Digoxin

Last Reviewed: Sep 12, 2024

Warnings

Digoxin (Lanoxin) Risks, Warnings, and Complications

Digoxin can cause or worsen health problems in certain individuals. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about other treatment options for heart failure or atrial fibrillation if you are at an increased risk of adverse reactions from this medication. Some of the risks of taking digoxin include:

ABNORMAL HEART RHYTHMS: Digoxin can cause abnormal heart rhythms such as ventricular fibrillation, bradycardia (slow heart rate), and AV block (heart block) in people with preexisting heart rhythm problems. Risk factors include Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (accessory AV pathway) and taking other medications that can affect heart rhythm.
Your healthcare provider may recommend pacemaker insertion before starting digoxin therapy if you have heart rhythm problems. Call your doctor immediately or seek emergency medical care if you develop chest pain, chest discomfort, trouble breathing, palpitations, weakness, or fatigue while on digoxin.
DIGOXIN TOXICITY: Too much digoxin in the body can lead to life-threatening health complications. Risk factors include older age, low body weight, reduced kidney function, and drug-drug interactions with certain medications.
Keep all your medical and laboratory appointments while on digoxin. Your provider may want to check serum digoxin levels periodically. Tell your doctor without delay if you develop nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach upset, loss of appetite, confusion, weakness, and fast or slow heart rate while on digoxin. These may be signs of digoxin toxicity.
WORSENING OF HEART CONDITIONS: People with certain heart disorders should avoid digoxin since they are at a particularly high risk of digoxin toxicity. Examples of such disorders include constrictive pericarditis, restrictive cardiomyopathy, acute cor pulmonale, and amyloid heart disease. Your cardiologist will perform a careful assessment to rule out any risk factors before prescribing digoxin to you.

Precautions Before Starting Digoxin (Lanoxin)

Tell your doctor if you have ever had an allergic reaction to digoxin, digitoxin, any of the active or inactive ingredients in digoxin formulations, or any other medications. Your pharmacy can give you a list of ingredients.

Give your doctor and pharmacist a complete list of your medications, including prescription medications, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, supplements, and herbal products. This can help avoid possible interactions between your medications.

Give your doctor a complete medical history. Digoxin may not be safe for people with certain medical conditions, such as thyroid disorders, kidney disease, cardiac arrhythmias, heart problems, or cancer.

Talk to your healthcare professional about the risks of taking digoxin if you are over 65 years of age. Older adults may need to take a lower loading dose and maintenance dose of digoxin.

Tell your health care professional if you are pregnant, could be pregnant, plan to get pregnant soon, or are breast-feeding.

Precautions During Use of Digoxin (Lanoxin)

Keep all your healthcare appointments during digoxin treatment. Your doctor may want to adjust your digoxin dose based on clinical response and/or serum drug levels.

Tell your doctor if you become pregnant while on this medicine.

Tell all your healthcare providers you are on digoxin, especially before any procedure, including dental procedures.

Digoxin can cause drowsiness and dizziness. Do not drive a motor vehicle or do other hazardous activities until you know how this medicine affects you. Avoid drinking alcohol as it can make these side effects worse.

Digoxin (Lanoxin) Drug Interactions

Certain medications can affect digoxin absorption and how well it works. Drug-drug interactions can increase the risk of severe adverse effects. Your doctor may change your dose, switch you to another medicine, advise separate administration of certain drugs, and/or monitor you carefully for side effects if there are known interactions between digoxin and your other medicines. The following medications can interact with digoxin:

Antibiotics
Antacids
Corticosteroids
Diuretics (water pill)
Other drugs prescribed for heart disease
Thyroid medications
Calcium
Vitamins

The above list may not include all the potential interactions of digoxin. Give your doctor or pharmacist a complete list of your medications, including prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, dietary supplements, and herbal remedies. Also, tell your healthcare professional if you smoke, drink alcohol, or use recreational drugs because some of these substances can cause serious health complications when used with prescription medications.

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