why am I taking diltiazem

Why am I taking diltiazem? I'm not so sure it's doing me a lot of good.I have a chronic upper intestinal pain that I can lessen by not using seed oils. I've had trouble with constipation in recent years and it feels like my upper small bowel is paralyzed. I suspect the diltiazem. That problem is somewhat better now, but now it appears I am anemic.

Diltiazem can cause bleeding it turns out and I suspect the bleeding is causing the anemia. So I'm low on energy.

Dilt. doesn't stop an afib attack. It might lower my fast HR down by perhaps 3 BPM but I'm not sure how good it really is.

So what good is it doing me?

You're taking it daily? How often do you have afib episodes and how high does your heart rate go during an episode with the diltiazem? Do you know how high it goes without the diltiazem?

Maybe with all of the going on, just try taking the diltazem during an episode for rate control. Then when your back in NSR stop taking it.

>You're taking it daily? How often do you have afib episodes and how high does your heart rate go during an episode with >the diltiazem? Do you know how high it goes without the diltiazem?

180 mg ER daily. I've had 4-5 episodes since December. I wouldn't be surprised to find it is implicated in actually causing episodes. It doesn't agree with my gut, and my episodes are always gut related IOW have something to do with what I eat.

My HR I'm not sure I know how high it goes without the Dilt. I *think* the rate is actually lower lately during an attack, more like 140-ish.

I get scolded by everybody when I show up in the ER and tell them I haven't been taking it due to side effects, so I've been taking it for the past 2 years. My episodes are coming closer together but I'm not so sure the dilt doesn't irritate my gut to the point where food that normally wouldn't be so inflammatory then becomes a heart irritant. I just don't know.

Which is all why I'm leaning more toward the ablation so if I get lucky and get a one-and-done procedure I can quit the drugs and quit the ER visits.

>Maybe with all of the going on, just try taking the diltazem during an episode for rate control. Then when your back in >NSR stop taking it.

I've done that and I catch hell for it from the hospital personnel. I'm supposed to be taking it every day.

That strategy worked 10 years ago when I'd consume too much sugar and have an attack, then take a Dilt and I'd go into NSR as soon as the pill kicked in in 50 minutes, but those days are gone. I can also tell when an episode will be of long duration now too. IOW my intuition tells me to get in the car on some occasions and on others I just wait it out.

In a lot of ways I just live with it and deal with it as best I can by avoiding triggers, and on the other hand I'd like to be done with all the hassle.

You: '...That strategy worked 10 years ago when I'd consume too much sugar and have an attack, then take a Dilt and I'd go into NSR as soon as the pill kicked in in 50 minutes, but those days are gone...'

I don't know if you are aware of it, but your story is actually quite typical, at least of 95% of the people who come here or who regularly post here. The reason is, as the literature reflects, the disorder is progressive in nature. Your heart is a living organ and adapts, both functionally and structurally. When people develop an arrhythmia, it's usually just a matter of time until things come to a head, so to speak. For some, such as a couple of our regulars, they manage to stave off the most rapid evolution by careful self-regulation and discipline. For the rest of us mortals, our progression is more obvious, and more ominous, as the months pass. What worked previously becomes ineffective. We turn to new strategies, or we learn to live with the disorder, including how unsettling and how symptomatic it is for us. I can't....not a hope.

So, I went for an ablation. In fact, as soon as I was diagnosed, I began to read, and I was convinced that an ablation was about the first order of business for me. I knew that drugs would only buy me some temporary relief, whether months or years. It was three years, and then the bouts of AF began to come more frequently and lasted longer. I was giddy when I met my EP and he agreed to 'do me' in four months. I couldn't wait. My story wasn't pretty after that, but I did have a second ablation, same gentleman, and I have been in bliss ever since. For me, even if an ablation was also going to give me two, four, six years in NSR, it was far better than drugs and being in AF two or three times each week.....or day.

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Which is all why I'm leaning more toward the ablation so if I get lucky and get a one-and-done procedure I can quit the drugs and quit the ER visits.

Seems like it is time, especially with your gut sensitivities. And as you will have read here, please go to the very best – the travel is well worth it!

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Shiny Sleeves
>You're taking it daily? How often do you have afib episodes and how high does your heart rate go during an episode with >the diltiazem? Do you know how high it goes without the diltiazem?

180 mg ER daily. I've had 4-5 episodes since December. I wouldn't be surprised to find it is implicated in actually causing episodes. It doesn't agree with my gut, and my episodes are always gut related IOW have something to do with what I eat.

My HR I'm not sure I know how high it goes without the Dilt. I *think* the rate is actually lower lately during an attack, more like 140-ish.

I get scolded by everybody when I show up in the ER and tell them I haven't been taking it due to side effects, so I've been taking it for the past 2 years. My episodes are coming closer together but I'm not so sure the dilt doesn't irritate my gut to the point where food that normally wouldn't be so inflammatory then becomes a heart irritant. I just don't know.

Which is all why I'm leaning more toward the ablation so if I get lucky and get a one-and-done procedure I can quit the drugs and quit the ER visits.

I would put the main emphasis on the decisions made between you and your personnel Dr's and nursing staff. That takes precedent over the reactions from the staff in the ER. Just because you end up in the ER doesn't mean you necessarily did anything wrong, as this condition has consequences one way or another.