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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Re: wpw
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Re: wpw
by CCF Cardio MD - MTR, Jan 01, 1995 12:00AM
Posted By CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on March 12, 1999 at 22:06:48:
In Reply to: wpw posted by Melissa on March 11, 1999 at 14:30:05:
I was diagnosed with wpw a year ago. I am 28 years old and very healthy. In November I had an attack where my heart was beating at 208 beats per minute. I went to the hospital and was given adenizine to normalize my heart beat. I am now taking Sotalol at 40 mg. two times a day. I have an appointment in three weeks to have the catheter ablation. My surgeon's nurse told me to keep taking my medicine up to, and including the day of my surgery. Does this sound right? I have read where the medicine is addictive and needs to be reduced before surgery. Will this cause any problems finding my extra route?? I also seem to be very tired and have cold hands and feet more often. Is this due to the medicine??
Dear Melissa, thank you for your question. Sotalol is an antiarrhythmic medication that is designed to prevent you from having another episode of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) that occurs with WPW. Sotalol could cause fatigue since it is in a class of medications known as beta blockers that have that side effect. I don't think that sotalol could cause the cold hands and feet, however. The decision to stop an antiarrhythmic medication before an ablation procedure is not uniform and is made on a case-by-case basis. If the cardiologist who is going to perform the ablation procedure on you advised you to continue the sotalol up to the day of the procedure, then you should follow that advice. Unlike the situation with other rhythm disturbances, the accessory pathways that cause SVT in WPW may not be obscured by baseline medications like sotalol. Thus, if you have further questions, then I suggest that you contact your cardiologist directly. Otherwise, if the ablation is successful, you probably won't need to continue taking sotalol afterwards.
I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions. Good luck!
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart
Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
In Reply to: wpw posted by Melissa on March 11, 1999 at 14:30:05:
I was diagnosed with wpw a year ago. I am 28 years old and very healthy. In November I had an attack where my heart was beating at 208 beats per minute. I went to the hospital and was given adenizine to normalize my heart beat. I am now taking Sotalol at 40 mg. two times a day. I have an appointment in three weeks to have the catheter ablation. My surgeon's nurse told me to keep taking my medicine up to, and including the day of my surgery. Does this sound right? I have read where the medicine is addictive and needs to be reduced before surgery. Will this cause any problems finding my extra route?? I also seem to be very tired and have cold hands and feet more often. Is this due to the medicine??
Dear Melissa, thank you for your question. Sotalol is an antiarrhythmic medication that is designed to prevent you from having another episode of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) that occurs with WPW. Sotalol could cause fatigue since it is in a class of medications known as beta blockers that have that side effect. I don't think that sotalol could cause the cold hands and feet, however. The decision to stop an antiarrhythmic medication before an ablation procedure is not uniform and is made on a case-by-case basis. If the cardiologist who is going to perform the ablation procedure on you advised you to continue the sotalol up to the day of the procedure, then you should follow that advice. Unlike the situation with other rhythm disturbances, the accessory pathways that cause SVT in WPW may not be obscured by baseline medications like sotalol. Thus, if you have further questions, then I suggest that you contact your cardiologist directly. Otherwise, if the ablation is successful, you probably won't need to continue taking sotalol afterwards.
I hope you find this information useful. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies. Please feel free to write back with additional questions. Good luck!
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter. The Heart
Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.
