How long does Flecianide take to work?

[kleinkp]

I 30yr old male who has tried two other drugs(Multaq, Rythmol SR) to control my Lone Atrial Fibrillation neither worked for me.  My Cardiologist put me on Flecianide 100mg twice daily and Toprol 50mg once daily about a week ago.  I have seen improvements but still get the occasional short episode while sleeping (less then a minute, it wakes me up), they seem to not be nearly as intense.  My question is this the best it going to get or does flecianide take a while to completely stop the episodes?  

I have no side effects.

[Salud99]

For non-chronic AFib, my experience is that Flecainide takes about 10-12hrs for its full effect.  For example, after one episode (I have only had a couple in 5 years), my pulse rate was 107bpm. After taking the prescribed dosage (2x 100mg), my pulse had stabilised at 71 after 10 hours, and then reached my normal 62 bpm after 12 hours

[LindaTX]

Kleinkp is obviously not on here since 2/11.  I think that's very sad because when he posted he was only 32 yrs!  Hopefully he has found some relief or gotten an ablation.  Sorry you're having problems again.  I had to go for a "touch-up" ablation last May, after having the first one in Sept of 10.  Sometimes it takes more than one.  Do you know what caused yours to flare up again?

[nolmscheid]

I had an ablation at age 30 that was a success up until recently which is 3 years later. I would recommend giving an ablation a try if you are dealing with issues often.

[LindaTX]

Flecainide does take awhile to kick in.  It's a heavy- duty drug in the same category as Rhythmol but to me, not as strong.  The first 2 wks I was on it I couldn't see that it was helping but the day I started on 400 mg a day it stopped my a-fib and I haven't had it since.  I am weaning myself off of it after being on that high dose sinde Dec 14th.  My Dr.s saw some changes in my ECG that were not good.  I am not currently on a beta-blocker but this past week I was in the hospital for high heart rate and to have a nuclear stress test w/dipydalorone? Test looked ok but the HR remained high (140)  They never gave me anything to bring it down all the while I was on a heart monitor.

When I got home I took 2 TopralXL 25 mg and the next morn I got up with perfect NSR in the 60's.  Unless something drastically happens in the near future, my ablation cannot be considered a success...not even close....but I do feel mine had some extenuating circumstances.

[kleinkp]

No ablation a little apprehensive in having an ablation due to the success rates being %80 and thats only for the short term from my understanding.  Flecianide has still cut my episodes down in length of time from somtimes a few hours to only a few minutes at most and thats only at night when I'm sleeping and (1am to 5am) close to my next dosage in the morning.  It seems to be getting better, might need to up my dosage at night when the episode seem to come about.

[LindaTX]

I take it you have never been on these anti-arrhythmics before?  I had to go on flecainide to stop my a-fib after an ablation.  I had to increase my doseage after 2 wks for it to actually kick in and stop the episodes completely.  But after saying that I have to tell you I was put on an extremely high dose...and I had taken this drug years ago with much success.  You just jave to find the one that's right for you in your particular circumstance.  Is your Dr suggesting an ablation yet?

[Jerry_NJ]

In the absence of a Flecianide user giving an answer I will suggest that you should be seeing whatever benefits are to occur within a week or two.  That not being the case I think you have a good reason to discuss with the prescribing doctor.