Gone from PVC's & PAC's to Atrial Flutter

well I had my first experience with Atrial Flutter the other night and I was so scared I went to the ER.
They did manage to catch it on the RKG once, so now per my EP he wants to me start 25mg of Flecainide twice daily and 12.5mg of Lopressor XL once daily.
I'm certainly scared of the Flecainide after all I have read about it.
I have had RKG's, Stress Test, ECHO and Heart Catheter and all indicate a healthy heart albeit  a bit wackytachy most times. I am now having bigeminy daily, it was a run of bigeminy that preceeded the AF.  
Any one else use the Flecainide that can give me feedback about it?

[Jerry_NJ]

Neither my EP nor my Cardiologist are willing to start a trial on me with Flecainide unless I do it under hospital (check-in) conditions, I think Intensive Care Unit conditions.  I have had some results from meds like Rythmol SR 425 twice a day (that's a real high dose) without any bad side effects, or any benefits.  

From what you said it sounds like your doctor is willing to just put you on (a low?) dose without hospital supervision, is that ture?

There was a survey on this community a couple of months back and it showed that most people on Flecainide went on without the start-up being supervised by a hospital ICU.  It also showed that there are a lot of people on this community who use that drug, some with great success from what I have read.

[Wisconsin2007]

Both my folks use it and it seems to work well for both.  My father, in his mid-60's, still ***** down caffeine like a college guy at a kegger, and that can sometimes push his heart into afib, but he backs off the soda and the issue resolves itself.

How long did your atrial flutter last and how fast was your HR when it happened?  I get the sense that the terminology varies from region to region, doctor to doctor.  I was diagnosed as having short bursts of PAT, for which the doctor said I could either do nothing or go on a low dose of beta blockers - since she explained how what I had could not permanently injure my heart even if it stayed in that rhythm for several consecutive days, and that if it lasted for more than 12 hours to stop in to the ER for cardioversion, I opted to not take anything for it.

At it's worst mine was occurring 1X every other day, 4-10 fast beats, typically 1.5 to 2X whatever my heart rate was just before the PAT started.  So really, it was very brief.  Still scared the bejeesus out of me, though.  Since then it's settled to happening once every week or two, usually only for 2-5 beats.  Kind of a thump...thump...thumpthumpthump.....THUMP!...thump...thump...

Hoping my experience is similar to yours and that it helps you to feel a bit better about it.

[allaflutter1213]

Thanks for all the comments!

My EP wants to start me out at 25mg of Flecainide twice daily, and 25mg of Lorpressor once daily, a pretty low dose I'm told.
I have suffered wit hthe PAC's and PVC's for awhile now, but lately they are more frequent (every day-all day) with massive runs of bigeminy. Now throw short bursts of PAF lasting about 10-15 seconds.
The PAF seems to occur mainly at night when I am lying on my side trying to fall asleep.
The issue for me is that it has become unbearable on a daily basis and has greatly affected my quality of life.
The bigeminy runs are by far the worst feeling. They take my breath away, make my chest hurt, make me short of breath, and make me tired. I can tell on days when I am having bad runs with them that my circulation is effected because my legs cramp when I walk, I thought I was not going to make it the other day when I went for my nightly walk of 1 mile, so for now I have put the walking on hold.

So Monday I start the low dose of the Flecainide and contine taking the Lorpressor jsut at a lower dose than I was taking it, we'll see how it goes.
Wish me luck!!!!

[Wisconsin2007]

Yeah, bigeminy is no fun.  Hope the flec works for you.

[allaflutter1213]

I started the Flecainide this morning!