Flecainide for Ventricular Tachycardia User Reviews

• Alf...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 17, 2019

"Have dealt with PVCs, PACs, and ventricular tachycardia for 30 years. The last year, my PVCs became trigeminy, or every third beat was a skip. I feel these skips, so it was a severe quality of life issue for me. My cardiologist started me on 50 mg of flecainide every 12 hours. I have been taking it for three months, and 95% of my PVCs and 100% of my tach is gone. I do get tired often and lightheaded from time to time, but a small price to pay for the elimination of my symptoms. Hope my good fortune with this drug continues."

• Chu...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 15, 2020

"I started having symptoms of fast heartbeat, dizziness, and pain on the side of my head when I was just cleaning my house. Almost passed out one day while driving and had to pull off to the side of the road. Went to the ER, they said I was fine, but I followed up with my doctor who referred me to a cardiologist that put a heart monitor on for 24 hours. He called me right away and told me to go to the ER because my heart was very out of rhythm. They admitted me, kept me three days, and started me on 100 mg Flecainide every 12 hours with Lopressor. That was in 2016. I have gained about 40 pounds, can’t breathe, water retention all the time, and feel like crap. I’m not sure which drug is causing weight gain, but I feel like taking my chances and stopping all of it. After a month, I talked to my cardiologist, and they reduced my Flecainide to 50 mg twice a day because my vision was awful, double, and blurry. That’s why I am on this site now, to see the symptoms of everyone else."

• Bic...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 11, 2019

"I was put on flecainide about 6 weeks ago - 100 mg twice a day. It immediately stopped my ventricular tachycardia. But the cardiologist didn’t tell me that there is a loading period to be followed by a lower maintenance period. So while I felt good in the beginning, after 3 to 5 days on the same dose, I became fatigued and worse, I couldn’t get a good breath of air. Without the doc’s input, I rolled back to 50 mg twice a day and now I’m at 25 mg twice a day. I still have mild breathlessness, the bigger issue is it won’t let my heart get past 108 bpm. I’m thinking of dropping it altogether. I have an ICD, so it will pace me out of VT. I’m very active and will likely get an ablation. Drugs are hard for me to live with."

• Dav...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 17, 2018

"After many years of recurrent PVCs and ventricular tachycardia (and many different beta blockers), I was put on flecainide. It put all my symptoms to rest. I don't appear to have side effects but get more headaches than usual."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• February 2, 2023

"I have been on flecainide a few years. It has helped tremendously with PVCs. I take 75 mg twice a day. I was fine until after COVID when I started having these issues, and the heart monitor showed ventricular tachycardia. I’m praying it continues to help me and do hope to be completely off of it one day. PVCs are extremely scary and cause a lot of anxiety for me."

• Tou...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• November 4, 2019

"I had chronic PACs and PVCs, and I was having “episodes” so frequently that I was afraid I was going to have a heart attack. After being diagnosed with PACs and PVCs, I was put on 50 mg of flecainide. Didn’t help much. Once we got to 150 mg 2x per day, they stopped. I had 972 episodes during the 4 weeks I wore the event monitor. Quality of life is much better."

• Gre...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• June 12, 2023

"Been taking flecainide (50 mg 2x a day) for a year for premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). Previously, I was having bouts of PVCs that were very disruptive and that sent me to the ER several times, despite an otherwise healthy heart. With flecainide, the PVCs are 99.99% gone with zero side effects. Highly recommended."

• sav...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 4, 2025

"I was in the original FDA study group for flecainide in 1985. I have been on it 40 years. Without flecainide, I have about 35K PVCs in a day with many runs of sustained VT. This medication is the reason I am alive today (along with my defibrillator). This manufacturer is the only one that works for me, and now being told my pharmacies can't obtain it, so I am very concerned."

• Bar...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 9, 2021

"I suffered for 25 years with severe PVCs. They would come and go, and recently they started to stay. I had a very intelligent electrophysiologist who gave me flecainide, 50 mg two times per day. My life has changed dramatically. This doctor is my hero! I'm not sure if there are any side effects, only that I'm very tired. But I'm 70 years old, so maybe that's to be expected. I'll take the fatigue as long as the PVCs are gone."

• Not...
• February 8, 2017

"I was put on flecainide several months ago. Side effects were fatigue and dizziness. Effects were interfering with my life (had to pull over if driving, and my commute to work is at least an hour each way). Fatigue was robbing me of being able to enjoy activities. I have stopped taking it and am looking into other treatment options."

• J-p...
• August 8, 2023

"I was on flecainide for about 20 months with no noticeable side effects (50 mg 2 x per day) for PVCs. It has worked beautifully until recently. I started having some shortness of breath, heart racing, and panic attacks. I called my electrophysiologist and cut the dosage in half which helped some with those side effects. I am planning on having ablation in the next few months to get off of this drug."

• Anonymous
• October 16, 2010

"I have been taking a combination of medicines, flecainide (50 mg twice a day) and metoprolol (12.5 mg twice a day), to control idiopathic paroxysmal ventricular tachycardia for two months now. Trying both medicines separately did not work for me. During the first two weeks of starting flecainide, I experienced moderate to severe side effects including visual disturbances (mostly peripheral), shakiness, vertigo, weakness, nausea, fatigue, and bowel changes. Since my body had a difficult time with the medicine, both medications were reduced in half. It is much better now, but I am still hoping this is not a long-term treatment. I give this medicine a 10 rating for effectiveness. I have not had a single episode (including PVCs) since being on both medications."

• Anonymous
• August 1, 2021

Flecainide "Started taking flecainide one week ago. I have experienced headaches, swelling of face, feeling as if I could not think, and legs swelling. I tried cutting the dose in half and still same results. This med is not for me."

• Mom...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 9, 2020

"I've started flecainide back in July of this year, 2020. I love it because it has no side effects for me, but my cardiologist thinks it's not helping my PVC. I'm gonna try and ask him to raise the dose to 150 mg and monitor me to see if it helps. They wanted to put me on metoprolol tartrate, but I never tried it and refuse to take it, so they put me on this medication, and it feels great for me. I hope I can continue this drug. I'm not good with trying out different medications. I hope this helps in some kind of way."

• 50...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 26, 2022

"I have had PVCs since my twenties. With COVID, they increased severely (50%). I started with flecainide (100 mg every 12 hrs), and my PVCs almost disappeared, but the side effects were terrible. Vivid nightmares, intense pain in my muscles (especially in my left arm and shoulder), and blurred vision. The dosage was reduced (50 mg every 12 hrs), the PVCs came back (20%) with fewer side effects. I tried for two years, but my muscles were getting worse slowly. I stopped flecainide, but my left arm and shoulder feel very weak and painful, many muscles are very tender. Be careful."

• Gar...
• January 8, 2013

Flecainide "I have been taking Tambocor for 2 years, and it had been effective with little to no side effects. As long as you do not have heart disease or blockages."

• Pat...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• May 11, 2015

Flecainide "I have been on flecainide since 2008 for Afib, and I am very pleased. I would suggest trying this before a defibrillator or letting them do ablation."

• Nan...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 5, 2019

"I have been on flecainide for a year and a half now for v-tach. It works great, no side effects, and no arrhythmic episodes."