Stopping Flecainide after ablation

Hi all,
I'm coming up on two months post ablation and was told I could stop the Flecainide. Wondering about others' experiences? How long before you felt comfortable stopping? I haven't had any big problems. Sometimes I feel "something", but when I feel my carotid everything feels fine. The Eliquis gives me GI issues and I burp a lot and have heartburn. I think this is what I feel (a pre burp feeling). I also have noticed that sometimes my rate drops, like from 58 to 48. I think I feel that too. Rare to feel ectopy though.
Thanks!

I wasn’t on flecainide but rather Propafenone. I flushed the whole bottle down the toilet as soon as I got home from my ablation. It had cost me a $100 copay.

So that’s how I felt about stopping!

Not sure I felt comfortable but I just stopped

I'm just wondering if the time-frame was 2 months for all of you too, and did you have problems sooner, later, or not at all when you stopped?
I'd like to flush the Flecainide too, thanks for the visual I just got a refill a week ago. They usually give me a months worth, but I got home and they had given me 3! I decided to keep it in the medicine cabinet. I'm afraid if I dump it I'll go into a-fib



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2018 10:59PM by libby.

Please don't flush drugs. You're sending them to the nearest body of water. Put them in the trash instead.

I've had multiple ablations. I was put on antiarrhythmic drugs for a limited period of time after each of them, and the reasoning is sound. Ablation lesions don't stop afib until they fully scar over and become permanent. That takes a couple of months to occur, so the purpose of the AADs is to keep you in normal rhythm until the ablation lesions can become effective.

Following my first ablation the doctor didn't put me on anything for the first couple days. I was still in the hospital trying to get my INR numbers dialed in and had an affib eooisode.
They then started me on flecanide and metoprolol. I was on this regimen for 6 months. When I stopped they had me taper off of both one at a time. First the flecanide then the metoprolol. I didn't have any issues.
That was back in 2009 so I am sure that the protocal has changed since then.

Quote
Carey
Please don't flush drugs. You're sending them to the nearest body of water. Put them in the trash instead.

Septic tank and leach field. They never made it more than 20 yards from my house. Suffice it to say my grass was quite immune to arrhythmia in the days following!

Love it, Wolfpack!! And, Carey-I just meant flush as an expression. Wouldn't really flush. I agree, not good for the environment

Nothing after my ablation! No more afib episodes, even though scar tissue had not formed. Or, the afib just decided to stay away until the scar tissue did form. Clearly, at least for me, meds weren't necessary after the ablation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2018 10:13AM by Ken.

Good to hear, Ken! Thanks all for your input!!
I've had anxiety about stopping, but I never felt good on the drug. I babysit my grand puppy in a couple weeks and hope everything is quiet.

Since there are people that do have afib during the "blanking period", then staying on control meds may make sense for a period of time. However, my afib before diagnosis was no big deal, and life after diagnosis with meds wasn't that much different. Still got episodes, but the maximum heart rate was much lower (100 instead of 180).