cardizem

[kaykay5]

Has anyone used this drug for lowering heart rate? Did you experience side effects? How long before you noticed it working? Is it a drug you have to wean off of or can you just stop taking it?
Thanks

[mgraylorn]

I take a form of cardizem called Tiazac (actually its generic called taztia) 180 mg. It did lower my heartrate along with my blood pressure. I think it started working within a week. I don't remember what my unmedicated heartrate was, I think in the 80s. I take taztia and clonidine and my heartrate is in the upper 50s and 60s.

Taztia gave me a bit of constipation, which I could mostly take care of by taking the drug after breakfast and not before. At first I would also experience a feeling of strong heartbeats, but that has gone away. I also have ringing in my ears, which is varying - sometimes rather annoying, other times hardly noticable.

I actually wonder now if the ringing is louder when my pressure is lower, and almost gone when my pressure is higher (120-135/70-75 range).

You don't have to wean, you can just stop taking it.

[CASSIEBEL]

Originally Posted by kaykay5

Has anyone used this drug for lowering heart rate? Did you experience side effects? How long before you noticed it working? Is it a drug you have to wean off of or can you just stop taking it?
Thanks

I used it for several years and never had any side effects but I went from another CCB (verapamil) to the cardizem. There may be a little dizziness at first and you may feel tired but that should go away. The most common side effect is headaches which I developed after changing to the genric form.
I think you can expect to see some results within a week.
Cass

[pal7778]

It's news to me that you don't have to wean off cardizem, tiazac. Is that true?
It seems to mean that weaning would be necessary for any hr lowering drug. Tiazac
lowered my heart rate some, and starting working on the bp within a few days. Again, my view is that it's less harsh and dangerous that beta blockers, although ccbs are still powerful drugs that should only be taken cautiously and when you don't have another alternative.

[Palamedes]

Originally Posted by pal7778

It's news to me that you don't have to wean off cardizem, tiazac. Is that true?
It seems to mean that weaning would be necessary for any hr lowering drug. Tiazac
lowered my heart rate some, and starting working on the bp within a few days. Again, my view is that it's less harsh and dangerous that beta blockers, although ccbs are still powerful drugs that should only be taken cautiously and when you don't have another alternative.

Yep, you can just drop them. The fact that beta-blockers lower your heart rate isn't the reason for the rebound reaction. The reason you can't do that with beta-blockers is that your body tries to compensate by increasing adrenaline. When these receptors become unblocked, there is massive amounts of adrenaline present that sends your heart into a frenzy. For CCB, your body doesn't do anything to compensate. Thus, you can just drop it.

Another drug class that seems like it should require weaning is ARBs. Theoretically, one would expect a rebound reaction since angiotensin II levels are elevated. However, clinically, this doesn't seem to happen. Keep in mind, angiotensin II is really a direct feedback for itself. So, as your body is exposed to angiotensin II, the levels will drop. This isn't the case for a beta-blocker. It takes a while for your adrenal glands to adjust.

Pal