Medicine and side effects

My mother had rheumatic fever as a child. She's 80 years old now and trying to treat atrial fibrillation has become quite a challenge.  She's taken beta blocker for many years, coumadin for a few, and has been electrocardioverted twice in the last several years. Now her internist has added something new.  First, could you help me identify this large ["horse"] oval purple pill?  She did not tolerate the 1000mg version and is now trying 500mg [a paler purple].  She thinks this newest medicine is designed to help her atrial valve function better. Second, can you suggest a way to help manage the medicine's side effect of sudden-onset diarrhea?  She takes this medicine at bedtime and manages dietary roughage very carefully to control pre-existing colitis.  Side effect has not abated with time so she hasn't even tried to increase her dosage to the 1500-2000mg per day that her doctor is aiming toward.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

Ryry,

Procanbid by Monarch pharmaceuticals comes in 1000 mg and 500 mg tablets. The generic name is procainamide, and it is frequently used to treat atrial fibrillation (afib).

Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea occur in 3-4% of patients on procainamide.  These side effects are difficult to relieve and frequently lead to patients stopping the medication.

The best advice I can give is to go to the next appointment with your mother and explain her intolerance to the medicine.  There are certainly other choices to control afib (the choices depend on your mother's other conditions).

Hope that helps.

[ChattySue]

Your questions would be very good ones for a Pharmacist. They have education in drug actions, side effects and interactions. Each pharmacy has to have at least one registered Pharmacist on duty (although they may have Pharmacy Technicians, who have less education too). If you don't know the name of the drug, Pharmacists can also usually identify it from the color, shape and number on the pill. Each pill has unique identifying markings.
Sue

[jan]

Here is a good resource for identifying meds by the imprint...


http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/rxlistid.cgi?drug=*7301