AF free for 5 weeks then wham , heart popping away like demented bubble wrap at Christmas . Alivecor and various apps showed heart rate of 135 and suspected AF . Dropped into the surgery to place my arm into the machine and as the paper popped up so did the nurse . Not good she proclaimed , follow me . An ECG later I'm in A &E been monitored at her request . They would have given me a cardio version there and then but some bright spark told me not to take my NOAC ! My only thought was , I'm going on holiday in 4 days , HELP ! My meds were tweaked and I left with a beat of 100. But def back in AF. That was the end of Oct and I now have the appt for the TOE , cardio V and angiogram all in 48 hours .they wanted to do it Xmas eve but I declined the offer !!!! But I've just returned from the German Christmas markets and not only is my heart racing at 140, I'm short of breath when walking , my legs and tummy are swollen , tummy to the point of being uncomfortable , slight cough when I lie down , and I've put on 2-3 kilos in weight ! Google all this and you come up with heart failure ! I've got an appt with the nurse tomorrow for blood tests so obviously I will discuss this with her . I've felt like this since Tuesday so 1 more day won't make any difference , I hope . I stopped flecanide a week ago at my Doc's request so I'm wondering if this has any bearing on my condition , who knows , think I'll pack a small case ! Any thoughts anyone ?
Lisa
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01maxdog
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Lisa, I do sympathise. I did not feel my heart at all for 6 weeks post-ablation but since then have had occasional mild episodes of AF. I take 2.5 bisoprolol daily to reduce my rate from 80 to about 65 and 100 flecainide as a p-I-p. My heart is radiotherapy damaged and I cannot have another ablation. I will need pace and ablate if things deteriorate.
I do feel that it is early days for you. It may be that your heart will settle down satisfactorily. Meantime you need your EP's advice about a possible return to drugs to help your heart along, hopefully short term. I am a great fan of p-I-p and would recommend it. It certainly gives confidence knowing that you can deal with episodes.
I hope you improve soon- if you get any chest pain make sure you see someone straight away- the rate is high but some in AF have much higher rates - things can be reversed with treatment Good luck
Lisa, you certainly must get this checked tomorrow. Let us know what transpires .
Been there and got the T-Shirt although not to the point of considering heart failure.
I had 4-5 weeks of bliss following first ablation then all hell broke loose. 175 - 200 bpm on a regular basis until they got it under control with Amiodarone. If you can avoid the Amiodarone, that would be good.
My advice is to make sure that the ECG traces are sent to your consultant at the Hospital where you had the ablation done. If you are currently being treated in a different hospital, they will try to come up with a plan but in truth, it is best done by the Consultant that carried out the ablation. For me, it resulted in a fast track to a 'redo', 3 weeks later. That was 2 years ago and other than the odd blip, I am free from PAF now (I just touched my head).
Where did you have the ablation and is that the same hospital you visited for A&E?
Don't ask for them to send on. Every time that you have an ECG ask for a print for yourself (always willingly given in my experience) and then get a copy done and write to your EP directly and copy. Your GP. Also keep one in your own file so you have a complete set..works wonders especially when I had to call 999 one night and paramedics went through my file (not just ECGs - everything is in its own tab by type) and A&E and the consultant did the same. They were able to pick up changes very quickly from ECG taken that night because they had all the others.. I know they went trough file because there were things in my discharge notes that I had not told them about but were in file from 10 months earlier. Paramedics, doctors and consultant all independently congratulated me and said how much easier it had been for them and reduced their guess work.
I was also told that it is not only the absolute HB that is important but the relative number. Someone who's she normal HB is 50 and it jumps to 125 it has increased 2.5 times whereas someone whose normal is 100 and it jumps to 150 has only had it increased by 1.5 times
I had the ablation at Harefield but my nearest A&E is at Frimley park where my consultant is . But I have a GP near New Milton on the south coast where we have a second home and that is where I got an emergency appointment yesterday and I was promptly send to Lymington for the once over . I keep most of my ECG printouts and carry around a wad of paperwork so I can produce this if needs be . Well us women have big handbags ! The outcome is that I am now back on digoxin , the drug they took me off post ablation and my HR is down to 100 and I feel so much better . Hey ho, roll on the cardio in January !
Fifty percent of patients who have ablation revert to AF within one year. Even though doctors told me that the ablation is successful in 90% of cases - this is not true.
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