2nd ablation

[Stinky1953]

Had my ablation yesterday morning which apparently all went to plan. I was feeling quite well till about 10pm then started getting chest pains which went all night and still with me this morning. I know its just bruising from the surgery so am not at all worried. Nsr all night and hopefully home by lunchtime. A big thank you to all of you for all that I have learnt about AF on this site.

[Nickr282]

Great it all went well.

I had similar chest pains after my ablation and found it painful deep breathing and laying down for the first night post op. Paracetamol helped and this soon went after a day or so. Hope your AF is cured.

[Stinky1953 in reply to Nickr282]

Home now and feeling completely wiped out and chest pain still with me - but only when I breath! Taking paracetamol. Don't remember this pain from first ablation but that was cryo and this was RF and took 41/2 hours. Perhaps I'll feel better tomorrow. Thank you.

[Nickr282 in reply to Stinky1953]

Great. Take it easy and rest. I had that breathing pain for a day or so and it also hurt when I tried to lay down. Hope is subsides and you get a reasonable nights sleep.

[BobD Volunteer]

Well done and now rest, rest and more rest.

[Stinky1953 in reply to BobD]

Luckily all I feel like doing it resting so no problem with this advice. Thank you.

[jeanjeannie50]

So good to hear.

A few days after my ablation I got out of bed one night to take the electric blanket off. I felt I could feel the wires digging into me. Well I suddenly had awful pain in my chest and wondered if I was having a heat attack! It subsided and I've since discovered others who had the same thing.

I'm not advising that anyone should ignore chest pain after an ablation, as I think all chest pain needs to be checked out. I rang my GP next morning and told him about it, he said just put it down to experience, but let me know if it happens again. Well it never happened again, thank goodness.

If I were you I would certainly discuss your chest pain today while still at the hospital. I've had three ablations and didn't have any chest pains at all with my other two.

Jean

[Stinky1953 in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Jean thank you. I told the nurses who did a couple of ECG's and all seems well. It's worse with deep breaths which suggests bruising.

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Stinky1953]

Hope that soon eases for you.

Best wishes

Jean

[Stinky1953 in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Thank you Jean.

[CatAnn in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Hi there can you please share your ablation experiences? Why is more than one necessary? Did/do they help? What was your diagnosis? Who does ablations? doctors or other specialists? Thank you! Xo

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to CatAnn]

Hi Ann

Electrophysiologists (called EP's for short) perform ablations they are the specialists for the heart electrics which are the little pulses that make our heart pump blood around our bodies. I was diagnosed with AF in about 2005, after suddenly coming over feeling very ill. I worked in a nursing home as an administrator and one of the nurses took my pulse and said, you need to see a doctor. I was in the doctors surgery in about half an hour, had an ECG and my AF was confirmed.

After my first ablation using sedation (you are drugged not given a general anaesthetic and I was away from the ward for 6 hours) I felt fragile and drained for about three weeks, but then went back to my desk job. I discovered I could now walk up hills without getting so breathless and my heart banging in my chest ( I had no idea that other peoples didn't do that). However my AF continued.

I had a second ablation about 2 years later (away from ward for 6 hours), again by sedation. After this one I felt ill for a couple of months and couldn't walk far during that time - I just became totally exhausted if I did. I also started to feel ill and my heart race if I ate lunch time and then attempted to walk anywhere. At this time I rubbished ablations and felt that they didn't really work.

My third ablation was around June last year. I'd been feeling so dreadful that I felt I had to give it another go, rather than continue feeling so ill. I had a general anaesthetic this time and afterwards my EP came to tell me it had been successful and to stop all medication apart from Warfarin. The morning after, when I was due to be leaving the ward my heart started it's frantic racing again and I was restarted on my Flecainide and Metoprolol tablets and kept in until the next day when it went back to it's normal rate. I immediately felt so much better and had no after effects of the anaesthetic other than a few migraines. At this time I changed my diet after reading on this site about how eating a more plant based diet could improve AF. Since then I've also gone gluten and lactose free. I still get attacks of AF and they can sometimes last for months, but they are nowhere near as severe as they used to be. Whether that's because of the ablation or change of diet I really can' say. I still continue to take tablets.

My EP has said that, unfortunately, I am one of the few people that ablations don't cure of AF and he will not offer any more.

Hope this helps.

Jean

[CatAnn in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Thank you so much for your reply. I appreciate the info. I wish you continued good health. X0

[Stinky1953 in reply to CatAnn]

Good morning CatAnn. To answer your questions I've had to have a second ablation because for some reason that I'm not too clear on I've had a recurrence of AF. My first ablation was in Dec 2011 and at the time I was under the impression it was a one time fix but since being on this forum I've learnt that getting five years AF free is quite good and that many sufferers have multiple ablations before success. My first ablation was a cryo ablation which involves "freezing tissue or heart pathways that interfere with the normal distribution of the heart’s electrical impulses." My recent ablation was an RF (radio frequency) which I understand is a more targeted method than cryo ablation.

Did they help? Quite definitely the first one did. As to the second so far so good. Not even aware of any missed or ectopic beats so far.

My diagnosis was PAF - paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

The procedure was done under the guidance of Dr Magdi Saba at St Georges hospital London. You can Google him for further information. He is described as a " interventional cardiac electrophysiologist". My first was also done at St Georges under a different surgeon who has since retired.

The experience itself is quite straight forward. Its carried out under general anaesthetic and in my case took about 4 1/2 hours. They use a system that maps the heart during the procedure by a variety of means. I understand that in my case they treated both left and right atria as well as the septum which is why it took so long. Post procedure I had quite a lot of chest pain but this went after 36 hours. Today, day 3, I'm feeling quite normal, slight sore throat and quite tired so taking it easy.

I hope this has been helpful and please feel free to ask any further questions.

[CatAnn in reply to Stinky1953]

Thank you so very much! I hope you continue to get better! X0X0