Tikosyn and Cardizem

[cynthia]

just wondering if anyone takes tikosyn and cardizem for treatment of afib and to relax the heart

[Sarah]

I took tikosyn for a couple years. I took cardizem a long time ago for a short while. Never took them together.

It is a bit unusual to take them together. How are you feeling?

S

[cynthia]

feeling pretty good until a few days ago...feel very tired. I don't want to rush and blame the meds ....could be something else. Should I be having periodic bloodwork and check my kidney or liver function or anything else being on the tikosyn??

[Sarah]

No. Tikosyn doesn't have the nasty side effects that amiodarone does. I didn't get any bloodwork while I was on it.

It does seem to amplify the effects of other medications, so you might talk to your doctor about backing down on the cardizem to see if that helps.

S

[cynthia]

thanks, Sarah...I'm only on 120 mg. and I know Dr.Maron wants me on something to relax my heart so I don't know if I can cut back on this doseage

[sickora]

Sarah,

I've been on Tikosyn for 9 days now. Everything started out fine, but chest pain has started to occur and seems to be getting worse every day. I was on Verapamil and Betapace before this, but it wasn't doing a good job of surpressing my afib.

From what I read, Cardizem is used mainly to control chest pain and relax the heart. That makes sense since it is a Calcium-channel blocker, just like Verpamil. I'm not quite sure why Verapamil is contra-indicated but Cardizem is not, but then again I'm not a doctor.

Anyway, I was wondering if you've experienced any chest pain on the Tikosyn or if you've been taking the two drugs together since inception. My EP said that if I was having some problems, Cardizem was an option. I'll be seeing him next week for discussion. Besides the irregular beats, have you noticed any side effects?

[Sarah]

I did not have any side effects with the Tikosyn. You should let your doctor know asap about the chest pain especially since you are new to the Tikosyn. There is no need to wait and if they can give you some calcium-channel blockers or a beta-blocker to help out, then they will.

Keep us posted!

s

[sickora]

Well, I saw my doctor on Friday and he started me on Cardizem also. 180mg to start, and we'll go from there... So far no noticable side effects and not as much pain walking, so hopefully I'm on the right track.