Totally fatigued

[buttercup12]

Hi. Wondering if someone can help. Recent visit to cardiologist/EP saw me receiving two meds....rivaroxaban and digoxin. I was already on flecainide. Now I am utterly totally exhausted all the time. I am scheduled for an ablation 2 November. I feel I will be so weak and wilted that I won't be able to cope with it and the recovery period. Spoke with EP yesterday; he said take digoxin alternate days should help. Any ideas on how to stay physically well to be able to cope with the ablation when I can't exercise or even go for a short walk anymore.

[BobD Volunteer]

Don't worry about the ablation. You will recover in your own time and the drugs aren't making you actually ill .just fatigued. After the ablation remember to do nothing the first week and not a lot more for the second . We have a rule here. TV remote only week one and week two you can make some tea. Digoxin will slow you down as likely will the flecainide.

Please relax and don't worry. Try to stay positive as this is so important in recovery. You will have some odd things happen which they probably will not warn you about. Migraine aura for example. All quite normal as will be some bumps and flutters form time to time. It takes three to six months for full recovery!

[buttercup12 in reply to BobD]

Thank you for the words of encouragement. Thanks for sharing what may happen later; I do hate not knowing beforehand. Doing nothing is not me at all so it is hard now to deal with this.

[Luludean in reply to BobD]

Golly Bob, I came home alone after the two long ablations I had in St Mary's Paddington, no one told me to rest or anything, they just told me neither one had worked..

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Luludean]

Royal Brompton would not let me out alone! Since I live in Devon this was not convenient. Just because you do not have a giant zip up your front does not mean that your heart hasn't had a good kicking and needs time to recover. I fondly imagined that I would be dancing the light fantastic next day such was my ignorance. Few EPs have ever had it done to them and understand just how long it takes to recover. They seem to think that the entry wound is the only thing to worry about.

[rosyG]

agree it's probably the Digoxin- follow GP advice and see if it is manageable- not long to ablation

[Bagrat]

The fact you can't physically exercise can be off set by practising relaxation exs or mindfulness meditation. Lots on you tube just finding a voice you lime is a lot of exercise! Try Andrew Johnson ( Scottish accent)

[buttercup12 in reply to Bagrat]

thanks for the suggestion. I will certainly give it a try.