amiodarone

[roseberry07]

My husband suffered a mild to moderate heart attack on wednesday, he had been having symptoms blaming a hamburger for food poisoning since monday, ekg said heart attack in progress, he had angioplasty and stent placed, cardiac enzymes were 25-26, placed in icu for observation and monitoring after surgery. Everything was fine until last night when he started to have arterial fibrillations, so they decided to monitor him and administered amiodarone in an IV. However, I read first line therapy is usual class 1c drugs propafenone or flecainide and amiodarone is considered for use only in life threatening situations due to adverse side effects. Should I be concerned? His heart rate is stable now, the drug was started a few hours ago. Please advise, thanks

[momof3kids7]

amiodarone is widely used in our hospital - i do not work on the cardiac floor but when i get transfers from that floor amiodarone is frequently perscribed to stable pts

[ireneo]

Perhaps they chose the stronger med because he just had a heart attack and his heart is still compromised. Many people that simply have a-fib without the recent heart damage may start on other meds but your husband's health is still tenuous.