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Flecainide -shortness of breath

I recently went back into atrial fib after almost two years of sinus rhythm following a successful cardioversion. During this time I was taking a Cardizem but no anti-arrythmic. I went to a new cardio doc and he put me on Flecainide and told me we could do another cardioversion as soon as my INR was theraputic, and that if I was lucky the Flecainide might put me back into NSR. Sure enough, when I went to get the cardioversion done, I was in NSR. This was after about a week on the Flecaindide, 100mg BID. That's the good news. The bad news is, this drug is causing me noticable shortness of breath. I have less exercise capacity than I did when I was in a-fib and I'm not liking ot. It has other effects too, such as fatigue and wild dreams, plus some spaciness and vision weirdness. I can deal with that but the shortness of breath is really bugging me. I am unclear whether this is side effect incidental to the drug or if it is due to the negative inotropic effect. My question is, has anybody out there experience the same and did it go aways as you got used to it? Or, did an adjustment of dose help? I think when I see my cardio again in a week he is going to tell me I need to stay on it to maintain NSR. If it doesn't get better, I don't think I can do that. Any comment, anybody?
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1137980 tn?1281285446
My feeling on meds is if it doesn't feel right it no doubt isn't right....there are too many families of meds out there today that meds can be adjusted,changed and other alternatives as well.  It isn't like it used to be anymore where you have to trade off one thing in order to achieve the goal for another...medical science has moved far beyond this.....when you see your heart doc this week you need to tell him/her everything that you are feeling and are just not comfortable with the meds and what can they offer you as an alternative?  Good luck to you
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Avatar universal
I have been taking 150mg twice a day for the past fifteen years. first symptoms I noticed was vision problems that come and go and extra fatigue. I already had heart failure so shortness of breath and fatigue was normal for me. I have learned to live with the vision problems all though I do not like it but the flecainide keeps me out of V-Tach and my ICD has not fired since starting the med.
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