The first in two years landed me in the Hospital. My meds were changed from Metoprolol to Diltiazem 360 mg per day and Fleconade 50 mg 2x per day plus Warfarin. The Metoprolol 25mcg 1 x daily has been making me wheeze for the past four years, but no one ever thought to change the meds. I have been on this new med protocol for 1.5 weeks. I just started the Fleconide and Warfarin three days ago.
My question is I need to loose 45 pounds asap.
However, amlodipine is a dihydropyridine calcium-channel blocker whose primary effect is more peripherally acting rather (as compared to the non-dihydropyridine CCB, i.e. diltiazem or verapamil, which are more centrally acting). Beta blockers is a proven medication that improves survival in those who have suffered a heart attack, have coronary artery disesase, or heart failure. If there are indications for this, then it is usually a good idea to be on one.
Have you discussed these results with your doctor and a cardiologist. from my limited experience (personal and as an educator) your cholesterol levels should be lowered with a statin...you should be in a controlled exercise program to not only loose weight but to improve your cardiovascular fitness. A family history is a blinking dashboard warning signal ...you do not ignore it. why are you on a calcium channel blocker? high blood pressure? if so make sure that is well controlled.
Over time it damages your blood vessels all over your body. I hope you have seen a doctor for this. If not, it would be a good idea. I don't know if you have high blood pressure or not based on one reading but I think your doctor should examine you and determine that. You can google high blood pressure symptoms and read on it.
Calcium channel blockers may be prescribed for people with high blood pressure (hypertension). They also reduce the workload of the heart, so they may be prescribed for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
I am currently on 30 mg of diltiazem 3x day and i was wondering how effective is this dose at bring down your blood pressure. and how much would it bring it down. a rough estimate would be great. for i am hoping to come off of this medicine.
My heart rate was the only reason my doctor gave me for taking the diltiazem. After an ECG, was diagnosed with MVP, this diagnosis was given more than a month after the ER visit and I was already on the DIltiazen, but I just recently read that Diltiazem was a treatment used for MVP and arrythmia. THAT connection was never made even though we talked about it, independent of the rapid heart rate. .Did I misinterpret what I read? I stopped taking the DIltiazem because I had a low to normal rate.
Thanks for your reply, but I had a full cardiac work up summer of 2011 (everything was fine) and more recently an ECHO along with dopler and sonogram to check legs and carotid artery, end of August 2013 when episode of extensive multiple bilateral pulmonary embolisms occurred.
I had a nuclear medicine perfusion test and it showd my LVEF to be 46% but my echocardiogram showd it to be 60%. A the test time I was on 240 mg diltiazem and 40 mg Lisinopril daily. I do have a history of bad hypertension. I do suffer from occasional PVC and PAC's. Any opinion? Thanks.
Two weeks ago my Cardio doctor changed my medication from Cardizem LA to Diltiazem CD. I know it's the generic brand of Cardizem. Anyway he raised my dosage from 240 mg. to 300 mg. For a whole week I had some terrible side effects. I blacked out once while sitting at my computer and then I came close to blacking out on a daily basis. I also felt off balance. I ended up going to my primary doctor, not for this, but for something else. I guess it was a follow up appointment.
When I first started Diltiazem I had a powerful throbbing headache for a few weeks. It gradually tapered off. I was a bit tired too. After I'd been on it for a few months my BP would have low times (systolic in the 90's). I was a slug when my bp dropped that low. But thank goodness it wasn't that low all the time. It sure helped with the tachy times and chest pain though.
I had originally posted a question and your response was for me to obtain the actual data and submit it. I did so a few days ago but haven't had a response.
If you would be so kind as to review the data I received from the actual RH cath report I would greatly appreciate it. Any thoughts/interpretations would be very helpful as it is a long time till I can see the doc again for review.
The values are at rest/with exercise
Cardiac output 12.7/16.
I can usually control my PACs/PVCs through diet but when I stray and they flare up, calcium channel blockers (diltiazem) work like a charm. It makes them completely go away until it wears off which is about 24 hours (extended release 240), Just curious if anyone knows why doctors do not prescribe these to more patients for PAC/PVC because they seem to work.
ve been taking Corgard (nadolol) in the range of 40-80mg for over 10 years to counter for IST, PVCs and mild/moderate hypertension. The med was a lifesaver for me and did manage to lower my heart rate to a range where I could feel confident. I also received treatmente for anxiety, clonazepam and an SSRI.
Now in my country Bristol has discontinued the Corgard and there is no generic nadolol here so I've been switched to bisoprolol.
We did end up starting diltiazem CD 180 mg with absolutely no improvement in tachycardia or hypertension. Spironolactone initiated 50 mg twice daily, minimal improvement. Performed 24 hour urine for metanephrine/catecholamine...negative, I don't have the specific values from this. Also performed 5-HIAA at that time, which was negative. Phone consult with endocrinology by my primary MD came up with ?carcinoid. Chromagranin-A was negative as well as tryptase.
t get any responses here, but from googling around on the web I came to the conclusion that diltiazem, a calcium channel blocker, would be better for an athlete than atenolol, a beta blocker. So I called the doctor who agreed to change my medication. Yesterday on the treadmill, after having only taken one 25mg dose of atenolol my heart rate only showed a bit over 120 when I was doing a pace for which a 140 should have been called for.
I had been taking it for 6 months. Not for chest pain but for Raynaud syndrome. I have been off for 12 days. I am a little light headed. The Dr says its sick sinus syndrome and I am scheduled for a pacemaker tomorrow. I am last minute looking for anything else this can be maybe causing a temporary slow heat rate. It was only detected 4 weeks ago.
m a female, but I can share my experience switching from a beta blocker to diltiazem. I have been taking beta blockers for 8 years for SVT and afib. I had an episode of afib and was in the hospital is Sept. They took me off the beta blocker and put me on diltiazem. It didn't control my heart rate like the beta blocker. My resting heart rate went from upper 60s to the low 80s. After a few days without my beta blocker, I ended up in the ER, in sinus tachycardia with a rate of about 120.
I had a brief bout of A-Fib, and the ER put me on 15mg Diltiazem every 6 hrs. My physician a couple of days later bumped that up to 30mg/6hrs. Around a week into taking the drug, I lost most of the sense of taste; sweet, sour, salt. Initially I just had a tiny sense of "savory" as the only thing I could taste. I began to not be able to eat, because everything made me sick to my stomach. I read in the Diltiazem side-effects that this is called "taste perversion".
I take Metoprolol for a thick heart muscel & pvc, which it doesn't help much with the pvc's, Diltiazem was just added 120mg once a day. My doctor seemed somewhat reluctant to add the Diltiazem but said lets try it. My Blood pressure has been around 155/95. His reluctance just seems to scare me. Should I try it or should I not? If I do start taking it should I take it with the metoprolol or at different times?
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