Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group
Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.
Is anyone taking diltiazem along with a statin? If so what statin are you taking. I have been taking simvastatin for years and now the pharmacist told me I shouldn't be taking it with diltiazem. Informed my primary care doctor and she changed it to Lipitor. I looked up the interactions between diltiazem and Lipitor and it states moderate interaction, I would prefer taking one that is low or no interaction but I don't know the names of all the statins to compare the interactions. I told my cardiologist that I read on the FDA website that no more than 10 mg of simvastatin should be taken with diltiazem but he told me to continue to take 20 mg of simvastatin. When refiling the prescription the pharmacist called to tell me I shouldn't be taking it with the diltiazem because it has a major interaction. That is when I contacted my primary doctor and she said that the pharmacist was correct and she sent in the Lipitor prescription which has a moderate interaction. I don't know if I should be looking into getting a different cardiologist because I don't know if I trust him anymore.
My Cardio Dr. told me I couldn't take Flecanide as a PIP, when I read folks here are doing it. He said it can't be used as PIP.
My PCP put me on an antibiotic, Augmetin, which put me into afib for several weeks....and it should not be taken when one is taking an anticoagulant.
I take Lovastatin 20 mg , (Mecacor)
calcium10mg I noticed the joints in my hand hurt, but thought it is arthritis?
Ever since May 2010 when I ended up in the hospital with AFIB, I have asked a lot of questions to a lot of different medical professionals and others as well.
Questions about AFIB.
It surprises me as to how little so many people know or can offer on this subject. Even though they are Nurses, PCPs and Nurse Practitioners, etc. I once had a medical professional tell me that no-one uses Flecanide anymore and it's antiquated and old school stuff from way back in the day - outdated.
Shop around and never ever feel intimidated by asking questions. I've also had Nurses say some of the most stupid dumb comments to me in the ER late at night that you could ever imagine about AFIB.
I was prescribed a low dose of simvastatin for my high cholesterol in January 2011 and not told there were any possible side effects. I was not on any other medications at the time. After starting them, I gradually began to get achilles problems, not too surprising due to my high activity levels (running and walking). I cut back on my activity and the achilles kept getting worse. It was very frustrating. Then in January 2012 I read that the FDA acknowledged that a known side effect of statins was the possibility of muscle damage. I'm familiar with high levels of CPK as my chosen sport frequently leads to extremely high levels of CPK. So I quit taking the statins. After 2 years off statins, the pain is gone. The pains I have left are from trying to run like a 40 year old with 64 year old body. :-)
Here's some links to articles on the subject:
http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm293330.htm
http://www.webmd.com/cholesterol-management/side-effects-of-statin-drugs
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21391729
My own problems with statins were exacerbated by my running. Personally, I'm not convinced that statins will prevent me from getting a heart attack. And if they would, I'd still opt out. Not being able to be active due to the pain they can cause means missing out on a lot of living. It's a personal choice for me. Not a recommendation.
Todd