Venetoclax and irregular heartbeat?

[Tangolover]

I am experiencing a very irregular heartbeat and palpitations lately. I have been on 400 mg dose of Venetoclax since September 2022. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what was done about it?

[Newdawn Administrator]

I experienced intermittent but very significant tachycardia within 4 days of stopping Venetoclax (which I’d been on for nearly 3 yrs on a trial full dosage). At one point I had to be hospitalised but they couldn’t definitively detect why it was happening.

Make sure you have this checked out, ECG, holter, echocardiogram or whatever is necessary to make sure your cardiac function is ok. I was put on a small daily dose of Bisoprolol and it’s settled down now. No cardiac issues like AF were identified. I had however been on Ibrutinib for 15 months which is the more likely culprit.

Best wishes,

Newdawn

[Tangolover in reply to Newdawn]

Thank you so much!

[mickimauser11]

the antibiotics were causing health issues after they were stopped the heart issue improved, however my heart function was tested before my treatment started.

[Tangolover in reply to mickimauser11]

Thank you!

[carolly]

Definitely! I’ve been on Venetoclax since July last year and have been in and out of tachycardia and AF for most of the time since then, for months/ weeks at a time. I have a cardiologist (EP) who has been scratching his head over this but concluded he doesn’t want to do any major interventions until I stop the Venetoclax. I have been trying to terminate the episodes with increased doses of Flecainide and Bisoprolol but it’s a bit of a lottery. Best wishes for a smooth run….

[Tangolover]

Thank you--pplease keep me posted!

[carolly in reply to Tangolover]

Will do! As a footnote the side effects listed on the patient information for Venetoclax include bradycardia, tachycardia and arrhythmias. There is some evidence in the scientific literature to support this.

[Flute117]

I had a prior history of A-fib that had been under control for years with medication (Verapamil). It started lowering my BP too much and similar drugs did as well. Since I was not experiencing A-fib at the time, I was taken off of them during V+O treatment. This was a good thing because Verapamil is known to interfere with Venetoclax. I did, however, start experiencing a LOT of palpitations (that I learned were extra beats but actually feel like skipped beats) while on Venetoclax. I wore a 24 heart monitor that showed 10%+ of my beats were these extra beats. Within a few weeks after treatment I noticed that the palpitations had decreased significantly. My next monitor showed they were down to 2%.

I can’t definitively say that Venetoclax caused the increase in palpitations, but I suspect it was related. Verapamil may have been suppressing these extra beats along with controlling my A-fib, but the increase while on Venetoclax and the decrease after treatment is highly suspicious in my opinion.

[Tangolover in reply to Flute117]

Thank you--this is very valuable information to me!

[bachplayer13]

so how are your palpitations now? have they gotten better?

[Tangolover]

Yes, I am not having them now--think it was combination of adjusting to venetoclax and a couple of other stressors going on at the time. Thanks!