Blanking Period Question
I had an RF ablation 2 months ago and was prescribed flecainide 150mg twice a day for the 3 month blanking period.
I have been doing some research on the web and I see numerous publications stating the blanking period should be shortened and that any AFIB after 1 month has a high indication of late reccurrence within one year.
The term was ERATS I believe. My EP had said 3 months but I see numerous posts on here up to 6 months.
Any thoughts on this?
I think three months is far too little time actually. I found after my last and successful ablation that it was nearer nine months before I could wean myself off the drugs .
The problem I fear is that this is such a mongrel condition that it is impossible to generalise. For example. after my first I was much worse the next day and never got better. My second was perfect for about six months and then AF returned. My third as above. Nine years later I still get occasional bouts of ectopics and some tachycardia if I ignore the warning signs but have no AF whatsoever.
It took 5 months for my episodes to stop and no af since - almost 4 great years!!
Thank you for sharing the info with me.
Blanking period over
has anyone had an ablation that worked well without problems in the blanking period.
Blanking period may be way longer than 3 months!
Pill in Pocket Question
Thanks for your earlier support for my 1st ablation. But now more questions.
I can think of so many people on this forum who report that they have one or two short episodes in the first few months and then nothing again ever again. Others who are fine for a few months, then have episodes.
My personal experience - after first I was fantastic for several weeks, then got very ill with AF with episodes a lot worse than they were before which led to a second ablation within 12 weeks which was more successful and I was free from AF for nearly 3 years.
This leads me to believe that we are all different so react differently. That specialists go with their own experience of their own patients so without a comprehensive study over a long time period with a wide patient profiles with big numbers - who really knows?
Just my thoughts.