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LET'S TALK ABOUT AMIODARONE!

FIRSTLY, GET BUCKLE UP AND GET COMFORTABLE - IT'S A LONG READ!   The Truth about Amiodarone Amiodarone – a drug which strikes fear into the heart of Afibbers everywhere.   That long list of side-effects – many of them quite serious; the way the pharmacist makes a special journey to talk to you about it; or in some places, the fact it is only administered in hospital or comes with the dreaded BLACK BOX label!!! So, what is the truth?   Firstly, some people will be on it short-term, i.e. before a cardioversion to help that to work or perhaps to restore Normal Sinus Rhythm without a cardioversion (intravenous amiodarone has worked to stop my Afib several times, thus avoiding yet another cardioversion).   In this post I am also, and particularly, thinking of those taking it beyond about six weeks – the medium- and long-term amiodarone users. Disclaimer first – I have been taking Amiodarone since Feb 2023.   If you read my post from last month, you would have...
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WHAT I HAVE LEARNT FROM THE LAST SEVEN YEARS...

  What I have learnt from my travails First of all, a reminder of those troubles:   ( PLEASE scroll past if you’ve already read all this before!) In my forties I realised I had inherited HHT (hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia) from my mother – mainly because I started having worse nosebleeds.   HHT is a genetic bleeding disorder, characterised by malformations of the blood vessels which bleed – these can be in the nose (90% of patients) plus also could affect the lungs, brain, gut, mouth, liver, etc etc.  It can be a contributor to Afib as the mis-plumbing in the liver can lead to increased pressure in the heart and cause problems.  It is estimated that only 10% of people who have HHT are diagnosed.  I have seen many ENT specialists over the years and they are all pretty uninformed about it – I was lucky enough to know it was in my family via grandad, aunt and mum.  My nosebleeds have been treated at a specialist centre in London with a ...
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