Amiodarone questions.

[wedge40]

Haven't been here in a long time.
ICD was put in Aug 2005. Everything was fine untill Jan 2007 and I started having problems. First thing they put me on was Amiodarone. Stuff worked great and didn't have any problems. Till now. I just found out my liver functions are a little reduced and they want to put me on something new.
Now for the question.
What are some of the other drugs that can be used. I have not had one episode since I started the Amiodarone and really would like to keep it that way. It took me a few months till I was sleeping normal and leading a fairly normal life without constant worry of having the ICD go off again.

Here is something else.. I'm a cause and effect kind of person. I had been on Previcid for years and this past fall insurance stopped paying for it. So they tried prilosec. That stuff tore me up and I quit taking it after a few days. Since then I have a dull ach in my right side. Nothing horrible, and I have good days and bad. My question is has there ever been and correlation between Amiodarone, Prilosec and liver problems?

Wedge

[canterbury]

It seems to me that Amiodarone can cause problems with the liver. My daughter was put onto the drug twice for about a period of 3 years each time. She had problems with hypothyroidism, restrictive lung disease and she had the crystals in her eyes. She also had a lot of problems with sunburns. A real downside to the drug is the fact that traces of the drug can be still found in the body's tissues for even up to a year after stopping the drug. That's not good if you are dealing with side affects!

[Pam Alexson]

Does that dull ache travel down your flank from time to time? Could possibly be a kidney stone. For me the prilosec takes care of the gastric ulcers I consistently get. I stay on them for about 2 weeks and then quit. When the ulcers return start up again. The amiodorone can cause all sorts of long term issues .. This year I had a huge thyroid removed.. they can not be sure that the amiodorone did not cause the gland to go rogue. I have been on Sotalol for 3 years now and no ill effects.. and it keeps my heart mostly; most al the time out of a-fib.

[wedge40]

Does that dull ache travel down your flank from time to time? Could possibly be a kidney stone. For me the prilosec takes care of the gastric ulcers I consistently get. I stay on them for about 2 weeks and then quit. When the ulcers return start up again. The amiodorone can cause all sorts of long term issues .. This year I had a huge thyroid removed.. they can not be sure that the amiodorone did not cause the gland to go rogue. I have been on Sotalol for 3 years now and no ill effects.. and it keeps my heart mostly; most al the time out of a-fib.

Pam, It does radiate at times, and I'm not sure it isn't a stone. But since I'm a kidney transplant patient things aren't really were they should be so it's hard to say. I'm more worried about keeping my heart out of a-fib. Da who isn't? What is mostly? Once a week, once a month or a couple of times in the last three years. I haven't had an episode since I started Amiodarone and not looking forward to any in the near future. I work full time and have to travel frequent and dont think it would be good to have one while way from home.

Wedge

[Pam Alexson]

Oh mostly is basically all the time .. the sotalol works really well. The only times about 1-2, sometimes 3 times a year for short duration as tracked on my down loads.. I am however on coumadin and will stay on it as a precaution. I do my own home testing and call an 800 # with my INR result and they call my doctor who calls me and tells me what dose to take. I test once a week.

If I am sick .. dehydrated or on prednisone it may get me into a-fib but, I find my next dose of sotalol gets me out of it. The other couple times a year hat it happens for whatever reason I am not always aware of it or feel it .. could be while I am sleeping.. but, have always self converted as seen on the downloads from my device.

[wedge40]

Oh mostly is basically all the time .. the sotalol works really well. The only times about 1-2, sometimes 3 times a year for short duration as tracked on my down loads.. I am however on coumadin and will stay on it as a precaution. I do my own home testing and call an 800 # with my INR result and they call my doctor who calls me and tells me what dose to take. I test once a week.

If I am sick .. dehydrated or on prednisone it may get me into a-fib but, I find my next dose of sotalol gets me out of it. The other couple times a year hat it happens for whatever reason I am not always aware of it or feel it .. could be while I am sleeping.. but, have always self converted as seen on the downloads from my device.

Oh. Thanks for the reply. I haven't has any a-fib that I know of since starting. But if you're self converting then you aren't getting "shocked". That is my biggest fear of starting a new drug. I had a horrible episode a few years back and got shocked 6 times in a row. Mainly because my heart rate was breaking the speed limit of 142bpm.

Greg

[rjk0824]

I have been on Amiodarone for since July 09. Aware of the side effects I have my Thyroids and respiratory checked often. Recently a new drug came into the market, Multaq (Generic=Dronedarone). I heard it has the same effectiveness as Amiodarone but without the side effects. I am looking to switch to this medication soon.

I hope this helps