A-Fib treatment options for oral meds.

[mjoshi]

Hi,
My husband has had A-Fib for about 10+ years now.He is 48 yrs old no structural or other abnormalities in the heart, no coronary artery disease , nothing abnormal but for in frequent episodes of A-Fib.He has been on betablockers only, beta + rhythmol( 1 year) and currently Beta + Flecainide.Every now and then he goes in A-Fib may be once a month and the rhythm corrects itself in 2-3 hrs.I wanted to know if any one on oral meds has had any results with any other drugs.

[mjoshi]

Thanks a bunch...great to be informed about this..sometimes this itself is 90% treatment..as it makes you aware you are not alone in this..

Mjoshi

[Mightywoj]

I was on tambocor (flecainide) for 15 years (150mg x2).  It was my favorite since it metabolizes quickly (when you take it, you can feel it do something).  If I was sparking up a extra strong fib, 50mg under the tongue would settle things down (check with you Dr. before trying anything).  I have also noticed that even though the tambocor knocked down the afib, it was still a bit rough.  My Dr. added (after a few years of complaining) 25mg x2 of tenormin, and boy, that worked (for 13 years).  The most frustrating thing about all of this is that there is no "magic pill" that will make just go away.  Each person is different and you will have to figure out what your body is saying to you to learn how to avoid afib.  It may say it does not like coffee, so you will have to stop (this was a tough one for me).  But there are many other things to listen to.  It might want you to sleep on your side instead of you back (an apnia situation).  Or certain foods or drinks.  Don't be angry, just learn to move on.  If you guys have been living with this for 10 years, hopefully you already know about this.

[mjoshi]

Thanks that was helpful...

[Jerry_NJ]

Flecainide is a powerful heart drug, but I believe both Tykosin and Amiodarone are stronger.  He may want to discuss these options with his doctor.

However, unless the occasional AFib sessions are a serious impact on his quality of life, I'd not recommend going stronger on medications, not yet.