I am at wits end with chronic tachycardia associated with CHF

[tpjones]

My heart was impaired by a virus three years ago and has an ejection fraction of only 18 which has not improved in that time. My heart beats between 130 and 140 beats per minute despite 200 - 300 mg of metoprolol, a dose of lisinonpril and between 240 and 400 mg of lasix daily. I also take allipurinol for gout and some other meds for other things but I stopped taking amiodorone about 18 months after the initial hospitalization because i felt it was giving me terrible hot flashes and I had read up on the dangers of it and was worried about that. A cardiac surgeon friend has said I am a strong candidate for heart transplant (age 61, caucasian male, normal weight, quite tall and fitter than one would expect given my condition). But the tachycardia is wearing me down and i feel tired virtually all of the time. Should I ask my cardiologist to put me back on amiodorone? I have been told I am not a candidate for ablation because my heart beats fast in order to try and compensate for its impairment, to get the blood around this rather large frame.

Any thoughts at all?

[Encephalomalcia]

What is your blood pressure?  Does your heart beat constantly at 130 to 140?   I know when my heart was beating 160 day and night for a month when I was pregnant it was very exhausting.  I could only sit around and walk alittle and be out of breath.  Mine sometimes beats 120 to 140 for a couple of days on occasion.  Takes a full day to rest up after that episode.  I cannot imagine why it cannot be adjusted better with medication.  Have you ever had your heart shocked into regular rhythm?  When my mom was alive her heart started beating 180 and then went up to 200 (once is reaches 200 it just shakes and does not do its job).  She had her heart shocked to normal rhythm and it worked.  My dad on the other hand has irregular beat anywhere from 30 beats a minute to 120 beats a minutes.  He had his heart shocked which they did three times in a row and his did not return to normal rhythm.  He has to take coumadin now to prevent blood clots.  Do you also have cardiomyopathy?  If so, how advanced is it?  Are you extremely short of breath?  I know a lady who had a heart transplant and lived many years. She had to go get heart biopsies often and had a lot of medication to take.  If you are seriously considering a heart transplant here is a website to read http://www.roanoke.com/health/wb/wb/xp-54372.

[crambone]

amiodarone killed my dad,,thats bad ****!,,,he took it for 10 years for arythmia,and it put him in the grave!,,every posible side effect you can get from it,,he did,,,dont use it!,,find something elce,,word of advice.

[BlackBear45]

You are smart to stop taking amiodorone long term.  My cardiologist had me on this drug for a couple of weeks, but took me off because he thinks it is one of those "big nasty drugs" that eventually does more harm than good.