[mentallysparse]

Hi! This is my first post so please excuse me if I break any manners.

I take Clozapine along with medications for TLE epilepsy.

I had a STEMI heart attack last October at the age of 35, I am within the healthy weight range and go the gym 4 days a week. Of course I am aware that clozapine causes myocarditis and cardiomyopathy however my Psychiatrist swears clozapine did not cause my heart attack. My cardiologist originally diagnosed a blood clot had caused the heart attack however my last appointment with him (last week), he has now said he is unsure what caused it and has allowed me to stop taking the blood thinners I was taking after the heart attack.

My question: has anyone else taking clozapine had a heart attack? Or know of anyone else having one because of this drug? I find it very hard to believe a healthy 35 year old (me) having a heart attack for no reason that a cardiologist cannot diagnose is not caused by this drug.

Thanks for reading.

[Skeezyks]

Hello mentallysparse: I'm sorry I do not know the answer to your question. However, I see this is your first post here on PC. So... welcome to PsychCentral… from the Skeezyks! I hope you find the time you spend here to be of benefit.

PsychCentral is a great place to get information as well as support for mental health issues. There are many knowledgeable & caring members here. The more you post, & reply to other members’ posts, the more a part of the community you will become. Plus there are social groups you can join & chat rooms where you’ll be able to connect with other PC members in real time (once your first 5 posts have been reviewed & approved.) Lots of great stuff! So please keep posting!

[mentallysparse]

Hi Skeezyks, thank you for the warm welcome! I will definitely have a look around

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Clozapine can cause prolonged QT interval syndrome. I know that it is risky to take it combined with other meds with that risk; I had to go on it IP to be monitored for that. That is an arrthymia; I don't know if it can cause heart attack.

I hope you get answers; that has to be pretty scary.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Duplicate sorry

[Yoda]

Did they do a cardiac cath?

[mentallysparse]

Hey Yoda, not sure what the term cardiac cath is? They took me straight from the ambulance through to the "cath" lab for an angiogram, is this what you mean? I'm in Australia so we might have different lingo I had the attack on a weekend and I got lucky it was open as someone else had had a heart attack before me (I live in a small city so it is usually closed on the weekend). The angiogram showed a small vessel was blocked but it was too small for a stent.

I have decided to get a second opinion from another cardiologist but I suspect I'll get the same wishy washy explanation. I feel that they just look at the literature for the side affects for clozapine and as it does not mention heart attacks, they take that at face value.

I am hoping to find others who have had similar experiences to work out what happens to me and if this is a common occurance (or even if I find just one other person) I want to challenge the doctors and thought that this forum would be a great place to start

Sorry for the mini rant

[mentallysparse]

Thanks for the extra info BeyondtheRainbow. I had no idea it could cause prolonged QT interval syndrome and as I had no idea what that actually meant I (of course) looked up Professor Google. Turns out Wikipedia states that arrthymia can cause cardiac arrest... interesting if that is indeed true...

Im very new here... what do you mean by "IP"

Thanks again, you have given me a great lead for my investigations

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I know the risk of arrthymia was serious enough that my pdoc wanted to be very careful when I was going onto the clozapine while on another anti-psychotic that could cause it and they slowly went up on the clozapine while rapidly lowering my seroquel dose to prevent problems.

IP=in-patient

I hope you find answers.