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Questions posted in the
Heart Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Question Title: Coumadin Side Affects/EffectsForum: The Heart Forum
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I have an implanted defibrillator and was also on medication (norpace, nadolol, synthroid, and zoloft). During the time that I was taking this medication I was always very tired. At my last check up my doctor told me that I had experinced 24 episodes of attrial fibrillation. My medications were changed; he eliminated norpace and added pacerone and coumadin. Since I started taking these new medications I don't experience the tiredness. Could the coumadin, by thinning out the blood, make the blood flow faster, bringing more oxygen to the brain faster? ____ Dear Carol, Interesting thoughts you have and although this is a possibility (all the effects of coumadin are not fully known), it is much more likely that the norpace was making you tired. Physicians are lucky in a way because we have many different drugs to choose from that have the same overall main effect (in your case that would be decreasing the likelihood of an arrhythmia); it is usually unpredictable who will have what side effects with which drug however, if and when a patient experiences significant side effects we simply try another drug that hopefully does not produce the side effect. In your case it sounds like norpace simply made you exhausted and yet the pacerone does not. The doctor put you on the coumadin to thin your blood so that the atrial fibrillation episode you experience do not put you at increased risk for stroke. Mind you Carol that the norpace may simply have failed to prevent the episodes of a.fib which then in turn made you very tired, whereas the pacerone is very good at preventing a.fib in your heart and wha-la no more tiredness. I hope that this has been of some help to you. Good Luck. Information provided in the heart forum is intended for general medical informational purposes only, actual diagnosis and treatment can only be made by your physician(s).
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