Can sotalol cause nosebleeds?
It happens rarely, but some people have serious side effects when taking sotalol. Call 111 or call your doctor now if: you get nosebleeds, unexplained bruising, or you bruise more easily than usual – these can be signs of low numbers of platelets in your blood (thrombocytopenia) Sotalol may cause heart failure in some patients. Check with your doctor right away if you are having chest pain or discomfort, dilated neck veins, extreme fatigue, irregular breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swelling of the face, fingers, feet, or lower legs, or weight gain.Common side effects of sotalol include bradycardia, hypotension, fatigue, dizziness, depression, memory loss, impotence, cold limbs and, less commonly, severe hypotension, heart failure and bronchospasm.Stopping sotalol suddenly can make your condition worse. If you’re bothered by side effects, your doctor may be able to prescribe a different medicine for your heart problems. If you stop taking sotalol, it will take about 4 days for it to be completely out of your body.With appropriate monitoring, especially at the time of initiation, sotalol can be a safe and effective medication to treat atrial arrhythmias. Unfortunately, owing to its proarrhythmia risk, sotalol initiation typically requires a 3-day hospitalization to monitor for significant QT lengthening or arrhythmias.
How long should you wait to eat after taking sotalol?
You can take sotalol with or without food, but it’s best to take it the same way each day. Swallow the tablets whole with a drink of water. You’ll usually take sotalol once or twice a day. Sotalol is generally safe to take for a long time. In fact, it works best when you take it for a long time.Your first dose may make you feel dizzy, so take it at bedtime. After that, if you do not feel dizzy, you can take it in the morning. The main side effects of sotalol are feeling dizzy or sick, feeling tired, having diarrhoea or a headache. These are usually mild and do not last long.Sotalol may cause heart failure in some patients. Check with your doctor right away if you are having chest pain or discomfort, dilated neck veins, extreme fatigue, irregular breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swelling of the face, fingers, feet, or lower legs, or weight gain.Usually, treatment with sotalol is long term, even for the rest of your life. Talk to your doctor if you want to stop taking it. Stopping suddenly may make your condition worse.
When not to use sotalol?
You should not use sotalol if you have asthma, low potassium, or a serious heart condition such as severe heart failure, long QT syndrome, slow heartbeats that have caused you to faint, sick sinus syndrome or AV block (unless you have a pacemaker). Sotalol (Betapace) can affect your heart rhythm, which can lead to serious and life-threatening problems like QT prolongation. To lower your risk, your provider might periodically check your heart and perform electrocardiograms (EKGs) to make sure your heart rhythm is normal.If you suddenly stop taking sotalol, you may experience serious heart problems such as angina (chest pain) or heart attack. Your doctor will probably want to decrease your dose gradually over 1 to 2 weeks. Your doctor will watch you carefully and will probably tell you to avoid physical activity during this time.Sotalol may worsen existing heart failure or cause fluid buildup in your body. For individuals with underlying heart disease or heart damage, sotalol can potentially lead to heart failure over time.
What are the bad side effects of sotalol?
Sotalol may cause heart failure in some patients. Check with your doctor right away if you are having chest pain or discomfort, dilated neck veins, extreme fatigue, irregular breathing, an irregular heartbeat, swelling of the face, fingers, feet, or lower legs, or weight gain. Sotalol is used to a treat life-threatening heart rhythm problem called ventricular arrhythmia. It is also used to treat heart rhythm problems called atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Sotalol is a beta-blocker. It works by affecting the response to nerve impulses in certain parts of the body, like the heart.
What foods should you avoid when taking sotalol?
Sotalol hydrochloride should not be taken with meals since absorption of the active ingredient can be affected by the simultaneous ingestion of food (in particular, milk and dairy products). Dose increases should not be attempted until the patient has been receiving treatment for at least two to three days. The results indicate that large volumes of fluid delay but do not affect the extent of sotalol absorption. Food, especially milk, decreases the bioavailability of the drug and an interaction with calcium seems to be the major reason for the reduced absorption.