Betapace Tablet: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Precautions and Alternates

Quick overview

Betapace Tablet contains sotalol hydrochloride, a Group III antiarrhythmic and non-cardioselective beta blocker. It is used to prevent and treat irregular or abnormal heartbeats, including life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and symptomatic atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Treatment is started in a hospital setting due to the risk of serious heart rhythm problems, and the medicine must be taken exactly as directed.

What is Betapace Tablet

Betapace is an antiarrhythmic drug used to prevent and treat irregular or abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias). It contains the active ingredient sotalol and works as a beta blocker with additional effects that prolong the heart's electrical recovery time.

Betapace Tablet uses

• Treatment of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, such as sustained ventricular tachycardia
• Maintaining a normal heart rhythm in people with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter who are highly symptomatic
• Betapace has not been shown to improve survival in patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias

Benefits of Betapace Tablet

• Slows fast or irregular heartbeats which can be potentially fatal
• Helps the heart beat more slowly and regularly
• Lowers heart rate and makes it easier for the heart to relax, fill with blood, and pump blood around the body
• Helps control certain ventricular arrhythmias
• Helps maintain normal sinus rhythm
• Can reduce recurrence of atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter

How Betapace Tablet works

Betapace slows down the electrical signals in the heart, which helps it beat more steadily. It also lowers heart rate and makes it easier for the heart to relax, fill with blood, and pump blood around the body.

Betapace Tablet dosage

When you first start this medicine, it is given in a hospital setting where you will be monitored for about 3 days. Always take exactly as your healthcare provider tells you to, and do not stop taking this medicine suddenly; talk to your healthcare provider first about how to stop safely. Take tablets by mouth twice a day, or as directed, at the same time every day. This medicine can be taken with or without food. If you miss a dose, take the next dose at the usual time; do not double up or take doses closer together than directed. Avoid taking this medicine within 2 hours of antacids containing aluminum oxide and magnesium hydroxide. This medicine may make you feel dizzy or tired; avoid driving or operating heavy machinery if this happens.

Available forms and strengths

• Oral tablet

Side effects of Betapace Tablet

Common

• Fatigue
• Slow heartbeat (bradycardia)
• Shortness of breath
• Abnormal physical weakness or lack of energy (asthenia)
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Indigestion
• Diarrhea
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Upset stomach
• Sleep problems (insomnia)
• Pain in arms or legs
• Decreased sexual ability
• Abdominal pain

Serious

• A different type of abnormal heartbeat that can be dangerous and in rare cases cause death
• Fast beating of the heart with lightheadedness and fainting
• Chest pain
• Fluttering in the chest
• Sudden dizziness or lightheadedness
• Swelling and rapid weight gain
• Trouble breathing
• Prolonged QT interval on an ECG
• Low blood pressure
• Skin sensitivities
• Pulmonary edema
• Serious eye symptoms such as sudden vision loss, blurred vision, tunnel vision, eye pain or swelling, or seeing halos around lights
• Severe headache, confusion, slurred speech, arm or leg weakness, trouble walking, loss of coordination, feeling unsteady, very stiff muscles, high fever, profuse sweating, or tremors

Warnings and precautions

• This medicine can cause a serious, dangerous type of abnormal heartbeat, which in rare cases can be fatal. It usually happens during the first few days of treatment, which is why treatment is started in a hospital where your heart can be monitored closely.
• To reduce the risk of a dangerous heart rhythm problem, this medicine must be started or restarted in a hospital or facility that can monitor your heart continuously.
• Do not take this medicine if you have certain heart rhythm problems, serious kidney problems, heart failure symptoms, low blood potassium, certain lung diseases like asthma, or an allergy to sotalol or other beta blockers.
• Do not stop taking this medicine suddenly, especially if you have heart disease, as this can cause chest pain or a heart attack. Your doctor will usually lower your dose gradually over one to two weeks.
• Avoid taking this medicine within 2 hours of antacids containing aluminum oxide and magnesium hydroxide, as they can reduce how well the medicine works.
• Taking too much of this medicine can be fatal.
• Tell your healthcare provider if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. You should not take this medicine during pregnancy unless your healthcare provider considers it essential, because both the untreated heart condition and the medicine itself can cause problems for the mother and baby.
• This medicine passes into breast milk in amounts similar to doses given to newborns, which could cause slow heart rate and other effects in a nursing baby. You should not breastfeed while taking this medicine.
• This medicine is removed from the body mainly by the kidneys, so people with reduced kidney function need lower doses or longer times between doses. Do not take this medicine if you have serious kidney problems or are on kidney dialysis.
• No major routine hepatic dose adjustment is generally required.
• Ask your doctor if it is okay to drink alcohol while taking this medicine.
• This medicine may make you feel dizzy or tired. If this happens, avoid driving or operating heavy machinery.

Storage

• Store Betapace and Betapace AF tablets at 25°C (77°F)
• Keep out of sight and reach of children

When to see a doctor

• Call your healthcare provider right away if you faint, become dizzy, or have fast heartbeats. If you cannot reach your healthcare provider, go to the nearest hospital emergency room.
• Call your healthcare provider right away if you have severe diarrhea, unusual sweating, vomiting, less appetite than normal, or more thirst than normal, since these can increase your risk of an abnormal heartbeat.
• Get medical help right away if you have chest pain, fast or pounding heartbeats, fluttering in your chest, sudden dizziness, lightheadedness, slow heartbeats, swelling, rapid weight gain, or shortness of breath.
• Seek medical care right away if you have serious eye symptoms, serious heart symptoms like fast or irregular heartbeats and fainting, or severe headache, confusion, slurred speech, weakness, trouble walking, loss of coordination, stiff muscles, high fever, sweating, or tremors.
• If you think you have taken too much of this medicine, seek medical attention right away or call your local poison control center.

Alternatives

• Amiodarone
• Dofetilide
• Flecainide