How long for sotalol to work

If you have hyperthyroidism and suddenly stop taking this drug, your symptoms can get worse or you may get a serious condition called thyroid storm. For people with kidney problems: Sotalol is primarily cleared from your body through your kidneys.

If you have kidney problems, the drug might build up in your body, which can lead to side effects. If you have kidney problems, your dosage of this drug will need to be lowered.

For pregnant women: Sotalol is a pregnancy category B drug. That means two things:. Sotalol should be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. For women who are breastfeeding: Sotalol may pass through breast milk and cause side effects in a child who is breastfed.

You may need to decide whether to breastfeed or take sotalol. For children: It has not been established that this drug is safe and effective for use in people younger than 18 years old. Solatol can interact with several other medications. Different interactions can cause different effects. For instance, some can interfere with how well a drug works, while others can cause increased side effects. Below is a list of medications that can interact with solatol.

Before taking solatol, be sure to tell your doctor and pharmacist about all prescription, over-the-counter, and other drugs you take. Also tell them about any vitamins, herbs, and supplements you use.

Sharing this information can help you avoid potential interactions. If you have questions about drug interactions that may affect you, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Taking fingolimod with sotalol can make your heart condition worse. It can also lead to a serious heart rhythm problem called torsades de pointes.

Taking digoxin with sotalol can decrease your heart rate. It can also cause new heart rhythm problems, or cause preexisting heart rhythm problems to occur more often. Doing so can lower your heart rate and blood pressure too much. Examples of beta-blockers include:. Combining these drugs with sotalol raises your risk of heart problems.

Examples of anti-arrhythmics include:. It might help to take your sotalol after you've eaten. If you're being sick, try small frequent sips of water.

Speak to a pharmacist if you have signs of dehydration , such as peeing less than usual or having dark, strong-smelling pee. Do not take any other medicines to treat diarrhoea without speaking to a pharmacist or doctor.

Sotalol is not usually recommended in pregnancy or while breastfeeding. Sotalol and breastfeeding Sotalol passes into breast milk and has been linked with side effects in breastfed babies. Non-urgent advice: Tell your doctor if you're:. There are some medicines that may interfere with the way sotalol works. Tell your doctor if you're taking: medicines that can cause abnormal heart rhythms — these include some antibiotics, like clarithromycin and erythromycin , and some antidepressants, like citalopram and amitripyline other medicines used to treat an irregular heartbeat, such as amiodarone medicines for high blood pressure, such as diltiazem and verapamil medicines that can lower your potassium levels — these include medicines that make you pee, like furosemide , and some steroids, like prednisolone medicines for asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease COPD medicines for allergies, such as ephedrine, noradrenaline or adrenaline Mixing sotalol with herbal remedies or supplements There's very little information about taking herbal remedies and supplements with sotalol.

Important: Medicine safety Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you're taking any other medicines, including herbal medicines, vitamins or supplements. How does sotalol work? Sotalol is a type of medicine called a beta blocker. How long does sotalol take to work? How long will I take it for? Is it safe to take for a long time?

What will happen if I stop taking it? Talk to your doctor if you want to stop taking sotalol. Stopping sotalol suddenly can make your condition worse. How does it compare with other heart medicines? There are 4 main types of medicines for treating irregular heartbeats: sodium channel blockers likr flecainide beta blockers like propranolol and atenolol potassium blockers like sotalol and amiodarone calcium channel blockers like verapamil They all work a little bit differently to help regulate your heartbeat — and the side effects can also be different.

Will I need to stop sotalol before surgery? Can I drink alcohol with it? Is there any food or drink I need to avoid? You can eat and drink normally while taking sotalol. Eating a healthy, balanced diet can help if you have a heart condition. Will it affect my contraception? Sotalol will not stop your contraception working.

Will it affect my fertility? Will it affect my sex life? If you're having problems with your sex life, talk to your doctor. Do I need to avoid playing sports? Can I drive or ride a bike? Can lifestyle changes help? Quit smoking — smoking increases your heart rate and blood pressure. Quitting smoking brings down your blood pressure and relieves heart failure symptoms. Try to avoid secondhand smoke. Cut down on alcohol —drinking too much alcohol raises blood pressure over time.

It makes heart failure worse too. Try to keep to the recommended guidelines of no more than 14 units of alcohol a week. A standard glass of wine ml is 2 units. Until further data are available, pharmacologic cardioversion with traditional class I antiarrhythmic agents may be preferable as they are effective particularly for recent-onset AF. Abstract d,l-Sotalol is a noncardioselective beta-blocker that has class III antiarrhythmic activity.

And this makes this drug a little distinct from some other drugs that we would not use in that type of situation. The side effects that you have to be aware of is, since it's a beta blocker and blocks the adrenaline to the heart, it can slow your heart rate, and it's a blood pressure medicine.

It actually can drop your blood pressure a little bit. So it may make you a little bit sluggish or slow — usually that's not too much of a problem.

There are some cases where the drug can worsen the rhythm in the bottom chamber and it's common for patients to have to be admitted to the hospital for just a few days to safely get on this drug and once you are safely put on this drug you can be followed as an outpatient.