atrial fib/flutter

[alexandracompton]

I've had 3 unsuccessful ablations.  have daily atrial/flutter attacks lasting about 1 hr.or so.  Have taken most meds and the one I am on is Maltaq.  It seems to be not working.  Dr. wants me to tryTikosyn.  I have to stay in the hospital for 3 days to see if I am free of having the fatal heart beat rhythm that you can get with this drug.  Does anyone know about this drug?

[RNRita]

I only had one patient (of my own) that they were using Tikosyn on to convert.  It was a 32 y/o who came in many times, was cardio converted a few times and tried on multiple medications. I know that in the three days he was in the hospital, we titrated him on this med and checked (and calculated) QTc and creatinine clearance every 20 minutes, I think.  Then we adjusted accordingly.  It was a very controlled atmosphere.  He seemed to have no side effects during this time, nor complaints of odd feelings.  I don't think he was converted completely because he ended up back in within a few weeks.

[cindy707]

Multaq is called the big dog of heart meds and the standards have changed according to my heart surgeon who says that Multaq specifics have changed and it is not recommended to take it on a daily basis.  He explained to me that it is now used as an emergency med for most people or a pocket pill meaning that if you end up with a severe case of rhythm issues and your normal beta blocker or whatever is not working you are to use the Multaq as the last resort before heading to the E.R. for consideration of being converted.  Unfortunately about a month ago i had an incident pop up where i could not convert my heart thru the antenolol and took the very hard leap and took a half of the Multaq rather then go get converted again because i was scared to death to take the whole thing, alone at the time thinking something bad would happen...so i took the half and trust me it did its job within 30 minutes and the first thing i felt was all of my sinus' opened up immediately, then the top of my head felt a little numb then wham a big thump in the middle of my chest and viola i converted...scary but it worked.....i can only tell you from the bottom of my heart to do your research fully on Multaq and if i never have to take it again trust me it will be wayyyy too soon because it scared the poop right out of me....it worked yes but now i know why its called the big dog of converter meds......i tend to agree w. Jerry on this because alot of members have posted that the Flecanide is the new black of great meds to take and seems to work well for others.  I take antenolol .25 every morning when i brush my teeth and an aspirin kind of like mlb....i always question why people have to go in for multiple ablations....hopefully they used freezing or RF and not burning which is not the way to go i always say its the expertise of the ablator and not the ablation and studies have pretty much shown the same thing...good luck with this and let us know how it works out.

[mlb16]

I was on tikosyn before I had my ablation for A fib . I stayed in the hospital for 3 days while I was started on it.I had no side effects from it, but I broke thru with A fib again after about 9 months. I had my ablation in Feb 2010 and now I am on aminodarone for the time being. I have a drs appointment in March, could get medicine reduced them. I also take a 325 aspirin everyday too.

[Jerry_NJ]

I just know it is a "hard" and powerful drug.  I recall my cardiologist telling me I'd have to be hospitalized if I was to go on that drug.  Has you doctor discussed Flecanide (sp?) it is also strong but I think less than Tikosyn.

Was there any explanation of the ablations have been ineffective?