Has anyone taken farxiga?

My kidneys felt rock solid and on fire. No urine put. I seem to be intolerant of any blood sugar control meds.

@dcypherzzz I can’t understand why he thinks it would be beneficial for me to start this medication. Even the pharmacist said she would not recommend taking it.

I have atrial myopathy from a Covid infection with occasional svt that sometimes triggers afib and afib that starts for no reason at all. This has caused HFpEF. My exercise tolerance has improved significantly with Farxiga. There is a recently published study where they gave a SGLT2i after ablation and it improved outcomes. The drug seems to shift how the heart uses fuel. I am thirsty more, and it caused a mild drop in my kidney function labs that is now resolving. The lab drop is expected and ironically isn’t problem. My guess is your cardiologist is thinking your heart energetics might need a boost, but not everyone can tolerate these meds. I started at 5 mg for 2 weeks.

So you are not diabetic nor do you have kidney issues now? He put you on it after an ablation but are you in sinus rhythm?

Are you on Lisinopril as well? This is also a drug to improve heart function. I have noticed a big boost to my exercise function since I am on this drugs although it has only need a few weeks.

Also did your doctor tell you you would have to stay on this medication? I have heard coming off of it leads to complications.

Thanks for your insight.

Also I would love to know

@wews I am not diabetic and my kidney function is normal. I actually bothered my cardiologist to put me on a sglt2 after my first, and so far only, heart failure hospitalization. The research supports using it earlier in heart failure since it has such a big impact on preventing hospitalization and death. I was on lisinopril prior to the Covid infection that damaged my heart. My ablation for my afib failed, now I have occasional svt and afib. My burden is low, but I’m very symptomatic when I get it so I’m looking at a redo ablation this spring. I hope a generic for the sglt2 comes out soon.

@diane987654321 thanks for the insight. I don’t have heart failure. My ejection fraction is 45-50 from an echo with strain but I don’t have any shortness of breath or issues with exercising or any fluid retention. I am sometimes in sinus rhythm according to my Kardia unit and feel fine. When you say you were hospitalized for heart failure, did you have a heart attack?

No heart attack. I have what is called heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. It is pretty common. It is usually diagnosed by an echo where they look at the tissue Doppler in your heart. It gets confirmed with a right heart cath if there is any question. My EF is 64% if I’ve stayed out of a fib for a week. I’m about 55% after afib unless I can stop it fast with metoprolol and flecanide.

Not having shortness of breath is awesome! That is the first symptom for a lot of people with all flavors of heart failure.

I’ve not heard of issues with stopping an sglt2. But I’m a fan of weaning off any med, except antibiotics.

My echo says I have Stage 1 diastolic dysfunction suggestive of abnormal relaxation. But that isn’t heart failure. By taking metoprolol and Lisinopril and eliquis with zetia I am managing it and since I have no problem with breathing or exercising and am not fatigued I am not wanted to add farxiga.

My sister is 10 years old than I am and she worse heart condition because she took tikosyn for her afib over 15 years ago and it caused her to have torsads which damaged her heart to the point she needed a pacemaker and defribulator. Then in about 2018 her endocrinologist put her on jaundice which is the sister drug to farxiga. It caused her ejection fraction to go down from 45 to 25 and she developed a severe kidney infection. Her cardiologist took her off the drug immediately. The side effects of these drugs are terrible if they happen to you and I have been told that there are complications from stopping them which are not good. Because there are other choices for heart failure I would prefer to avoid these medications like farxiga and Jardiance because they are the same thing. They were developed to treat diabetes. They didn’t work. So the companies marketed them for kidney failure. They are not working because they have so many terrible life threatening side effects. Then in 2024 the company funded a study to support use in heart failure patients. Read the studies. They had 2,000 some people and determined that 55% of them had a 2-3% chance of living longer but these were really sick people. Their data is very limited and not documented in the study’s for application to people who do not have diabetes or kidney failure and have moderate heart failure.

I am attaching a copy of the study. I think I will die of something. I had breast cancer last year and am on hormone blocking mediation which makes me tired and gives me joint pain because I don’t have any estrogen. I am 71. I will not go on another medication to “possibly” extend my life if it meanwhile can cause a whole host of other medical problems. But it is so helpful to see how other people are managing their heart issues with these drugs. I couldn’t take flexanide either - I felt terrible on it. I hope you do well without having to resort to more drugs. But we all have to make our own decisions based on the research and our bodies and doctors! Thanks so much for talking this through with me. So helpful.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1911303

@wews there’s a product called “Cardio Miracle” by John B. Hewlett
Look Him and the product up and decide for yourself. It’s nitric oxide booster and has allot of essential nutritional support for all things cardio vascular

@sandyross thanks!