
Patients taking Multaq are warned to watch for signs of liver damage including nausea, vomiting, fever, fatigue, jaundice and dark urine, according to InPharm (01/17/11).
Because of serious risks associated with amiodarone, the FDA warns that patients should only be put on amiodarone to treat life-threatening, recurrent ventricular arrhythmias that have not responded to other treatment. Furthermore, the FDA warns that amiodarone can cause fatal toxicities, including pulmonary toxicity.
This means that patients with atrial fibrillation—usually a less serious condition than ventricular fibrillation—are not recommended to take amiodarone as a treatment. The reason being that the risks associated with taking amiodarone outweigh the potential benefits.
READ MORE AMIODARONE AND SIMVASTATIN LEGAL NEWS
Furthermore, when amiodarone is taken in combination with simvastatin (Zocor), patients are at risk of rhabdomyolysis, a muscle injury that can result in kidney failure or death. Patients who take more than 20 mg per day of simvastatin along with amiodarone are reportedly at increased risk of developing the potentially fatal condition.
Finally, the FDA notes that amiodarone can make ventricular arrhythmia worse in two to five percent of patients. Although this side effect is seen in other antiarrhythmic medications, the effect is reportedly prolonged in patients on amiodarone because it takes longer to be excreted from the patient's body.
READER COMMENTS
William Carey
on