Follow up w/Dr. Barrett - time to get off Flecainide!

It's a little more than 3 months since my ablation with Dr. Natale in NYC..Sept. 5th, to be exact. As he is now back in Texas, I had my follow up with Dr. Barrett. He looked at my recording sent in to LifeWatch, and found no AFib or concerns, other than the ocassional skipped beat kind of thing..so he told me to get off of Flecainide. As I had been taking a high dose of Flecainide (150mg/BID) for about 6 years prior to my ablation, and then dropped back to 100mg/BID after the ablation, I was scared to get off of it. (Funny, as I was really scared to START it years ago!). I have tapered myself down to 50mg/BID through Christmas, and then plan to stop altogether after that. I must say I am nervous about stopping altogether, as this will be the true test as to whether the ablation is the sole reason for my quiet heart now. I am praying that is the case.

I do have to continue taking Xarelto until I get my TEE in March, at least. I am really hoping that they will find out that there is no need to continued taking this, for all of the reasons discussed in recent posts about these new blood thinners.

I liked Dr. Barrett, but did feel more confident with Dr. Natale, Does anyone know if he is still trying to find a hospital to work out of in the NY area? Either way, it would be nice to get off all meds and see what that feels like...I don't really remember..started taking Atenolol about 10 years ago...still on a low dose of that too.

~ Barb

Hi Barb,'
'
Such good news though not unexpected in your case! You deserve this good holiday gift after all you have been through in 2013.. Here's wishing you and much brighter and joy filled 2014!

And Yes. Dr. N is aiming toward being able to see his patients on NYC before long. He no doubt it taking his time to insure a longer term arrangement in the area going forward.

Don't be afraid of going off the Flec. with the quiet you have had for a full five months the odds are very high you'll have clear sailing. Even in the worst case scenario should at some point down the line somer periodic flutter might appear, it would almost certainly require a very straightforward and minimal touch up to lock the beast away for the duration.

Chances are good though at this point that you might not even need that last relatively minor touch up step!

Cheers!
Shannon

I can understand your fear of getting off flecanide as suggested by your doctor. After my ablation I was kept on flecanide for a long time also but tapering down slowly worked just fine even though I was fearful as you are . So my advice is to be confident that it will work.

Barb. I was on flecanide for a long period of time following my ablation. And fearful as you are about geting off. But the gradual tapering worked just fine so I am confident that you will be successful also.

Thanks all...I'm still on the 50 BID, but will stop it after Christmas (didn't want to risk any problem around this time...too much else going on..). i feel like I had a few more skipped beats today, but it could be me being anxious...time will tell.

~ Barb

P.S. Shannon - it's been a little over 3 months so far....but that's good too

Congratulations too, Barb.

P.S. With an ablation coming up Jan 24, and needing to DC flec 5 days before the procedure, anyone have any tips on how best to do it? I'm on 200 mg qhs (bedtime only). Thinking I should taper off but over what timeframe pre-ablation? Thanks.

Good news, Barb... so pleased for you. You shouldn't have a problem at all since your heart has been so steady but if it would help you feel better, just wean off slowly (by shaving the pills) so you are taking less and less and eventually just one dose instead of two each day and then none.

Best to you,
Jackie

Randy..I was worried about that too but I went "cold turkey" off of the Flecainide right before my ablation and I was fine...no Afib or blips of any kind. I was relieved I did well, but then Dr. Natale did tell me that I was in Afib when I was in the hospital, waiting to get things going for the procedure...Definitely stressed, at that point, so I wasn't surprised. You should be fine...how often were you getting Afib before starting Flec?

Thanks, Jackie I am just doing 50 mg, and feel like I may have had some extra skips and things last night in bed, but will record them the next time...I haven't been eating healthy for awhile...still reeling from my husband's passing...food is a comfort for me...but yes, I know I need to get better about that asap...

~ Barb

Barb, thanks. Re your question about how often afib before flec: I started flec Jan 2006. In 2005, I had 92 episodes averaging 6.8 hours duration. Pretty bad, but back then I hadn't taken advantage of all this website has to offer (hint to newcomers: don't wait like I did), and also I had unmanaged anxiety about my afib which most definitely exacerbated the condition. - Randy

Randy - I had Afib twice day, every day, for about the last year of so before starting Flec, and was on 150 mg. of Flec twice/day up until my ablation. So I was a heavy duty Afibber, and a heavy duty Flec user, but was still OK getting off of it. Who's doing your ablation, and where"?

~ Barb