Cordarone & Side Effects

Posted By Marty on June 21, 1998 at 21:38:37:







My 71-year old father had a major heart attack at age 56.  He survived and was quite healthy until 2 years ago, when he suffered an episode of tachycardia with a heartbeat around 200/min.  His physician implanted a defibrillator.  He was fine for 4 months or so, but later it was felt that scar tissue from that episode made him worse, and he was put on a lot of drugs.  None helped, some hurt, until cordarone.  This was very effective in controlling the arrythmia, but suppressed his appetite, made him lethargic, and caused his hands to shake.  A tolerable dosage level was found.  In April, he had pneumonia & more tachycardia back-to-back.  He was put on a very high dose of amiodarone, leaving him effectively an invalid.  Finally, a catheter ablation was done, and the cordarone was scaled back but not eliminated.  In the last two weeks, he was hospitalized again with pneumonia, and the cordarone was eliminated.  Did the cordarone damage his lungs?  If so, is the damage reversible?  He now has a 24-hour oxygen feed; is this likely to be a continuing need?