Possible second ablation

[Katie42]

Hi. This is my first post but have been following for a while. Diagnosed with PAF in 1996. Put on sotalol and aspirin then no review till 2013! Changed to Riveroxaban and Bisoprolol in 2014. Ablation in May this year with follow up yesterday. Seems ablation has been only partially successful. Have gone from irregular AF to regular AF. Now way forward is a 48 hour monitor followed by a Cardioversion then possibly a second ablation but waiting list is 12 months and as yet I am not on it.

Although I listened carefully I'm not sure why I cannot go straight on waiting list.

Please can anyone help to clarify this? Also thinking of starting on magnesium. Would this be a good idea?

Thanks.

[Hidden]

Hi Katie & welcome ! Firstly AF is an irregular heart beat . When you mention regular AF I wonder whether you mean Atrial flutter ? This is an organised regular fast rate. Possibly you are being offered a cardioversion first because this may well put your heart back into a proper rate & maybe not need a further ablation. Regarding magnesium , many of the contributors to this forum are great advocates of its benefits & will no doubt enlighten you! Sandra

[AnticoagulateNow]

A year is far too long to wait. There must have been a reason for this which you missed and you need to determine it as soon as possible by ringing your consultant's secretary. If it is the case - though I find it hard to believe - seek a referral elsewhere. You are entitled to this.

Good luck.

[Katie42 in reply to AnticoagulateNow]

Thank you both for your replies. The 12 month wait is because the local cardiac unit covers such a huge area. If the cardioversion is unsuccessful I will enquire about being referred to an area with shorter lists.

[Rellim296 in reply to AnticoagulateNow]

When I last saw my EP in November his list was a year long and I went on it not because an ablation was appropriate at the time but we agreed to review when I get close to the top. Have heard nothing, except they know I am on rivaroxaban and I'm to continue on it. As far as I'm aware they prefer patients to be on warfarin for ablations.

[PeterWh in reply to Rellim296]

Many hospitals will only do ablations on warfarin. However when the time is nearing they will switch you over to warfarin. I was told for most people they are fully stable after 4 to 6 weeks. My INR was yo yoing all over the place and was only 2.1 or 2.2 on the day of the ablation but they were quite happy to go ahead. They did a toe first and injected.

[Rellim296 in reply to PeterWh]

I've found INR stability is somewhat elusive!

[mikeymike7]

Hi Yatsura, I take extra magnesium and it would appear to be beneficial. I had an ablation in January and although the AF has more or less been sorted, I had lots of ectopic runs so I started taking magnesium. The ectopics have all but disappeared! Was it the supplementation or would the ectopics have gone anyway? I don't know but I feel great!

Read up about it, there is a magnesium advocacy group on Facebook. Take the chelated form ie magnesium citrate or taurate and not the oxide. You never know!

[Buffafly]

Do you mean you have gone from PAF to persistent AF? I'm assuming that is the case otherwise you would not be booked for a cardioversion. If so they need to check whether you can be put into NSR because if not an ablation is unlikely to be successful, hence the wait.

[Katie42 in reply to Buffafly]

Not sure if I have gone to persistent AF as that wouldn't show on a single ECG. However I am having a 48 hour heart monitor in a couple of weeks so that should show more.

[PeterWh in reply to Katie42]

You could always buy an alivecor

[RichMert]

hmm, maybe I was lucky but I had a 'redo' in less than 2 months when my PAF returned after first ablation. That said, I guess it is all down to what they see on the trace and availability. You have my sympathy but, persistent AF should be easier to treat although you would only want to have to deal with it in the short term. I think this is why they rushed the 'redo'.