These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Lanoxin
Question: My mother is taking a number of different medications and I am concerned about interactions and side-effects. Can someone provide me with information on these drugs and possible problems associated with them? Also, she has recently been sleeping more and seems depressed since starting a new drug, Lanoxin. She also takes Coumadin and Diabeta and Premarin.
Answer: Lanoxin is the brand name of the drug digoxin. Your mother is probably taking Lanoxin because she has developed what is called atrial fibrillation, which is a rapid fluttering of the upper chamber of the heart. This is a dangerous
condition because the blood in the atrium is not moving rapidly through the heart and thus may form tiny clots. These clots can lodge in the lungs, brain or other parts of the body and cause significant damage. Your mother has been prescribed Coumadin (warfarin) to help prevent such clots from forming.
Sleepiness and depression can indeed be caused by Lanoxin. Such side-effects can be an expected result of taking Lanoxin, but they can also be signs of dangerously high levels of the drug. It is therefore very important that you tell your mother’s doctor about these symptoms at once if you have not done so already.
Lanoxin is not likely to interact with any of the medications you list with the possible exception of DiaBeta (glyburide). Your mother is taking this medication in order to lower her blood sugar level. Drugs similar to DiaBeta have been known to increase blood levels of Lanoxin. Since your mother apparently began taking Lanoxin after she was already taking DiaBeta this is not likely to be a problem. It is important to be sure her doctor knows she is taking DiaBeta if he/she does not know this already.
Lanoxin, Coumadin and DiaBeta are all potent drugs which can be very beneficial but require careful monitoring. Although used to treat heart rhythm problems, too much Lanoxin can ironically cause such problems as well. If her pulse falls below 60 her doctor should be notified.
Since Coumadin works by preventing blood from clotting, too much of this drug may lead to uncontrolled bleeding. Such bleeding often happens in the stomach or intestine. Thus she should be on the lookout for tarry stool which might indicate such bleeding.
An excessive dose of DiaBeta might cause your mother’s blood sugar level to drop too low. This might cause weakness, sweating, tremor or rapid heart beat.
Her doctor should be regularly performing lab work to determine the blood level of Lanoxin and running other tests to insure that the Coumadin and DiaBeta are working properly.
There are several useful articles on stroke, atrial fibrillation and diabetes which can be found in the “Heart and Stroke Guide” of the “Medical Reference and Study” area of the Drug Infonet site.
