starting sotalol

[patrish1]

I have an essentially normal heart by echo and stress test but I have had 8 episodes of Atrial fib in 2 years and am on digoxin, toprol, and coumadin. The episodes continue landing me in the ER. My doctor wants to start Sotalol. Any experience with this? Good or bad?
thanks. This is wearing me down physically and emotionally.
Pat

[shelly811]

hi its shelly 811, as mentioned before was on antenol for approx 10 years to control irregular heart rythems. last april for no reason started to get worse so cardiolagist put me on sotalol 40 mg twice daily in dec was suppossed to go back in march but appointment was cancelled by hospital so have to wait now till sep was told to refer to GP who increased my med to 80 mg twice daily, had to go back after a week to check bp which was fine. still getting bad iiregulars atleast 6 per min so went back again and have now increased to 120 mg twice daily, been on that 3 days now and stil dont feel any better am d going back next week for bp check but dont want to increase any more but it just doesent sem to be helping. Have been told it not life thretening but i cant help worrying as i fel them every minute of the day and cant sleep for hours at night as they seem to get even worse then. can anyone re assure me please x

[twinbee]

I was on Sotalol some years before my ablation. At first it worked great, then my a-fib and flutter started breaking thru. My dosage was 180mg. My EP then added Cardizem with the Sotalol and that helped also for awhile. The only side effect I had with the Sotalol was being tired.

[BobRBob]

Patrish1, I am on Sotalol for the same reason although my episodes were becoming weekly events - much worse than yours. I went on Bisoprolol initially but it didn't hold me in NSR so my Cardio prescribed the Sotalol. I am on the lowest possible dosage - 40mg, twice daily. This is a powerful drug and it has been very effective in keeping my heart in normal rhythm. I've been taking it since early July and have had only 3 short episodes during the early going as I was trying getting used to the drug. So, from my experience with it, I do recommend Sotalol. That said, the side effects have been a bit of a problem but all things considered, the drug is doing it's job and I'm much better off than I was without it. Side effects include bradychardia (mid 40s), some fatigue, tingling extremities and the like. Nothing too terrible but it is noticeable. I'm hoping my tolerance increases with time.

There are other drugs as well including a new one called Multaq which you may want to ask your doctor about. In the US, I understand that Sotalol requires hospitalization for 3 days to load into your system as it can cause life threatening arrhythmias in some people. In Canada, they only do that with people that exhibit a set of risk factors which I don't have so I just went home and started taking it with no problems.

Wishing you luck!