Can quitting verapamil cause heart arrhythmias?

[carol5531]

I am 47 years old and have suffered from chronic headaches for over 25 years. About five years ago a nerologist prescribed Verapamil for them. I stopped taking Verapamil a few months ago because I felt it was not helping my headaches. I didn't tell my doctor, I just stopped taking it. I didn't feel any side effects. About a month ago, I started having heart palpitations. I have never had anything wrong with my heart. My heart is healthy. I have never had palpitations before. I went to my family doctor last week and he gave me a heart monitor to wear for 24 hours. The results came back that I was having significant palpitations and he is making me an appointment with a cardiologist. I have been reading on the web about this condition when it occurred to me that maybe there was a link to stopping the Verapamil. I took the Verapamil for headaches, not for heart related issues. I was wondering if stopping the Verapamil could cause these palpitations. They are terrible. They ocurr everyday and each episode can last from several minutes to over an hour. They happen no matter what I'm doing. It happens when I'm active and when I'm relaxing. Any help you could give me would be appreciated! Thank you, Carol

[Betonaster]

Verapamil is completely unrelated to beta blockers.  This medication is not even a "distant relative."  Verapamil is a calcium channel blocker, a calcium antagonist or slow channel inhibitor.  It concerns me that your comment indicates some kind of forum status.  Your information is wrong.  Too, the palpitations may or may not have something to do with medication withdrawal.  Please be careful what you post.  People come here because they are not getting the answers they need from their providers, but giving wrong information is not good.

[MJW1970]

Verapamil withdrawl can be difficult.  I was on verapamil since 2006, I had two ablations for arrhythmias and was still having bouts of tachycardia brought on by exercise, stress and alcohol intake.  Nothing would touch these episodes - the doctor and I tried increasing verapamil, digoxin and flecainide.  The only thing that would terminate these episodes was a large oral dose of magnesium and potassium.  However, the doctor remained skeptical that the magnesium was helping.  

About two months ago after another attack of tachycardia that I terminated with the mag and potassium, I quit taking the verapamil.  I continued daily magnesium and potassium and added taurine and arginine to my self-medicating.   My heart was balky - flip flops, short tachy runs - for a month and then settled down.  My BP went up for a month as well and then settled down.  My resting heart rate increased to around 75 during this time but then returned to around 60 which had been my normal heart rate before any of this.  I am now tachycardia free even though I have done the things that induced it before - caffeine, exercise, alcohol and stress.

I think the doctor did get the original arrhythmia for which I was ablated - atrial flutter.  I also think the long term verapamil therapy was starting to affect my heart with these reflex tachycardias.  It has been a huge relief to get to this point, but I would recommend not quitting the verapamil cold turkey.  The problem with that is getting a doctor to agree to titrating you dose downward.  All they wanted to do for me was increase it.

[cindy707]

Itdood is absolutely right in regards to which family of meds V is in....sorry about that i was a little tired when i posted however the end result is the same......a blocker that suddenly unblocks................when any doc uses the words significant palps you need follow up and i would think as soon as a heart doc can get you in.....hopefully these will back off a little and allow you at least a little peace of mind my friend...have a happy sunday............

[itdood]

I haven't seen any evidence to suggest so.

Just to clarify something Cindy mentions above, Verapamil isn't a beta blocker.  Verapamil is a calcium channel clocker.  Verapamil is a class IV antiarrhythmic.  It alters calcium uptake in the heart's muscle cells.  Its intended use is for lowering blood pressure.

One could say that being on it for 5 years caused your heart muscle to get used to it.  Stopping it abruptly was a no-no.  I think all long-term use meds should be tapered very slowly.

[Quack1980]

I’ve been on verapamil since my ablation a year ago to treat ventricular tachycardia (after a major episode of it 3 months prior to the ablation) - I had suffered minor episodes I guess my whole adult life but this one landed me in the hospital for weeks and lots of tests.

Anyway, I had the ablation so I wouldn’t have to spend my life on medication and yet here I am after a year stuck taking these damned pills.

So I started tapering myself off recently, though not doing a good job of it and having half a pill instead of a whole one some days and other days nothing at all.

I’ve been doing this for about 2-3 weeks and have been suffering flutters and palpitations randomly every couple days so bad it breaks my sleep entirely and makes me super anxious.

I’m waiting for my appointment end of the month (it’s 5hrs drive away so I haven’t even been back for checkups in over 6 months) to discuss with the doctor who suggested and performed the ablation.

My point is: I think it’s normal (also hoping that’s why!) lol even though it’s entirely anecdotal, the fact I am having the same symptoms makes me think it’s normal when coming off, at least coming off a little too fast.

Can’t wait to put this (expletive) behind me!

My stats: 38yr old, male, a little overweight.

[vanful]

I have taken Verapamil hcl for many years. First to handle esophageal spasms and then for tachycardia. Recently I found out that I was severely Vitamin D deficient. I have been taking a weekly dose of prescribed Vitamin D for a approximately 6 weeks and noticed that I wasn't having the tachycardia as often. Then suddenly at night after I took the Verapamil my tachycardia got worse, but only at night did this happen. It was so bad I couldn't even sleep. For the past two evenings I stopped taking the Verapamil and am having no tachycardia symptoms and resting well. I will contact my doctor to let him know what I have done, but I wonder if many of us have Vitamin D deficiency and it is causing several things, like headaches, tachycardia, etc. I would certainly recommend having it checked.

[itdood]

clocker should be blocker.

[cindy707]

Hey Carol i read your post and the answer to your question is yes....it can cause the palps.  The Verapamil is in the beta blocker family and should never be stopped abruptly and instead under a doctors guidance you should have been eased or weaned off of it because what specifically happens is just this...its called "rebound effects" which mean once to denied your system the meds it rebounded and anything that may have laid dormat just came to the surface X 3 or 4.  There really isn't much you can do to stop them other than monitor your intake of anything that may have caffeine in it, or red wine, or sugars....you need to make absolutely sure that you are drinking lots of fluids each day because dehydration will set them off as well as not sleeping well at nite.....i always warn people on this site not to stop any beta blocker or heart meds abruptly because it is so dangerous...beta blockers are also given to people with migranes on a regular basis.  Your new heart doc i am sure will lead you in the right direction...good luck and sorry about what is going on with you............