Amlodipine and Atrial Fibrillation?

me at the lowest dose 2.5 mg.

The doc was pleased that the blood pressure had gone so low, he increased the dose to 5. mg, which

increased the heart pounding and quadrupled the irregular heartbeats on the very first day.

I took that dose two days, then after nearly passing out while sitting at the computer, I cut it in half for two

more days with no reduction in those symptoms.

I then cut the dose to 1/4 of the tablet for two more days, then stopped completely.

The symptoms did not stop, as I expected.

It has been just at two and one half months since I stopped using amlodipine and the symptoms are

slowing down, but still not completely gone.

This is very concerning, and I am hoping the medication has not caused permanent heart damage, as I did

not have heart trouble prior to amlodipine.

This was the last of a number of blood pressures medications I have taken - all with one deleterious

side-effect or another.

I am now taking nothing, and waiting it out.

It is not your imagination!

After a few months, I began to notice that my heartbeat was irregular in the early mornings. Lying in bed on waking, on my left side, I could hear the heart beating. Rate was between 40 and 50 per minute. Quite often, the pulse would miss a beat. Sometimes it would miss two beats. I feared it would miss a third and I would die! The GP - not the one who prescribed amlodipine, said it was nothing to worry about and he also had arrhythmia.

Then, one morning, I fainted while cleaning my teeth.  Symptoms were classic for altitude sickness and lack of blood to the brain as in a high 'G' turn in an aircraft. When I regained consiousness, palpitations were evident. My wife made me consult my GP who referred me to a cardiologist. While waiting for my appointment with the latter, I stopped taking the amlodipine and lisinopril. The arrhythmia reduced progressively over a month and is now absent. First of all, the heart stopped missing beats. Then the arrhythmia reduced and now is not detectable by my blood pressure monitor or by me. I recommenced the lisinopril. The arrhythmia has not returned. QOD the amlodipine was the cause. 

My cardiologist tells me the faint "cannot be attributed to amlodipine which does not have a significant impact on the rhythm/rate of the heart." I do not think the evidence, either in my own experience or in the records on this and other sites bear this out. 

3 months ago, I got up, shaved and began to clean my teeth, standing in front of the basin. Vision greyed and I fainted. Unconcious for several minutes and then unable to stand, I was covered with sweat and very cold. I crawled into my bed. Recovered in half an hour or so, I was taken to A&E. ECG, etc. Later I read the instructions accompanying my blood pressure tablets, amlodopine and lisinopril and discovered arrhythmia is indicated for amlodopine for about 5% of patients. So I stopped taking it. The arrhythmia began to decrease. First, the heart stopped missing two beats and then missed none. This took a couple of weeks. The irregularity of the pulse lessened. My blood pressure monitor stopped showing traces of arrhythmia. In order to avoid going back on a drug I tried a supplement, Purmedica's Systolex. I am now into my second month with this product and my blood pressure is now mostly well within normal limits. (I used Purmedica's product because of the success with which I used their gout treatment supplement, which has eliminated almost all of the deposits around the affected joints, deposits built up over 30 years of gout attacks, improved joint mobility and seems to have prevented further attacks.)

My cardiologist has told me that amlodipine does not cause arrhythmia. It appears that he has failed to read the literature about side effects and so had my GP. Well, so had I for about 6 years and such negligence almost, I think, killed me.

Before you take a new medicine, read the leaflet that comes with it. Thoroughly!

I wish I had read all these before taking this awful Amlodipine.

Too late for me now, I have NOW got the dreaded AF and now on Bisoprolol and warfarin for the duration !!!!!   bugger !

Jim B.

Alawys do searches on your meds, and follow your heart and inter voice. We can not always take the latest and greatest like they want us to do. I would get more opinions and AFib until you are comfortable. Good Luck

i have an attack roughly every month, always when lying down at night and it lasts 4/6 hours then stops.

i posted a question  on this last week. Yes I believe Amlopodine could be causing me Arrythmia problems. It is after all one of their published "common side effects". I have just had an ablation for atrial flutter and await to see if that has solved the problem. I am seeing my Doctor next month and intend to track down when my Arrythmia started and when I started on Amlodopine.

I take amlodopine for hypertension so there are many other drugs I could change to. I'll post again after seeing the Doc.