I have now gone another 18 days in NSR only to revert to AF at 04:00 this morning. Have taken extra Flecainide as usual and now waiting to see if this is successful.
I am very disappointed as my rhythm has been so steady since the last episode. It is now 31 days post ablation.
I know it is early days after my last ablation but I suppose that after all these years I was hoping for a more obvious successful outcome. However, I am trying to keep as upbeat as I can but as discussed so many times before positive thoughts when in AF are so difficult.
Pete
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pottypete1
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I am doing other things to try and take my mind off it. I am in rate control up to a point. Last time it took about 10 hours to revert so I am hoping that this will be the same.
Got to got to GP with my wife tonight as she is having a steroid injection in her arthritic Knee. If still in AF I will try and get an ECG done to show EP at next appointment or heaven forbid if I stay this way for any amount of time.
Good idea. Didn't want to make a big thing of it yet but on reflection it would bet very useful to have a trace whilst in AF at this stage. I will let you know how I get on.
Well to contradict the bad press about Doctors' surgeries, this morning I have already been to the surgery as you suggested and had an ECG done. As I knew would be the case AF is shown.
I am very lucky where I live as my GP surgery is always very helpful. In addition I live only 15 minutes from Southampton General Hospital where the cardiac care, in my opinion, is second to none.
The ECG states:
" RSR' or QR pattern in V1 suggests right ventricular conduction delay.
T wave abnormality, consider inferior ischemia or digitalis effect. Abnormal ECG"
My heart rate about x2 my normal resting rate.
Doctor has said he agrees with my plan which is to let it run for today but I was told not to hesitate to go back if I feel worse.
Got to take it easy today and be positive get the old mantra going "it has always reverted to NSR".
Hopefully it will not be too long as I feel terrible nausea and fatigue.
That's great - the key thing is the additional information, not just that you are in AF!!!
If you are able to scan in the ECG and email it to EP's secretary. If you are still in AF later or tomorrow morning it would be good to try and get another one to see if al the rogue elements are still there as that's not just AF (though the AF may well be triggering).
Yes I will probably leave it until tomorrow morning if I am out of luck with the Flecainide. I can scan and email. Need to find out who the secretary is as this is a new consultant at this hospital.
Hopefully I won't need to and my heart will revert today.
In any case the ECG is good to take to my appointment in January.
Pete. The reason for sending it to him is so that he can see it earlier. Probably 98% chance he'll do nothing but on the other hand he may decide to bring you in sooner or run some other effects.
Certainly with my EP if he is in the Cath lab that is a good day to catch him because he's there at the hospital that day and will go through emails at the end of the day!!!
I too wanted it to work the first time, and all the 4 other times now.
As I have said when trying to encourage others each time they go in and do an ablation it is extra work and not a case of the previous attempt being a failure as such.
Not too sure what the scarring must look like after 5 ablations.
No matter how well we prepare for a possibility, it's always such a jolt when it happens . . . I hope the extra Flec calms it down quickly - hopefully you won't be able to have that ECG done as it's gone.
Taken PeterWh's advice and popping round to the GP surgery soon. I missed his advice to not phone but all the same they said come in and we will do ECG.
I think it is a good idea as although my follow up appointment is in January an ECG is so much better than just saying to him "I went into AF "X" times since the ablation.
You are right about the jolt I was getting very bullish about how steady my heart was beating.
It seems that it is always the night when it goes into AF these days.
think it's when the nervous system changes at night. See if you can do gentle exercise during the day 9 if allowed by your doctor) as this may help to keep tone and pulse rate steady 24/7
I will see what I can do - trouble is I get such bad fatigue when in AF and when I do anything more than the simplest task I am breathless and worn out.
Pete
sorry to hear this Pete, hope it resolves itself soon
Well things have been a bit chaotic unfortunately.
I went back into NSR late yesterday afternoon and within 10 minutes went back into AF. This morning the same thing happened and currently I am in AF again.
I will make contact with the hospital later and see if I can get it sorted out with a Cardoversion if nothing changes.
I know I can go to A&E but not sure I want to go down that route until I have spoken to EP's secretary.
Don't want to leave it too long as I am feeling very nauseous, depressed and generally horrible.
My AF used to come on when chilling out after being very busy or in the night. The latest lifestyle change that I think helps is regular deep breaths during the day and before bed, plus using the Breathe Right nasal strips at night ( Thanks Bob, I think you recommended these). Before this I used to wake up with a fuzzy head and be desperate to put my head out of the window and get some more oxygen. Hope that helps.
Now I am back in NSR after my cardioversions, needless to say, I shall do what I can to identify and stop the triggers.
My statistical analysis of my PAF episodes over 3 years shows that over 56% of my episodes start during sleep or just on waking - I want to address this if I can.
I tried the breath strips the night before last. One came off last night.
In fact I do have a slightly deformed nasal passage in my right nostril and have had 2 unsuccessful corrective operations to open up the breathing passage.
Wish I could talk to the EP more regularly - next appointment jan 4th.
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