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?

:( 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.

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