Back on Amiodorne at 12 weeks post op

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pat45750

pat45750

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Joined
May 27, 2010
Messages
237
Location
Marietta, OH
Sounds like my story is similar to others. Been off Amiordorne for quite awhile. Saturday had a-fib for about 6 hours. I layed down and it finally settled down. I am also getting just a really fast heartbeat quite a bit of the time. So the doctor told me to start on the Amiororne in the evenings again.

Seems like we are really making progress and getting better - then somthing has to rock the boat. Guess the heart is still trying to get back to normal. I had been doing PT and working out more and more. Doctor says I should still stay active and don't sit around. Will take his advice as long as I feel fine.

I did not go to the ER since they told me not to worry unless my heart rate is above 130 BPM. Doctor is happy that mine will settle down on it's own, but 6 hours is too much.

Pat
 
Hi Pat,

Glad to hear that you are getting it back in control again. Getting off that drug will soon come. Once you get through all the post surgery, and get you on a more long term regiment of medications, that may be the time.

I am also taking Amioderone since my surgery, and will talk with my doctor about this on my post-op visit. In the meantime, I am concerned about going into A-fib too. I had this mostly under control with other meds prior to my latest AVR/Elephant Trunk surgery. One of the first things I will discuss the doctor is my post-op meds and which ones do I need to continue, versus stop. I think I need to bring him my old list of medications from my 1st AVR, and also the list of my current ones that I am taking post-op.

Hope your ticker stays steady and true,

Rob
 
I got afib three weeks post op, and ended staying in ot non stop. They put me on amio and the afib completely went away in a few weeks. They took me off the amio in three months, and so far I have not had any afib. I did have PVCs for a while, but those have even calmed down. I have been off the drug for 6 weeks. The amio is nastyy stuff, but I think it does buy you time by giving you a normal rythm, allowing the heart to heal faster. That's my take on it.
 
On Amioderone too. I had a-fib in the hospital 5 days post op and they started an amio iv. Then put me on the oral med. I'm currently taking 200mg am and 200mg pm. So far, I haven't had any more episodes of a-fib. I only have a 30 day prescription and am worried that when I stop it, I will go back into a-fib.
 
guyinva - I was in the hospital for 8 days with a-fib, too after surgery. I was on Amio for about a month after - then when I stopped, I ended up in the ER. They put me back on Amio, then had me quit about a month ago. I thought I was over the a-fib, but the doctor said the Amio stays in your system a long time. This will be my third time on it - maybe it will be the last. If I have to stay on it much longer, they will switch me to a different med. Guess we just have to face the fact that it takes time for our hearts to recover and get use to those new valves. I guess most of us have a few bumps in the road to recovery. Pat
 
The Amiodorne was causing me a lot of problems. It was making me dizzy, very fuzzy headed and made me feel very depressed. My PT nurses said I should talk to my doctor to get it changed. The doctor's nurse told me to drop the dose to 1/2 and see if that worked last night. Well, it was a-fib this morning while I was walking the hospital halls to PT. They hooked me up on the monitor and told me to sit down. They could not understand why the doctor did not want to try another drug. So they sent me back to my doctor with copies of my goofy heart rythm. The nurse there did an EKG and said - yes indeed I was in afib. My heart rate only goes up to about 100, but it feels really bad with the heart is not beating in a sinus rhytm. So the nurse did get the doctor to change me to Multaq. It is taken twice a day with full meals at breakfast and dinner. It often causes diarrea and said I should watch for that. I have 14 days to try it out.

The best news is if I rest, my heart usually gets back to normal. It took 2 hours today. I have to take a week of PT and see what is going to happen now. Life was really good until this all started again - hopefully, my heart will calm down and life will be good again. I have high hopes!

Pat
 
I'm 4 weeks post-op and was put on Amio in week 2 when I had a litany of funny rhythms - atrial flutter and heart rate of 150, then ventricular bigeminy and HR 100. I still get occasional bouts of weird things but for me they happen when I'm asleep or resting . . . I've stopped worrying about it, my cardiologist wasn't that concerned which helps a lot! My theory is that our hearts are fairly annoyed about being stopped, cut open, lots of stitches, etc. so they take some time to adjust and for all the connections to sort themselves out.

I saw it mentioned above that Amio is nasty stuff . . . why??
 
It has many bad side effects. I can't remember them all. I had several of my doctors say they would not keep me on it for many months.A lot of my a-fib happens when I am resting, too. I am 3 months post op and been fighting with it since surgery. Hopefully, all our hearts will get back to normal an we won't need meds to control them. Pat
 
Skigirl,

A cardiologist once told me that this drug is the last line in medical drug defence to fight off A-Fib and A-flutter.
BUT... this is also a drug that you do not want to be on as a "long term maintenance drug".
The bad side effects of this drug far outweigh the few good things that it does.

This drug, Amiodarone, contains iodine.

Hope this is helpful. You should lookup this med in Medline, or WebMD to find out more.
As you can read from some of the above posts, there is now an alternative to it, but it is very expensive, and doesn't seem to work for a high percent of people that take it. This drug is supposed to be basically the same as Amiodarone, but they have take out the iodine.

Rob
 
Sorry to hear that you are having problems with a-fib Pat. I'm on Sotalol for my a-fib and I sometimes feel like my heart tries to go into a-fib but the Sotalol keeps me out of it. I have to stay on it until January at the least. I have been feeling better though, my PVCs seem to be mellowing out.
 
Thanks Pat and Rob! Interesting stuff.

My cardio only wanted me on Amio for a month, if he suggests lengthening that time I'll have words with him . . . :)

-SG
 
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