Return to work on 10th day post ablation

[Azfa]

Hi everyone,

May I know, is it normal to feel exhausted at the end of the day after returning to work?Today is my 10th day post ablation. I feel exhausted,sleepy and little discomfort on chest (which I believe from GERD). Anyone has experienced this before?am I still far away from active lifestyle?

[PeterWh]

I am not surprised because 10 days is really far too soon.

Obviously we are all different but I was told nothing for the first week after leaving hospital apart from TV remote, phone and iPad and then not much more the second week. Then to gradually start building things up but not too strenuous and then to listen carefully to your body and if you feel strained stop.

It's not worth over doing it now and suffering a relapse / triggering it off. You will have seen BobD and many others saying that it will take 3 to 6 months for the heart to heal and, quoting BobD just because you don't have a zip up your chest does not mean that you haven't had major work done. Just think of a bad burn on the hand or arm and how long those take to heal 100% and those parts of the body are "designed" to get some burns. Your heart isn't.

Good luck and hope all goes well.

[PeterWh in reply to PeterWh]

BTW. I should have said that I am in persistent AF. Also the cardiac nurse did mention at least 6 weeks off work, possibly 3 months, although I had been made redundant 6 months previously. I flipped back into persistent AF less than 72 hours after my ablation and I certainly was not fit to go back after 3 months. In fact now (16 months later) there is no way at all I could work and my job was not a manual one!!!

[jennydog]

100% normal. Your heart has been burnt and burns take a long time to heal. You need to consider that it takes 3 months for complete healing and up to 6 months to feel back to normal after a GA. Do take things easy and be kind to yourself in the short term.

[SRMGrandma Volunteer]

Hi, As everyone here will reassure you, 10 days out is very, very early and of course you are exhausted. Your heart has had major trauma. Listen to your body and sleep, and rest. I think planning for a gentle recovery is one of the most often overlooked aspects of an ablation. People gear up for the procedure and then somehow expect to pop right back to business as usual. The blanking period where your heart heals is 3-6 months. It is not unusual to have blips of AF during that time. Please, please do as little as possible right now to let yourself heal.

[PeterWh in reply to SRMGrandma]

I love your posts. There was I being a bit diplomatic (I am not always) and you go straight for it that it is very, very early!!!

Trauma was the work I was thinking about rather than work done on the heart!!!

[pottypete1]

It is early days still.

Try and pace yourself and DO NOT try and do too much too soon.

Pete

[Mike11]

Definitely. You should have been signed off work for 2 months

[Cclegg]

Hi After my ist 5 years ago I returned to work after a,week.....seemed a breeze but was done under sedation. This time I am 8 days post and was told 3 weeks min off work and GA seems to have wiped me out.

[PeterWh in reply to Cclegg]

Also depends on how long each is. The longer you are under GA or sedation the longer it takes to recover.

[Azfa]

Yes.tomorrow i will meet GP to have a check and get a medical leave extension for another week at least.it's quite hard to leave the job completely.seems like i have to work from home from now on until complete recovery.

[ParoxysmalAFwife]

This is all very interesting to read Azfa and SRMGrandma. My husband goes to Bart's, London for his cryo ablation quite soon. He has not been told exactly how much time to take off but as he is a work-aholic I am worried he will return far too quickly - help!!