Amiodarone - A Risky Drug?

I have recently started taking Amiodarone. Some of the comments here are worrisome, but were made several years ago. Is it safer now or still the same risks?

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Hello, Mary! How are you?

Nothing has really changed about it. The FDA classifies it as an antiarrhyythic agent that's common used to treat cardiac dysrhythmias.

Its typical side effects may possibly include nausea, interstitial lung disease, thyroid abnormalities, GI upset and elevated liver enzymes.

What do you consider really risk and worrisome? Perhaps I can better help you if those are addressed.

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My father just died a few days ago as a direct result of taking Amiodarone... His death was two weeks of agonizingly trying to breath on a bipap machine.... He was relatively healthy prior to being on this drug which caused pulmonary fibrosis

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Hello, I noticed your post is a couple of years old or more. But I wanted to respond anyway. My father in law had just recently had bypass surgery and was doing great but then developed Afib and was prescribed Amioderone. Last early June, we got a call one night from my husband’s mother asking us to come over. His dad was shaking all over and was coughing up blood. We told her to call 911 and we were on our way. The ambulance came, then took him to the ER. The ER promptly admitted him to the hospital. He got progressively worse over the next week. One doctor finally noticed he was taking the Amioderone and ordered it to be stopped. He said it was known to cause bleeding in the lungs. His father immediately began to get better and we felt so hopeful. He was sitting up, eating well and talking to us for a few days. But suddenly he seemed to relapse and once again they said he was bleeding in his lungs, and then he developed aspiration pneumonia. Another couple days, they said the pneumonia was in both lungs. My mother in law had been with him the entire time and was watching the nurse give him his meds one morning, and she recognized the Amioderone! She rushed over there and told her he wasn’t supposed to be getting that Med. The nurse checked and said that yes, it was in his chart that he should have it, and had been getting it, at least every morning while she had been working her shifts. We don’t know who put it back on his chart, but whoever it was, made a fatal error. He got rapidly worse. He could not breathe on his own. Couldn’t eat a bite or drink. They had to put him on a breathing machine. He became comatose. They moved him to a hospice facility and he never woke up again, passing a few days later.

Please, if any of you are taking this med, stop ASAP. I don't know why this med is even sold. Also, if you have someone in the hospital, don’t leave them alone and keep an eye on everything that is done to them and ask to see their chart daily.

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Re: Tammy (# 2)

Tammy, I send my sincerest condolences to you for the loss of your father. I am so sorry. In June of 2016 my husband’s father also died after developing aspiration pneumonia from the bleeding in his lungs caused by Amioderone. Only the common, not truly harmful side effects are listed on here. The deadly ones should be also!

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Hi, has anyone drank alcohol while on Amiodarone? My doctor said it wasn't safe. But wondering if one or two drinks would be ok? Anyone here had bad reactions? Thanks.

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A little history on Amiodarone... This is a very dangerous med. It was developed in 1961 and approved for "compassionate use", "drug of last resort when all other options have been exhausted" in 1969 by the FDA. In 1985 the manufacturer threatened to stop supplying the drug, free, to the FDA unless they approved for wider usage. The FDA caved and since then it has been prescribed like jelly beans. Unfortunately there is a one percentile of folks who cannot tolerate this drug and I am one of them. I am somewhat unique in that I survived the worst case scenarios. I say unique because when I contacted Pfizer for info I was told, "we don't make Amiodarone". True, Amiodarone is but one name the drug is marketed under, mine was compounded by a company in India. After declaring no responsibility for the drug I received a highly nuanced, infinitely detailed, multiple page questionnaire from Pfizer and some weeks later three similar interrogatories from a company know as Teva pharmaceuticals, whom I've never heard of. They will not talk to me but have no problem demanding I be a talking lab rat for their research. If your doctor prescribes this med, MAKE them honor the off-label, Black Box instructions before you begin the med. I have only been able to get my pharmacist to discuss it with me in detail. After about thirty minutes of her calculating dosage, length of time taking med, body mass, etc., etc. etc. it was concluded that I do in fact fall into the one percentile and the med has a half life in me of 252 days! If this drug is offered, DO YOUR HOMEWORK! This is critically important because some of the side effects may stay permanently or for an unknown duration. If you're going to be a Guinea pig for big Pharma make certain of what might come to pass before you've got nothing left but deep regrets and problems. I have been contacted by Pharma because I happened to be one of the few who has survived long enough to answer questions. Well, that's a two way street, you won't even discuss it with me but expect me to detail my suffering so you can keep this poison flowing. Be very careful of this med and READ every word of the possible effects (ie: sneezing, thinning hair, pulmonary toxicity, depression, suicidal thoughts.....). Read for yourself, it's all on Google, it actually comes with the med. Please, don't ignore what may be tolerable at first, demand the Black Box follow-up monitoring as directed and don't wait for your doctor to stop it if you feel the effects beginning. I did, and now cry regularly and don't fear the peace of death that would come. I must continue as my wife is not capable of caring for herself at present and we have no family nor connections to work with. Be afraid of this drug, BE VERY AFRAID!

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