Kim Gale  |  July 24, 2019

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Amiodarone Overview

Amiodarone is the generic name for Cordarone, Pacerone, and Nexterone. Prescribed to treat certain types of irregular heartbeats, amiodarone toxicity has been linked to a wide variety of serious and sometimes life-threatening side effects.

The medication is specifically FDA-approved to treat patients suffering from heart problems such as ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.

Amiodarone is available as an oral tablet and also as a liquid solution that can be injected.

Because most of the side effects can take years to become evident, the drug was thought to be safe and effective back in the late 1970s. The drug was originally developed in 1961 by a Belgian company to treat angina, a type of chest pain associated with coronary artery disease. After several years, Dr. Mauricio Rosenbaum of Argentina found amiodarone appeared to control cardiac arrhythmia, too, in his patients who had that ailment. He tracked his results, and, according to VeryWellHealth.com, the drug gained a reputation of being almost 100 percent effective with no or little side effects.

Doctors Discover Amiodarone Toxicity

In the mid-1980s, doctors established a link between amiodarone and many strange side effects, including thyroid problems, lung toxicity and liver toxicity. Amiodarone has an FDA black box warning that alerts health care providers that the drug can be dangerous.

The list of possible serious side effects is frightening.

Lung toxicity: The lungs can slowly become stiff and slow to an imperceptible rate that can cause severe damage before physicians or patients notice anything is amiss. Another form of lung toxicity has an acute onset and causes the patient to become severely sick, potentially resulting in death.

Cirrhosis: The liver becomes damaged so quickly that it cannot repair itself, and the increased scar tissue results in cirrhosis of the liver.

Corneal deposits: When amiodarone causes tiny deposits to form on the eyes’ corneas, the person may experience blurred vision, and the patient can go blind.

Hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism: Amiodarone commonly affects the thyroid, but in different ways that are often hard recognize and treat.

As a result of the drug’s potentially life-threatening side effects, the FDA recommends that amiodarone is only to be used in patients who have not responded well to other medicines.

Large Amounts of Amiodarone Needed to Fill Tissues

Another reason amiodarone toxicity could be an issue is because the drug must be front-loaded into the patient’s system. Instead of circulating into the bloodstream after ingestion, amiodarone settles into the patient’s tissues. The drug cannot work optimally until the tissues are full of amiodarone. Once the drug has finished front-loading into the tissues, the dosage can be reduced.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the typical adult patient will start with 800 to 1600 milligrams per day. The dose may be reduced to 100 to 200 milligrams per day, but the maintenance dose and the number of doses taken per day will be determined by the exact type of heart arrhythmia the patient has.

Patients on amiodarone might suffer relatively minor side effects, such as:

  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Fatigue
  • Tremors or coordination problems
  • Uncontrolled body movements
  • Constipation or stomach pain
  • Insomnia
  • Headaches
  • Decrease in sex drive or performance issues

 

Patients who have been seriously injured after taking amiodarone could benefit from speaking to legal counsel about options for possible compensation.

5 thoughts onWhat Is Amiodarone?

  1. Cin says:

    My Dad took this tablet and now has Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a type of lung disease that results in scarring (fibrosis) of the lungs. I have watched him suffer over the yrs and he is currently coming to the end of his life an is in Hospital. Such a horrible disease this tablet has caused. Not fair -Very Sad Daughter Perth – Western Australia

  2. JANET MCQUEEN. says:

    I was on this drug for 4 years iam having a lot of problems health wise including hyperthyroid liver kidney and heart problems. I am going through heaps of health trouble thanks to this medicine. I have also had 3 uti infections developed a cyste on my kidney. As i said i am not out of the woods yet. . AUSSIE JAN

  3. Lori Beninati says:

    I was on this drug after only being diagnosed for 3 months and after only one failed cardioversion. After 3 days of taking 600 mg, my heart slowed almost to a stop. I was hospitalized for over a week before they could get all my vitals back in check. This drug is TOXIC!!!!

  4. Ayesha Ibrahim (Marisa Viel) says:

    It nearly killed me in only 6 days of taking it. Horrible drug! Still suffering the consequences nearly 2 years later.

  5. Diane Marino says:

    Go to Facebook page “Stop Amiodarone” and “Amiodarone stories”. There are major stories that people must read to know the true dangers of this drug and the doctors that haphazardly Rx this poison to patients!

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