How long till amiodorone effects my INR?

[Alaska]

Well, as of 8/3 I went off the amiodorone. They said it would take about a month to get out of my system. This weekend I caught a bug of some sort, had a fever and the heart started doing some extra beats. Well, it has been just over a month, and I'm back in A-flutter as of last night. Darn! I thought I was doing so good too...

Going back on the amiodorone today - loading doses of 400mg daily for 5 days, then 200mg daily after that. I remember that is a drug that does interact with the coumadin. So, how long before my INR should start rising? I have a home tester so it will not be a problem to monitor my INR.

 

[JimL]

Patty, I'm sorry to hear that you're back on the amiodarone. I spent a month on it shortly after surgery several years ago. I remember that it takes up to six months to get out of your system. It doubles the effectiveness of the coumadin, which means that your dosage of coumadin should approach half of what it was before. This needs to be determined by regular INR tests. I found that the amio stopped working toward the end of the month I was on it. I started taking magnesium instead, which has worked well for several years now.

 

[RobThatsMe]

Hi Patty,

I was told by my cardiologist that it is not good to be on amiodorone as a long term maintenance drug. He said the side effects of this drug are much more dangerous, and outweigh what it is used for.

You may want to consult your doctor, and see if there is anything else that you can use to help control your A-flutter, such as a beta blocker, or Lopressor.

There are also some posts on the site that talk more specifically about the dangers of using Amiodorone long term.

Good luck and good health,

Rob

 

[Alaska]

Yes, I know the side effects, and they can be awful. The docs are the best around, and they all agree that for now I need to be back on the drug. I took it for about 5 mos before, and weaned off as we "thought" my heart would have healed enough to have no problems. Obviously, that is not the case. I'm still hoping that this is temporary and I can get off soon. I am not a medicine kind of person, so I was so excited at the thought of stopping the amio, and stopping the coumadin around xmas. Guess that won't be happening now either... Oh well, another time.

 

[Ross]

Hi Patty,

I was told by my cardiologist that it is not good to be on amiodorone as a long term maintenance drug. He said the side effects of this drug are much more dangerous, and outweigh what it is used for.

You may want to consult your doctor, and see if there is anything else that you can use to help control your A-flutter, such as a beta blocker, or Lopressor.

There are also some posts on the site that talk more specifically about the dangers of using Amiodorone long term.

Good luck and good health,

Rob

Precisely. Even the package statement with the drug says its for last resort treatment when other drugs have failed.

INDICATIONS AND USAGE
Because of its life-threatening side effects and the substantial management difficulties associated
with its use (see “WARNINGS” below), Cordarone is indicated only for the treatment of the
following documented, life-threatening recurrent ventricular arrhythmias when these have not
responded to documented adequate doses of other available antiarrhythmics or when alternative
agents could not be tolerated.
1. Recurrent ventricular fibrillation.
2. Recurrent hemodynamically unstable ventricular tachycardia.
As is the case for other antiarrhythmic agents, there is no evidence from controlled trials that the
use of Cordarone Tablets favorably affects survival.

 

[Guest]

It was obviously the amiodarone that was keeoing yourt heart in rhythm. I see this happening all the time - 1 to 6 months after people have amiodarone stopped then a - fib or flutter returns.

It depends on whether or not your warfarin dose had been adjusted for stopping amiodarone. If it was raised whern you stopped, then you will probably need to cut back in 5 to 7 days.

 

[Alaska]

I'm taking 2.5 mg a day, and managing it myself (have a home testing machine). Thank you for the info - I will test again in a few days and readjust the meds.

There is another drug the 3 docs spoke about, but the side effects of that are even worse than what I'm taking. Hopefully this will be a short term treatment and we can try off the drug again soon.

 

[BionicBoy]

How long till amiodorone effects my INR? Reply to Thread

How long till amiodorone effects my INR? Reply to Thread

Amiodorone was the ONLY drug in existence that stopped my atrial arrhythmia but the monthly Pulmonary Function Tests shown steady deterioration and I had to quit the drug after a great year of no lousy afibs.
Be sure you get regular PFT's, it can be deadly.

 

[DrAllan]

PFTs are not adequate to monitor the pulmonary fibrosos that is caused by amiodarone. The test tht you need is a carbon monoxide diffussion test.

 

[Cooker]

It was obviously the amiodarone that was keeoing yourt heart in rhythm. I see this happening all the time - 1 to 6 months after people have amiodarone stopped then a - fib or flutter returns.

Al,

Have these people had Maze or Ablation procedures done? Or do you know?
I have been off Amiodarone for two months with no sign of Afib as of yet. I can feel it coming on when it is on the way. I had the Ablation for the express purpose of getting off the dreaded drug. Hoping and praying it will never return!!

Thanks,

Tom

 

[Guest]

As I recall they were all radio frequency ablations.