hi bruce,
i'm afraid to tell you that joey was on amiodarone for almost 9 years! ofcourse, he wasn't on the full loading dose most of that time. a few months post surgery they lowered his dose and thereafter lowered it even more. for years he was taking about 100mg each day and whenever he's try to wean off the amio (even take it down to 50mg a day), he'd be fine for a few months and then go into afib.
this went on for years and all the doctors told us that he was on a scant dose and not to worry. joey was tested and monitored every year. his lung capacity did diminish but not significantly. he developed retinal deposits in his eyes, but they have since gone away. he takes synthroid and his med had to be monitored closely. in addition, no matter how much sunblock he'd use, he's get burned.
last year he decided to try multaq_ did not work. he had been on betapace (sotalol) presurgery and when he initially went into afib post surgery, they gave him that, but it did not work. therefore, they decided not to retry it.
finally he started taking tikosyn. it was not 100% fool proof and he decided to have an ablation done this past winter. so far so good. he is taking less of the tikosyn and will no longer be taking bloodthinners (first coumadin, then pradaxa), just aspirin.
we are keeping our fingers crossed.
bottom line is that amiodarone is probably the most effective med in preventing afib, despite its dreadful side effects. i imagine if the patient is watched very closely (and the dose is the least amount that can be effective), it can be very appealing.
i'm glad joey is no longer taking it. i was more worried over the years and urged him to come off the stuff.
hope you are well and that the metropolol is doing the trick.
please keep us posted as to how you are doing.
be well,
sylvia
