Continous tighting or squeezing with flecainide ??

Hi all,
I am new to the forum and only in the last few months have I been diagnosed with Lone Afib and at this point I am on
the lower end of the scale of Afib. The electrophysiologist chose to put me on a low dose of metoprolol and flacainide.
Shortly after taking these, my pulse was very low and mind you I do not have high blood pressure! So the doc
discontinued the metoprolol. I continued to take flacainide, in which daily and many times a day had quick sensations
of tightening in the center of my chest. I also was very fatigued and was not sleeping well at all. Well after two months
of being on it, I ended up having a day where I was completely drained and felt terrible. Through all of this time, the doctor continued to drop the level of mg's. Well that day was the last straw and I told him I wanted off it. Since being off the drug, I have felt much better and the squeezing it much less. My QUESTION is, is there anyone else out there that
has or is having this same sensation?? Also for the last couple of months I have slight heartburn at night (not GERD). Is this normal with Afib?? I have researched continuously and have learned a lot but still am searching for answers to
many questions that I still have. Thank you very much to anyone who can help! Sozo

I'm feeling better without those meds ( I've tried some + 4 ablations).
Betablockers kill my energy. Flecainide does not stop my afib any more. Last time I took some flec (100mg), in 2018, I went in 2:1 flutter for hours.
I wouldn't take a drug of which side effects are more unbearable than the sickness it's trying to cure.

How Freq. do you afib episodes occur lets say in a 100 day period?

I wore a monitor for 30 days in which it seemed that I felt palpitations only a couple of times for an extended amount of
time. Other than that, they were seconds and then had pac's. They told me I was in Afib 1% of the time. 🤷🏻‍♀️
Before switching to an electrophysiologist from a cardiologist I felt nothing for four days and then after going on flecainide, nothing for several days. Then after several days it began, the constant sensation of tightening for approx a month and a half, until I went off. Now these sensations are few.

There are other antiarrhythmic drugs. Talk to your EP (or more likely their PA or NP) and tell them about your side effects. They can switch you to something else.

I am currently having issues (different than yours) with flec which I was put on post ablation for blanking period. Ablation was 6/2. I have taken other drugs successfully for a season (dofetilide) with zero side effects. As Carey says- there is a pharmacy of meds out there to try.

Sozo your Afib is so NEXT TO NOTHING....right now that is i would not take any Drugs for it.... they are hit + MISS at best anyway as you are finding out + you will further also if you go down the near useless daily basis given drug rabbit hole routine. Your at the stage where natural supl. like Magnesium + others but esp. Mag. (combination malate, taurate + glycinate works miracle's for me) is the no doubt route to go IMOP at this time now this condition can progress slowly or be on you big time real quick like it did me so keep your options open.

Thank you for your thoughts vanlith and others as well! I agree! I was hoping to see a response from anyone who may could relate with the same sensations as I have at times. I have not been able to find anyone as of yet.. Therefore I
am still stuck in not really knowing if these sensations are extra beats or what the heck they are. Anyway, have a great day!

Sozo.....most of the time a person has an Afib Ep. or a sig. series of Pac's they have some type of slight chest discomfort esp. when moving around sig. + slight difficulty catching your breath or lets just say an uncomfortable feeling there so what you are exper. is not at all unusual. Your wrist pulse is a great EKG machine also....use it 100 times 10-30 seconds at a time each day + night to let you know how your progressing but try the 3 mag. combination i posted earlier...it pretty much KOed my many K's of pac's a day down to next to nothing...litterly a miracle for me.

GL



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2022 10:59AM by vanlith.