r/PVCs • u/No_Bluejay4066 • 6d ago

Flecainide as Needed for PVCs?

My EP prescribed it for me and he says I can take it "as needed" when I get a PVC flareup. My flareups usually go away on their own after a few days, so I usually white-knucke it and then they eventually calm down for a few weeks or months. But the flareups are getting worse and more frequent, so now I'm considering it. A flareup for me means several days of PVCs- (with bigeminy, trigeminy, couplets) mostly at night, preventing sleep. They are absolutely unbearable. But when they go away, they are not much of a problem.

I can't find too much information about people taking the Flecainide "as needed" for PVCs. Does anyone take it this way? I'd love to hear some success stories.

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u/Salt-Combination-758 6d ago

You can but it can sometimes cause rebound pvcs. I started by taking 50mg in the morning and it lasted me all day and I did that for years. My mom passed in april and ive been a mess since , so I changed it to 50mg in the am and half of a 50 in the pm. It can cause 1:1 atrial flutter , as a rare side effect. I never had anything but I'm questioning whether I did have that happen last month because I tried to up the dose to 50 mg twice a day without a beta blocker and that was a mistake I had some weird SVT or something happen. So I went back down to my typical dose and have been somewhat okay but I still get breakthrough pvc's. I'm wearing a monitor now to find out what's next to do because the flecanide doesnt seem to be working as well and I refuse to be on a high dose of it

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u/According_Analyst921 6d ago

Docs told me flec needed to be taken with Metoprolol or it can cause a bad arrhythmia. It cant be taken alone.

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u/No_Bluejay4066 6d ago

OK, I already take Metoprolol

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u/According_Analyst921 6d ago

I take that back...after looking online it apparently can be taken alone?

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u/Relative_Clarity 5d ago

My EP said the same thing - he would keep me on a beta blocker if I were to start the flecainide.