Need advice on Amioderone

I’m seeing the cardiologist this am. I will also try to talk to someone at the hospital to see what’s going on. I have anxiety/depression issues and I cannot wait for answers. All I can think about right now is that I may live only a couple of years and this may not be the case. I’ve been googling and it sounds like any type of restrictive lung disease is fatal.
I’m going to see someone at the pulmonology dept at Mayo in a couple of weeks.

@danab What problems did you have with your thyroid. In Nov.2021 my TSH started to climb and was still high in April 2022. During this time is when I had the afib. The one and only time and nothing since that I know of. Did you ever take meds for your thyroid? This was discovered at rehab that my TSH was climbing up. Now the question is Thyroid or Afib and lots of side effects from heart meds, and no one seems to have an answer. I am tired of not knowing. The Cardio Drs. tell me to sort it out with PCP and he feels left out of the loop. So no solution found but thanks for all your sharing, It does help. KLH

I'm not sure if this is related but, my husband developed persistent Afib not too long after he had his Covid booster. He was given the Moderna booster. He developed persistent Afib and had cardioversion which only lasted less than 2 days. He was scheduled for ablation but the day of surgery, his blood values were not where they should have been and he had also gained 30 lbs of fluid in a very short period of time. He was prescribed Bumex diuretic. During the early morning hours a few days later, he woke up with persistent burping and thought he had acid indigestion but, I realized that it was his heart. When we went to ER his Afib was out of control and we discovered that he was also in Vfib which is critical. He went into surgery for an implantable ICD. He was given Amiodarone which he still takes but his thyroid levels have increased. I have him scheduled to see an Endocrinologist in a few days. I'm pretty sure it's the amiodarone that is causing this. He is scheduled to have an ablation in 3 weeks for the Afib which will give the leads in his heart from the ICD implant enough time to heal. Other than the Afib issue he is doing as well as can be expected. He is still very short of breath and fatigued. I pray constantly to God to help him and everyone going thru medical issues.

@folula I have had only one episode of afib and now I am on all these drugs. My thyroid levels also started to increase with the addition of amiodarone along with other issues.

I hope your husband finds some answers to these medical issues and has a speedy recovery. My thoughts are with you. Stay safe. KLH

Thank you so much. I'll post the answer to his problem once we meet with the endocrinologist. I'm pretty sure it's the amiodarone that he is taking.

Take care of yourself.

I only took 1/2 of amiodarone this morning and I feel a little better. Maybe I can this gone. I have a couple of questions, I feel so dumb to ask but with your experience, I will get a good explanation. Can you tell me about the procedures - cardioversion and ablation? No one has spoken of these procedures and what the future holds if I do not improve and maybe congestive heart never improves. All I was given is all these new meds. I am just trying to learn, what could come next. Thanks for listening and you stay safe also. KLH

Cardioversion uses an electrical shock to stop the heart. Once that is done your heart should return to normal sinus rhythm. My husband's was done using twilight (conscious sedation) and he went home the same day. Unfortunately, his cardioversion did not last. He was back in Afib. He started gaining all of the fluid weight because his heart function was low and then he went into Vfib which is why he needed the ICD (implantable cardiac defibrillator). The ablation is being done using cryosurgery rather than heat cautery because cryosurgery is more effective and less damaging to surrounding tissue. The doctor threads a catheter into the heart and uses electrical impulses to find where the bad signals are coming from and freezes them to form scar tissue. That will be done under general anesthesia and he will be able to go home the same day. We have a great electrophysiologist and we are confident that this will take care of the problem. Please let me know how you are doing. Take care of yourself.

Thanks for all your wonderful information. I now know more about the procedures. Keep me posted. KLH

Kill, I also have had about 10-12 ablation so if you have any more questions I may be able to help. Here is a link to my story if it helps
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/103963/

Hello all...not sure if this is the place to put this and I am learning alot reading these posts! I was diagnosed with afib in 2021 (tho I suspect I have had it longer once I learned the symptoms) and am in persistent afib at this point. One failed cardioversion in 2022 and am having an ablation at the end of this month at a hospital in Boston. Doc wanted me to do a course (loading) of amiodarone and try another cardioversion before that but I just couldn't get past the side effects of that drug. Anyway...am going into the ablation without the cv and the drug hoping for the best...Wonder if my 2 bouts with covid have anything to do with this....

I'm sure there are posts about persistent afib...not sure what they are going to do was told I might have to be put on tikosin if 'its a mess in there' since I didn't want to do the amiodarone (would require a hospital stay to see if I can tolerate the tikosin). Kind of anxious (well, am anxious) about the whole thing. I'm 64 soon to be 65.
Thanks for any reply, etc.