Help Needed re Flecainide

I've had Paroxysmal Afib since 2000 averaging one episode a year. This changed from the end of last year after 4 urinary tract infections and 7 courses of antibiotics.

Episodes gradually increased in frequency. I started using 50ml Metropolol followed in 30 minutes by 100mg Flecainide. These reduced the length of episodes from around 30 hours to 2-3 hours. Frequency continued to increase till I was having an episode every other night from 7th January.

The Metropolol and Flecainide worked but I started to suffer badly from very low blood pressure and pulse during the day. After waiting out two long episodes and using Metropolol and Flecainide again twice I tried a new tack from 5th February.

I could tell when an episode was about to start by a series of uneven beats and I sat up (which returned me to NSR), took 50mg Flec, waited an hour, then lay down again. This kept me in NSR for the rest of the night though I started to get slightly faster and stronger beats during the night after a couple of nights.

I reduced the Flec to 25mg from15th Feb but hard beats and slightly uneven ones increased. Last night very hard beats which were painful at times started at 12.45a.m. and continued throughout the night giving me hardly any sleep.

I've been on low dose Doxycycline - 100mg once a day - for prostatitis from 11th Feb but cannot find any interactions between these and Flec or the supplements I use (the usual Magnesium, Potassium, Taurine, Ubiquinol, Vits A C D) that would explain what's happening.

I am looking into an Ablation either with Dr Ernst in London or Prof Jais in Bordeaux but really need to get the heart settled a bit before I can go any further. I saw a Cardiologist here on the 9th (not much choice in this country as far as that's concerned) and they felt Flec was the best choice.

Any help very much appreciated.

Thanks

Sam

Hi Sam - I'm sorry to see you are still struggling. Regardless of whether or not you have the ablation, the fact remains that you have ongoing systemic inflammation that is undoubtedly helping to driving your arrhythmia... apparently to considerable degree.

I know you are very well versed in holistic approaches so along with your conventional, preventive dosing of doxycycline, what are you doing additionally to help lower the inflammatory response? As you've indicated, you've taken a very large amount of antibiotics but have you then taken measures to restore the essential bowel bacteria that has been wiped out by the antibiotics so that the gut lining can become fully functional again? You'll need the high-powered probiotics such as VSL#3 to restore and maintain an efficiently functional intestinal mucosal barrier. This would become important so that you have every possible chance to reduce inflammation prior to the ablation which is has its own degree of inflammation as an obvious response to the procedure.

In addition to the probiotics to restore gut health, many herbals work very well to lower inflammation... high dose of the more concentrated curcumin... standardized to contain 95% curcuminoids is highly effective... along with ginger, boswellia, and proteolytic enzymes to break down inflammatory proteins such as fibrin and kinins are especially helpful... ie, high dose protease, trypsin, serrazymes and chymotrypsin...are known to work rapidly and well.

Best to you, Sam.

Jackie

If sitting up helps you, can you experiment with trying to sleep on an incline?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2015 07:10AM by The Anti-Fib.

And Sam, please don't feel you must wait until your heart settles down before an ablation. I know it can be a little inconvenient and a bit scary thinking of traveling with active AFIB, but I flew from Amsterdam to Hawaii and back and again from Amsterdam to Austin Texas for my first ablation all the while in very rocking persistent AFIB. Just be sure you are anti-coagulated and take what ever rate control drugs you can tolerate during the trip to keep the HR a bit lower than without them and you should be fine, in spite of how it may feel comfort wise. Just remind yourself you are on the way to start your ablation process for getting this thing behind you for good. Waiting too long now that it is increasing in frequency and intensity, just to make it to a space where it is quieter, could be adding too much added risk for converting into persistent AFIB... that is exactly what happened to me from similar rationale of why I should put it off a while longer ... again and again.

Shannon

Sam, no doubt the antibiotics probably wasted your mag stores and caused the afib...even though you were on Flec....which only works for so long. An ablation is not a magic pill but it really increases your ability to resist afib. You still have to watch the triggers, especially alcohol, and supplement with mag to make the ablation last. Good Luck
Tom C