Amiodarone and lungs

Hey there,

I was wondering if anyone here has had problems with Amiodarone and pulmonary function. I have been taking Amiodarone almost a year now, and am down to 600mg/week. On Tuesday I had my lungs checked, and the "diffusion capacity" (lungs ability to transfer gases) was 48% only; everything below 50% means it's highly restricted. This capacity is the parameter that can change when you are on Amiodarone. Normally, you have to stop the medication right away when there is a decrease in the diffusion capacity. I'm going to have the test repeated in four weeks, and if it's still that bad, I'll stop Amiodarone. The thing is that it is the only effective drug to treat my arrhythmias. I haven't tried Multaq, yet, so that would be the next one on the agenda. Ablations are no option because I have had a very serious complication from my sinus node ablations.

If anyone of you has had problems with Amiodarone and pulmonary function could you tell me what it was like? What kinds of symptoms did you have? I can't say I'm short of breath, and the cough I have is one that I have had even before I started Amiodarone.

Thanks a lot!
Inga

6 Comments

amiodarone

by thomast - 2010-01-28 01:01:47

I was on it for 3 months, and was so out of breath I could not walk the 40 feet to the mailbox and back without stopping to get my breath. Put me on satolol, fixed breath problem but made me sick all the time. Changed to tikosyn, have been on it forover 4 years and it works great. I would never go back on amiondrone, the months on it I thought I was going to die.

Thomas

amiodarone

by Rattle Box - 2010-01-28 03:01:09

I am on 400mg per day and the lung diffusion is at 72% for now.
This has been for the past three years. They check my lungs and eyes every three months. The doc tryed to back me off to 200mg, per day but I started to have problems so they had to up it again. My blood work is turned in monthly. I know I have to take alot of this stuff, but it is doing its job for now.

thanks

by golden_snitch - 2010-01-29 03:01:22

Thanks a lot for your input!
I'm taking only 200mg on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The thing is that unlike you, Thomas, I'm not short of breath or coughing more than usual so that puzzles me a bit. I though that when my diffusion capacity drops, I would get more shortness of breath. Found out yesterday that it has actually dropped from 86% to 48%. I'll ask my pulmonary specialist to repeat the test next week. I don't feel safe to wait another four weeks.
Thanks again.
Best wishes
Inga

amiodarone and

by riodog - 2010-02-05 11:02:35

These are fascinating posts to me. I have been on amiodarone for 11 mos. since my PM was implanted. I have been complaining of shortness of breath for at least 10 mos. of that time. My Cardio. sent me to have breathing tests done on machines and the diagnosis was COPD. My diagnosis of COPD was made orginally by my GP and treated for 2 years. It wasn't until my ankles and feet were swollen, I had lost 15# and couldn't sleep at night that it then diagnosed as CHF and I required emergency surgery. Now I'm being told it is COPD again.I just don't buy that COPD is the whole problem. I would love to either cut back the amiodarone to 100 mg a day or quit entirely. The GP says he doesn't like amiodarone and I should ask to get off it. Would I be taking chances to just stop it entirely and see what happens? Might I croak or notice no difference? How dangerous would it be?

gretchen

Missing Quit a Few

by mvashist - 2010-02-11 03:02:43

I have been having tough time with this medication too but my history is 2 weeks old. I have been missing 2nd dosage in a day. 800mg per day. I hate it, not worth living for pills.

amiodarone and VTAC

by michealwargo - 2012-09-05 04:09:00

I've been diagnosed with Left Ventricular Tachycardia since 2006. Had an ICD implanted and was put on Sotalol 120's. That worked for about 3 years. I got shocked a few times so they raised the sotalol to 160's. No better. I got shocked a few more times, winding up in the CICU for 6 days. I had an ablation, which took care of most of the problems but not all. The day after leaving the hospital, I was in the shower at the motel and got shocked again. This time the Dr. loaded me up with Amiodarone...1200mg per day...eventually down to 200 per day. I'm also on Verapamil, Lisinopril, Pravastatin and Motoprolol. It took a while but I mostly feel pretty good now...after a year. On Oct. 1st, he's cutting my Amiodarone to 100mg per day and if no 'activity' by Feb 1st, 2013, we'll drop it altogether. I guess the point to all this is that when I started out on all these drugs I felt like crap but month by month it's gotten better and better. I think my biggest problem was the inability to stay asleep.

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