Do I need ED

77 y.o. Female. Have had paroxysmal af probably 30+ years. Only a couple episodes per year. Last one 6 months ago. Use pill in pocket flecainide and usually convert within an hour. Have been on Eliquis for several years just in case. I am very aware when I am in a fib. Last night about 2300 a bout started. I took my flecainide b ystolic, and potassium gluconate. I vaguely thought I was in sinus about 0330 but when I awoke at 0430 (usual time) still in it. Very unusual for me to last this long. Feel just fine. BP fine, heart rate technically 88. Have a kardia monitor. I live alone with NO family.. do I need ED for cardioversion or should I take another flecainide 100mg at 1100, try to get physician appt or what? Give it more time with flecainide every 12 hours? EDIs difficult as I really have NO one. I can easily drive myself there but no one to get me home.
The problem of being alone is awful in these cases. I think I am going to try to get physician appt and use flecainide very 12 hours and see if I can convert without cardioversian. Any thoughts?

Please wait 11-12 hours before your next dose. I had a flecainide overdose. You would not like the ICU intensive care unit.

I hope you convert. You should post your weight. If you weigh less than 154 pounds then 200mg dose within 24 hours is the usual dosage.

Thank you Susan. I am 160 pounds, 5 ft 7 inches. I took 200 of flecainide at 2300 and would not take another 100 until 11am. Again feeling fine. This is new to me as I usually convert within an hour or so.

You don't need an ED with a heart rate of 88. I doubt they would be willing to cardiovert you anyway since AF at that rate isn't harmful.

As for taking another dose, 100 of flecainide isn't a PIP dose. That's just a standard dose so it probably won't convert you. You probably need to increase the dose you use to 300, which is the standard PIP dose.

And unfortunately, it's possible your AF has become persistent now. Thirty years is a very long time to have paroxysmal AF without it progressing to persistent AF or becoming unresponsive to the flecainide. I would definitely recommend a visit with your EP to review things (NOT a GP, PCP, or general cardiologist). Flecainide can become ineffective over time, and that's another possibility, so you might need to switch to something else.

Thanks Carey. I did take 200 mg of Flecainide at 2300 my quandary is do I take another 100 mg at 11am (2 hours from now). Trying to get into doctor now. ep is 2 hours away.
Hope you are wrong about becoming permanent. But maybe. Maybe I can control with Flecainide bid. Been lucky so far. Episodes only once or twice a year.

Posting again. Converted a few minutes ago. Hope it holds will continue to get cardio/ep appt.

Quote
Sbvcrn
Hope you are wrong about becoming permanent. But maybe. Maybe I can control with Flecainide bid. Been lucky so far. Episodes only once or twice a year.

For someone only using flec PIP and only having a couple of episodes a year, your prognosis may be better than that.

Flec. is not the only PIP out there SB.....I had total success about 70 times worth using PROPAFENONE as my PIP converting in an ave. of 1 hour by CHEWING 1x 150MG pill at the onset of an ARR. If your interested in this new path for you let me know.