Atrial fibrillation (AFib) and medication side effects

@karenatmayo, Welcome to Mayo Connect, we are pleased that you have joined our online patient support group. I am sorry to hear of the side effects you mentioned in your post. While I've never been diagnosed with A-Fib, I do have a problem with rapid heartbeat. I started off with one med that left me with the same side-effects you mentioned and also a problem with excessive, busy dreaming at night (not nightmares, just very vivid dreams). I contacted my cardiologist and he switched me to a new med and it is working quite nicely without the side effects. Do you take the med with meals? Sometimes that can help. If you are still having problems, keep working with your doctor or look for a second opinion. There are lots of options out there.
I would also like to introduce you to one of our moderators @kanaazpereira who will be able to invite some of our other members into your conversation about treatments for A-Fib.
Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. Teresa

Hi Theresa. Thanks for your note. I do take with meals and am trying to eat more often which does help some but difficult sometimes, especially when you're not hungry! I am trying an alternate drug now, but it has similar side effects but with more nausea. Seeing doctor again this week. Take care and good luck with your rapid heartbeat. I am exploring magnesium as a possible supplement for that and general heart rhythm issues. Karen

@karenatmayo Good idea about the magnesium, I take it as well. Keep in touch and let us know how you are doing. Teresa

My apologies for the misspelling of side "effects." Cannot seem to correct it. I have stopped the propafenone for a-fib because of its devastating side effects, the most debilitating of which was nausea. (The first drug I tried was flecainide which I did not tolerate well.) I am also suffering from anemia and think I need to determine the cause of that before I go any further. I do have a new prescription for Multaq for the afib but am not optimistic. I am supposed to start it tomorrow but think I will have to wait until I find more out about my anemia and until my body recovers from the previous drug because I am still suffering. I don't think my small body of 100 pounds can tolerate these drugs. Will be discussing ablation next week with cardiologist.

@karenatmayo You never need to apologize for grammar or punctuation at Connect - expressing feelings are more important than anything else. I can understand your problems with medications when you are small, I'm 111 pounds and need to watch dosages more carefully as well. I like the way you are going to doctors and yet thinking about the "big picture" as well. I wish you well as you have your appointment for an ablation. Keep in touch. Teresa

Ok, now I am literally sick from the new afib drug which I started yesterday and cardiologist was right -I went into afib while waiting to start new drug, still waiting for afib to stop. Drug has not worked yet but trying to figure if I want to put more poison in me because I feel so awful already. I have no appetite but need to eat because I am having an endoscopy on Tuesday to help determine the cause of my anemia. Feeling miserable from not eating, new drug, zero energy. Even considering emergency room but we'll see.

Hi Karen,
I corrected the spelling of effects for you in the title of this discussion and modified it to be more specific, calling it "Atrial fibrillation and medication side effects". Being specific helps bring people into the conversation. Through a search of Connect I found other members have also talked about medication side effects, specifically with flecainide. Please let me introduce you to @mac4life @jimana @2880 @prescott @topaz and @Weedy. I'd also like to bring @predictable into this discussion.

Karen, you may also be interested in reading and joining in these discussions as you work to manage a-fib and consider ablation:

- AFib questions http://mayocl.in/29iD8aJ
- Should I consider ablation? http://mayocl.in/28ReaNr

Best of luck with your appointment next week and getting to the root cause of the anemia so you can correct it. Please keep us posted.

Hello, @karenatmayo! Welcome to a discussion of a-fib, a topic that interests me greatly -- not because my symptoms are racking my life, but because so many friends in my community and people who come to Mayo Connect for information are anxious about it. My heart has been arrhythmic for at least 15 years, but my a-fib diagnosis came less than 3 years ago in a EKG test during my annual physical. For the past 20 years, I have been treated for hypertension at moderate levels, thanks to wave after wave of medications tried and replaced as they failed to bring my blood pressure down enough to satisfy my medical teams. Fortunately, we found drugs to limit my blood pressure, and at the same time, medical science has accepted higher BP levels for senior senior citizens (I'm 81). A-fib threw a monkey wrench in the works and may be attributable to all of the experimentation I endured looking for a solution for my hypertension. But my a-fib symptoms are modest; I don't consciously feel them, only see them on the meter every time I take my blood pressure. My medications for a-fib are Carvedilol (which slows the heart and reduces BP) and Coumadin, a "blood thinner" to head off blood clots.

Are your heart-beat symptoms very disturbing? Your use of three strong anti-arrhythmic drugs -- Flecainide, Propafenone, and Dronedarone -- suggests that your medical team is determined to bring your symptoms under better control. When you switched to another medication, were you advised to check with your doctor about phasing one down -- rather than stopping abruptly -- before taking a successor? With each of your meds, did your doctors advise you of problems to expect from other medications you are taking or from other disease symptoms? Have you asked your doctors about cardioversion or ablation (and where it might be focused)? What about "blood thinners?" Have they been suggested as a means of avoiding blood clots in your upper heart chamber(s)?

I ask these questions not to pry or violate your personal privacy. Please don't answer any that intrude. I intend them as suggestions for your list of questions to put to your cardiology team the next time you meet, if you haven't already gotten these answers. At the least, let us know how you're doing in general so we can keep our conversation going as you work your way through these trying times.
Martin

Hello. I realize I never answered your questions. I appreciate you taking the time to send me questions. Since my post I have been to the hospital with afib episodes, and trying different drugs, all of which I could not tolerate. They tried cardio version in hospital but it did not work, but eventually went back into normal rhythm naturally. Since I also have anemia for unknown reasons ( no internal bleeding, etc.), I feel I should find out about that before I make any decisions. I feel that my poor body was subjected to too much by trying four drugs, (flecainide, Multaq, and others mentioned above) one at a time, which did not work for me. I temporarily went back on flacainide when I left hospital because at least it stops the afib but had to stop a few days ago because it made me so very ill. Now without looking much further, they are recommending an AV node ablation (because I am so small and thin and pretty much intolerant to all of the potent and powerful afib drugs) and a pacemaker which is very scary. I am sending records to Mayo for second opinion on that. I feel my poor 100 pound body has been subjected to so much abuse and poison with all of this experimentation so I must get myself a rest before I go any further. In the meantime I am off flecainide waiting nervously for an afib episode, (still on Xarelto and metoprolol) still feeling weak, fatigued, cannot function at all except sit on couch. This is not living. Six weeks ago I was working full time. Very depressed and scared.

I’ve been on flecainide for three years but it’s not working any longer. So trying to control heart rate instead of a new anti arrhythmic drug. Has anyone else tried this method? Also, may have to have tricuspid valve repair or replacement. Would like to hear if anyone has had this done. Thanks! bjanderson