My mother (age 69) had a heart attack in
december 2004. She opted for angioplasty
as she has severe coronary artery disease.
During the procedure, 4 stents were put
in & she suffered a heart attck. She
also had a stroke 24 hours later, all
while in the hospital I might add. She
incurred heart damage, atrial
fibrillation, due to the 2nd heart attack
& was in rehab for 6 weeks from the
stroke. Her Dr. Put her on amiodorone
for the a fib, coumadin & plavix.
She developed a strange cough, and it kept
getting progressively worse. She went to
her cardiac Dr. Who told her she has 50%
lung capacity in her right lung, and sent
her to another Dr. The next day. This
other Dr. Sent her home on more
antibiotics. They all thought she had
pnuemonia, and she was prescribed
antibiotics for 4 weeks. She finally
couldn't breath and called an ambulance.
Now, she is on a ventilator, has been for
a week & is fighting for her life.
Her right lung is filled with blood. The
drs. Think her blood was so thin from all
of this medication, that she just bled
out. The amiodorone also has severe side
effects, specifically causes pulmonary
problems. This put extra pressure on her
heart, which started to back up with
fluid, and now her kidneys are overloaded
& shutting down. Her clotting
factors were monitored as slim to none
upon admittance to the hospital.
I am considering a mal-practice suit
against her cardiologist. She just saw
him on monday, & by friday she is
fighting for her life. She was getting
blood draws to monitor her coumadin
levels, but what the ----happened? I
don't know if she will come through this,
but beware of these medications as they
can cause this to happen. Anyone have
any ideas, or any info? :(
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jragan
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Bristol Tennessee USA
Amiodarone Posted: 01-04-06 23:46pm
I just found this webiste and read your
post about your mother. I believe it was
april.
How is she?
My mother is having similar problems and I
know they are linked to the amiodarone.
Are you still there?
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ssenechal
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 28 Apr 2005 Posts: 2 Location: RI
Amiodorone Posted: 01-06-06 13:34pm
:( unfortunately, my mom passed away may
13, 2005. She suffered terribly. She
was on the ventilator for 3 weeks. After
the first 10 days, the drs. Tried
unsuccessfully to remove her from it.
She started bleeding profusely from her
nose, again from all the blood thinners,
even though all of her meds were stopped
since she was admitted to the hospital, it
was still in her system. The blood was
streaming down her throat, and she
couldn't breath. So they put her back on
the ventilator. 4 days later, her old
stroke symptoms re-appeared, or so they
thought, as an mri did not show any new
stroke activity. She lost all small
motor function. It was so very
excrutiating watching all of this happen.
They still had no answers. After
another week, we decided to take her off
life support as she would have been
institionalized with no chance for any
quality of life. I haven't had the
opportunity to do anymore research on the
matter as I just haven't been able to face
it. However, with your letter, it brings
me back again. I sincerely hope that you
keep tabs on your mom. My mom was very
stubborn, and didn't or couldn't speak up
& insist that she be put in the
hospital. I think she was afraid from
the last time. She had this terrible
cough for 4 weeks, started around easter.
Then it became bronchial, then the
bleeding apparantly started. I kept
trying to tell her it wasn't normal, but
to no avail as the drs. Didn't think it
was bad enough for her to be admitted
until it was too late. She waited way to
long and the drs. Did not apparently see
this coming until it was too late. She
was the one who called the ambulance to
her house , the drs. Still didn't admit
her. These meds are very critcal to
monitor. I also do not know if she was
taking all the correct amounts of meds
when she was living on her own. She
refused visiting home nurses, and I
couldn't be with her 24/7. It is a sad
story. She was a very strong &
wonderful lady.
|
jragan
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Bristol Tennessee USA
Loss of Your Mother Posted: 01-07-06 01:22am
I am so sorry for your loss. It is
excruciating to watch our parents
suffer.
My mother (and father for that matter) are
absoutely convinced of anything a doctor
tells them. The doctor that put my
mother on amiodarone is very respected in
our area and yet I thought he seemed
detatched. Almost in a drugged state.
I asked him some tough questions which he
had no answers for. I asked him what
kind of side effects his patients had and
how severe they were. He said that he
had never kept up with that info or
monitored that closely. Yet he had
hundreds of patients on this drug. Even
hearing his non-answers, my mother agreed
to take this drug. I begged her to get
off this drug for almost 2 years and I
just sounded like a paranoid screaming
fool. Now my mom's heart is failing and
she has lost 25% lung capacity in 6
months. Her thyroid has gone crazy and
since all of this is interacted, it is
making it very difficult to treat one
thing without screwing something else up.
We will meet with her heart doctor
tuesday (jan. 10th I believe) and I will
see what they say then. It probably
won't be pleasant since I asked this
doctor to do a lung scan 6 months ago
before her symptoms got so bad. Back
then she was just beginning to get short
of breath very easily. I was ignored and
now she can barely walk across a room.
Once again, I am so sorry for the loss of
your precious mother.
Thanks for replying
j ragan
