Amioderone

[Guest guest]

I am interested in hearing about people's experiences with amioderone and what

alternatives to taking the drug others have used and why. The following is a bit

of my experience.

In 2005 I survived SCD. I was put on amioderone and given an ICD. I have taken

amioderone for a little over 4 years now. I stopped taking it about two weeks

ago. I began having all sorts of more serious problems including thyroid

failure, atypical congestive heart failure symptoms and a plethora of other

undefinable problems including what has now been identified as metabolic

acidity. I looked and looked on the web to see if there is an alternative to the

drug or what other alternatives were out there because I suspected the

amioderone. I have not come across any real viable options. In the process of my

research because of a suggestion that maybe dronedrone could replace the

amioderone, I discovered that amioderone is 40% iodine. For whatever reason, I

had failed to note this little fact. I have a hypersensitivity to iodine. It's

no wonder I have felt sicker and sicker after getting so much better with the

removal of my ICD. I believe the only reason I was able to tolerate it for as

long as I did was due to my maintenance dose being lower than what's normally

given, just 100 mg but because it builds up in the tissues, it finally reached a

level I could not tolerate any longer. The couple of times they have " loaded "

me, my veins have collapsed.

Next month is the second year since my ICD was removed after fighting for three

years to get it out. One of the issues the doctors had worried about was I would

not be able to emotionally handle getting my ICD out because I wouldn't have a

safety net. Not a problem. Turns out I was holding onto the amioderone as my

safety net. I'm having a hard time emotionally not taking the amioderone. The

doctors have said repeatedly that my heart is stable and the problems I have

been experiencing are not coming from my heart. Turns out most all of it may

have been coming from the amioderone.

I still am having some problems but it's not as bad as it was. The problems seem

to go in waves. I'm assuming it's because of the way the drug slowly works it's

way out of the system. It was the oddest thing to almost drown on my own saliva

several days after stopping. I hadn't realized my mouth was that dry or that it

felt/tasted like it was burned. One of my doctors asked me if I didn't know that

one of the places amioderone stores is in the salivary glands. I didn't know but

I'm loving being able to taste and savor things again.

An awesome thing which has come out of my illness, is my puppy, who I am self

training to be my service dog. When he turns 18 months we will begin working

with a certified trainer to speed up the medical response training. He has

already been learning to help me with balance assistance. He can't do much yet

because he just turned one on the 25th of Aug., but he definitely has the

disposition and smarts to be my partner. His name is Gaius and he is a beautiful

Irish Setter. He quickly stole the hearts of my family and a few stray toys from

the children *wink*

I look forward to reading other peoples responses!