Is the “Pill-In-The-Pocket” treatment a cure for A-Fib?
The “Pill-In-The-Pocket” treatment refers to taking an antiarrhythmic med at the time of an A-Fib attack. One approach is to take 100 mg of flecainide up to three times at 20 minute intervals to stop or shorten an A-Fib episode. Another approach is to take Rythmol 300 mg and Inderal 20 mg, wait three hours, then take Inderal 20 mg, wait three hours, then take Rythmol 300 mg and Inderal 20 mg again. (Other meds and dosages are used depending on the needs of the patient). Another variation of the “Pill-In-The-Pocket” treatment is to take an antiarrhythmic med on a regular basis, then take an higher dose at the time of an A-Fib attack. Reg writes he takes 300 mg of flecainide, and 2 hours later goes back into SR. He normally is on a loading dose of flecainide 100 mg in the morning and 50 mg in the afternoon. (Email: r.j.tooth (at) shu.ac.uk. The “@” is written as “at” to prevent access by automated spam lists.) In this authors opinion, the ideal use of an antiarrhythmic med is to take it
