amiodarone lung toxicity

[gary785]

I was prescribed amiodarone January 2009 and in July almost died from this. I am 67 years old and up to now in good health. I'm currently on prednisone suffer from extreme shortness of breath and dont have the energy to even wash the car. My cardiologist never did any follow up on this drug even to this day he has not contacted me. I have a tentative appointment with a new cardiologist hopefully soon, and also with a respirology specialist some time this month, with catscan etc. Originally I was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia. Some of my questions are---how much risk am I at while waiting for these appointments?----can I expect to get any of my lung function back?----how long will I have to be on prednisone, it is playing havoc with my blood glucose levels and I am not diabetic ( yet )?---I cant even consider giong back to work in my present condition so I have some serious financial concerns, is there any help out there for me? Anyone with a similar situation I wpuld like to hear from with medical or any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jerry_NJ]

From what I could quickly determine prednisone is not a heart medication.  Are you on anything to control you tachycardia?  I would guess you'd be on a beta blocker.

If you tachycardia doesn't run away, say go over 150 pbm I think you should be fine while waiting for you scheduled appointments.  

I am a little surprised, as I understand your post, that you were put on Amiodarone without first trying "softer" medications...or do I read your post wrong?

The down side on beta blockers is they can tend to make one feel tired/fatigued, and it sounds like you already have too much of that.

[itdood]

I'm sorry I don't have anything helpful to add.  Just a quick search for amiodarone reveals it's a very old drug (developed in the 50s) with a very long list of toxic side effects including lung issues.  It left me wondering why it's still prescribed.  Some of the top few results were from lawyers who take on personal injury cases for those who've taken this medication.

You are probably going to be better off searching google and other blogs for help at this point, I don't think there's going to be much experience with this issue here, but I could be wrong.  And before going on any drugs, google them to see the side effects and feedback.