reply to Andyb7612]

Thank you.