Verapamil and heart failure?

[Diane]

My mom was started on verapamil 2 months ago because she was having ventricular tachycardia. Everything was fine until 3 weeks ago when she began retaining water and having trouble breathing. An echo showed damage done to her left ventrical and that she was in heart failure. The dr told us the verapamil could have caused the heart failure. She is seeing an electrophysiologist next week. Until then, the cardiologist said to stop taking the verapamil. She is "allergic" to ACE inhibitors. Right now, the only thing controlling her heart failure is bumax, but her kidney function is going the wrong way. Does she have any hope at all? I don't know what the physiologist is going to say next week and I have all kinds of crazy things going through my head.

[tinmuning]

Got this from Verapamil.

Verapamil is indicated in the treatment of mild to moderate essential hypertension & angina. Because of the drug's negative inotropic effect, verapamil should not be used in patients with poorly compensated congestive heart failure, unless the failure is complicated by or caused by a dysrhythmia. If verapamil is used in such patients, they must be digitalized prior to treatment. The use of verapamil in the treatment of hypertension is not recommended in patients with heart failure caused by systolic dysfunction.