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A quick résumé of my history. Lone A fib vagal 4years progressively worsening to approx twice per month but steadily increasing in frequency. I started a beta blocker Bisopropol - freq increased to every other day, hardly surprising being vagal .Flecainide on demand in October 2003 initially Ok however frequency rapidly increased to one or twice a day Jan 2004 whereupon tried 200mg daily to no aby Chris H - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Faith My experience with meds has been they all made my AF worse, not to mention other problems such as PVC's etc. I was never prescribed meds to convert me, my Dr's told me that the meds would keep my rate down. No-one ever said I could be converted and when years later I found out that you could get cardioversion to convert you I asked for it. But was told that there was no chanby Fran - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Mike, I'll be bringing disopyramide up again in my next meeting but my cardiologist has been reluctant to try it in the past because of it's similarity to flecainide. He was worried that I would develop atrial flutter like I did when on flecainide (very fast and unpleasant) Amongst other things the monograph I have says this... "Adverse cardiovascular effects have been noted dby James D - AFIBBERS FORUM
Mike, Have just started disopyramide, so am not at the point where it doesn't seem to work anymore. First, it seems that all antiarrhthymics stop working after a couple of years. I started on quinidine and after two years had to try something else. Second, when propafenona became proarrhthymic I went off it and it seemed like my afib was dramatically worse. Last December after I had beeby John S. - AFIBBERS FORUM
Fran, When you came off all meds, did you have any more A Fib episodes? I have been weaning myself off Lopressor because I think it has increased the number and duration of my episodes. However, since it does keep my heart rate in the 60 bpm range, what will happen if I go into A Fib without its help? Prior to my taking the Lopressor, my heart rate would jump up to 150+ bpm when an episode stby Faith - AFIBBERS FORUM
Norpace is contraindicated for glaucoma. Have a glaucoma check first.by yypo - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sadja I had hoped your disapearance from the board a while back - after reporting the success you had with cutting out hidden forms of MSG - was because you had kicked the beast. I am so sorry this is not the case. I had not realised you were still taking meds for AF. Do you think that perhaps the meds you taking are contributing to the AF - now turned vagal? I only ask because it was not tillby Fran - AFIBBERS FORUM
Sadja - Nice to hear from you again, but I'm sorry to learn you are still having AF problems. I thought I remembered once you stopped taking the supplements in capsules, you became afib free. That's the nature of this thing. Just be aware about Flecanide, though, that in time it can become pro-arrhythmic.... not that there are that many choices left, I realize. Again, I'm reaby Jackie - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thank you one and all for the information on Norpace, and the data base. I finally was able to speak with my cardiologist today, and he suggested flecanide, as it is similar to propafenone - which I liked a lot - and, he said. not likely to give me a low white count. So - with some trepidation - I am going to start flecanide, and keep Norpace in reserve in case it doesn't work. May all bby sadja - AFIBBERS FORUM
Norpace has been a wonderful drug for me thus far as well, although my dose is apparently at the low end of the scale at 450 mg daily.by Denny - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Sadja, I have been on Norpace since January after years of trying other meds. Norpace has been wonderful for me. I am a vagal AFer and it has been the best drug in controlling my AF. I had a few weeks of dry mouth in the begining but that has gone and there has been no other side effects. While on beta-blockers I had problems with side effects all the time. I was hospitalized while making thby Jeanne - AFIBBERS FORUM
Chris H: I found your story easily enough, just a ways back under subject Flecainide? Did you read recent entries under Norpace/Disopyramide? James D posted a link of responses to this drug. It seems to work pretty well for some people. Perhaps if it works for you, you can put off the ablation consideration for some time. Joe Pisano was just advised also to wait a year and that some new andby Pam - AFIBBERS FORUM
Greetings Oh woe is me. Went into hospital for my change over to Propafenone from Flecainide, Flec was becoming proarrhythmic. Admitted straight away however not monitored or started drug until 5pm some 12 hrs after onset. Given 450mg Propafenone however did not convert overnight. Tuesday morning put on Heparin until 5pm Tuesday when things started happening my Cardio had been contacted he ordeby Chris H - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi sadja, 26 entries (out of 441) have ticked disopyramide in my database - you can browse the entries here, -- James Dby James D - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Sadja: I asked my EP about Norpace and he said he would not recommend it for me, he does not apparently prescribe it for women. I was going to ask him why and got sidetracked on another matter. I am going to see him about the 3rd. week in April and will probe him about his reasons then. Lizby Liz H. - AFIBBERS FORUM
I used to take Norpace full time. I now take it on demand. Taking it full time the side effects were pretty miserable. Dry mouth, stomach cramps, and two hours of feeling miserable most afternoons. An ablation improved things enough that I can now take the drug on demand and don't have significant side effects unless I have to take 3doses (spaced 12 hours apart ). Now I can trade off druby Chris P - AFIBBERS FORUM
Dr. G, Hope you have as good a response to disopyramide as I've had. Your comment about becoming somewhat vagal makes this more likely than otherwise. If your episodes are becoming a problem and the recommended 600-800mg of disopyramide (I take Rythmodan) per day does not seem to be doing the trick, I'd consider increasing the dose. The side effects seem to be less noticeable over tiby PC - AFIBBERS FORUM
Recently I stopped propafenone, which was really helpful and took away my afib, because I developed a low white count and mouth sores. I am planning to try Norpace - disopyramide - and I would like to know how people on that drug are doing. My afib episodes started out as the adrenergic kind, but have shifted over the years, and now tend to come on at night, so I think they are more vagal in tyby sadja - AFIBBERS FORUM
Greetings Finally managed to see my cardio- post holter follow, up to check for bradycardia and response to Flecainide. Administration had been sending my appointments to the wrong address! The 48 hour holter showed no bradycardia. As is the nature of A fib, cunning beast that it is, the night following the holter removal, I had a typical ate late vagal bout, in the early hours, damn. Flecainidby Chris H - AFIBBERS FORUM
Mike, First of all GI stands for GI Joe (don't know exactly how that translates out), but I suppose that you're referring to gastrointestinal tract. Referring to loperamide, it has anticholinergic properties that are particularly directed toward the GI tract (inhibits peristalsis or the rhythmic contraction of small and large bowel smooth muscle). As such it is an antidiarrheal. Disoby PC - AFIBBERS FORUM
PC, I'm a little confused. In your post which kicked off this thread, you comment: "However, I plan to substitute loperamide (anticholinergic with more specificity for the GI TRACT and less for the heart) to replace the lost GI anticholinergic properties of disopyramide." Then in your above post you comment: "However, I've not heard of loperamide being used as anythinby Mike F. V42 - AFIBBERS FORUM
As you all know my posts tend to be a bit technical. There have been occasional outcries on this issue. Accordingly, I would like to report on some experimental evidence (N=1) that seems to corroborate some of the technobabble. I have experienced exhilarating results from disopyramide. After suffering at least weekly episodes lasting from 4 to 45 hours for over two years, I went to zero episby PC - AFIBBERS FORUM
Jackie, It is my understanding that cortisol binds to aldosterone receptors, although with less affinity than aldosterone (?20x). But there is much more cortisol floating around in the blood at any given time than there is aldosterone (?500x). Both achieve peak blood levels in the early AM (? 7 AM for aldosterone - I seem to recall this when I was deciding when to take my spironolactone, now nby PC - AFIBBERS FORUM
Since we were talking about norpace, here's some recent information from their site ... Thanks for the post. Q:"What is your opinion of norpace vs. amiodarone?" Not to be glib, but this is somewhat like asking someone what is their opinion of red versus white wines. These two drugs can be used in entirely different circumstances. There are some people with disease A that I wouldby gregg - AFIBBERS FORUM
Rob, The generic name of Norpace is disopyramide phosphate. I believe it is a fairly old drug and should be available in the UK. Jeanneby Jeanne - AFIBBERS FORUM
. Out-of-Hospital Initiation of Antiarrhythmic Drugs in Patients With AF Recommendations for out-of-hospital initiation or intermittent use of antiarrhythmic drugs differ for patients with paroxysmal and persistent AF. In patients with paroxysmal AF, the aims are to stop an attack, to prevent recurrences, or a combination of both. In patients with persistent AF, the aims of out-of-hospital drugby Jean - AFIBBERS FORUM
Carol, I'm now taking 875mg/d (250 mg at 6AM, 125mg noon, 250 at 5PM and 250 at 9PM). At 750mg/d I would have occasional tachycardia for 2 or 3 hours (worse than AF, given my slow ventricular response rate while in AF). During the tachycardia I would transit to and from perhaps 30 minutes of AF. So I upped the daily dose to 1000mg/d and haven't had any episodes of either tachycardiaby PC - AFIBBERS FORUM
I take 125 mg at 7:00 am, 12 noon and 5:00 pm. At 10:00 pm I take 250 mg for a to9tal of 625 mg per day. This worked for a while. Now I am having episodes that begin at 7:00am when I get up and last 24 hours more or less. They are not debilitating and I can muddle through the day. I am probably trying to be too conservative with the dosage. In the interim between going off propafenone and sby John S. - AFIBBERS FORUM
Gregg, Thank you for asking. So far so good. While my episodes were not as frequent as Kevin's, I'm hoping to have a similar response to Norpace. The side effects seem to have lessened with time. Even the dry mouth is not as noticeable to me. I don't know of any adverse long term side effects. Norpace/Rythmodan (disopyramide) ought to be the first antiarrhythmic recommendeby PC - AFIBBERS FORUM
Carol, I've been off propafenone for a couple of months or more. Like the others, it worked for a while when I was taking it daily. Eventually, the episodes became more frequent and much more severe, like nearly losing consciousness from lack of oxygen. I believe that it had become proarrhytimic for me. I went off and then after a while started taking it on demand. At first the episodesby John S. - AFIBBERS FORUM