How About Elderly Cardiac Patient Side Effects (Top voted first)

I am caring for my father, who has a pacemaker plus defibrillator, and is on several heart medications plus a blood thinner. He is not on any medicine for lowering blood pressure because of an allergic reaction, but it does not seem to be a problem when he gets checked at the doctors office. He is still driving, moves around the house, goes to visit friends, and checks his email. However, over the last 3+years he has gradually diminished walking due to weakness he experiences when taking about 15 steps that increases as he steps. We have been primarily going to neurologists to try and find answers, but all along, he has had over all muscle aches and pains, and about 6 months ago, started experiencing lower back pain. Again, more CT scans and x-rays to try and figure this out. Finally to my point and my question: doctors prescribed percoset 5/325 for his severe pain to be taken "as needed" and he and I decided he would just take a pill when the pain gets bad. This sort of worked for a while, and he never had more than one pill in a 24 hour period. At the time he and i had heard of this drug and were aware of its addictive nature, so we were trying to naturally be cautious. After a day would go by with no need for a pill/no pain, he said he just felt awful -no energy, depressed, mild nausea, weird feeling behind the eyes, and we finally concluded this was some level of reaction to the drug. Doctors would just tell us that the level he was taking would not cause addiction or side effects. I also read on some forums and realized just how low his dosing really was. Lately, he has been taking a half a pill, plus a metaxalone for muscle aches, and again just felt horrible one day. We decided to stop the metaxalone (all of this overseen by a doctor) and things were okay for a week or so. Now we have the return of the sleepy, depressed, weird head fog, forgetful, crappy feeling again. So now he is trying not using percocet at all unless the pain becomes too severe. What I'm wondering is if his bad reaction is due to effects on the heart over time, since I just read online that caution should be used with patients with myocardial infarcation, which I think is one of his issues. Please do not attack me, I am only trying to give my dad the best care I can, and while I genuinely like his doctors and believe they are sincere people, I wonder about their knowledge of this drug. I am just looking for any information corroborating my dad's experience or with percocet and heart patients. Thank you for reading all the way through.

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Hello, Suzy! How is your dad doing? I'm very sorry about the problems that he's having.

What heart medications does he take?

Part of the problem might be due to the effect they have on his heart and then the Oxycodone in the Percocet further slowing his heart down. Narcotics can cause depression of the central nervous system. This is a narcotic analgesic, so it has the potential to be habit forming and may cause side effects, such as nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, dry mouth and constipation.

Have you ever checked his heart rate and blood pressure when he feels like that? Some people get those types of symptoms, when their blood pressure or heart rate drops too low.

I'm not sure, but I'm trying to ask questions and discover more information to try to help you discover the possible explanation for this.

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Thanks Verwon - I also think that a drop in blood pressure could be the cause of the bad feelings. I will take your advice and look for a chance to check his heart rate and blood pressure next time he feels badly. He is on Amioderone, Digoxin, Spiranolactone, Carvedilol, and Warfarin.

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Yes, with that list of medications, I'd really advise it.

The Carvediolol has been known to cause drops in blood pressure and orthostatic hypotension, I had similar problems with it, when I was on it and you can find this listed among the possible side effects as provided by the FDA.

The Spironolactone could also be causing dehydration, which may contribute to the problem, if he's not taking in enough fluid to make up for what it's removing from his body.

Is he feeling any better?

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Can a patient with cardiac arrest use gen Payne

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