Submitted by Dr T on January 18, 2012 – 10:17am
Question:
My dad is a 69 years old, and had bypass surgery in ’04. No heart attacks. He does have a leaky valve, doc doesn’t seem to concerned with that. Recently, he went into what they called a “controlled a fib. Dad was not symptomatic, just checked his bp one day, wasn’t what it normally was, it was high and his pulse rate was high. They put him on blood thinner and cardioverted him. He is now on Multaq 400mg twice a day and pradaxa. He is doin good so far on the new meds. It just concerns me reading some of the reviews about Multaq. Liver damage, heart failure, etc. Should we ask his cardiologist for another alternative med? He has been on the Multaq for almost a week, and like I said, so far, doing great. bp is good and pulse rate 50’s and 60’s. Any guidence would greatly be appreciated. God bless…
Both Multaq and Pradaxa have been in the news promising easy treatments for Afib and its potential complication of stroke. Both have been involved with reports of bad outcomes. As a result, Multaq is no longer used for patient with permanent A fib, and patients on Pradaxa should be aware of a higher risk of heart attacks and acute coronary syndrome (ACS).
As a result I’d be reluctant to use either one of these meds when excellent (safer and cheaper) alternatives such as beta-blockers and coumadin are available. You shoud discuss this with your dad’s doctors!
Hope this helps,