Post AF ablation Day 3.

[RebbyAnn]

Hey all,

So I had an ablation on Wednesday for AF and SVT. They couldn’t bring about the SVT but tell me that the AF ablation went really well.

It was a pretty traumatic experience if I’m honest, nothing really prepared me for after the procedure.

I woke up with a racing heart and extreme tightness in my chest. For which I was told I had a clot in my heart and had to leave the sheeths in for longer, all in all i was lying flat for 12 hours. My clotting time wasn’t acceptable so the sheeths stayed in for a lot longer than usual. Because of this I went into retention and had to have a catheter. A catheter! At 29!

The pain in my hip and groin was excruciating. The following morning, I coughed and my vein burst.... again back to more bed rest.

The EP came round and told me that I could

Come off all my medications and all is right with the world... for which I informed him my medications were for SVT and he hadn’t fixed that so why would I stop my medications that control this?. For which he had no answer so I politely declined.

Allowed home that afternoon when I had stopped bleeding for long enough and my Atpp was in therapeutic range.

Three days later, I have migraines and can barely walk 5m without feeling out of breath and pressure in my head.

Yet all information given says people can go back to work after a couple days and resume normal

Daily activities the next day??? They’ve signed me off work for two weeks and told me this was “very generous”

This is so miserable. I’m sorry if your reading this awaiting an ablation but no one warned me about any of this side of the procedure and I’m feeling pretty Cheated.

My heart rate has barely dipped below 100bpm

Since the procedure and I can feel every single beat. Yet they wanted to stop my meds.

I’m totally baffled by this whole thing.

😞

[BobD Volunteer]

You obviously have not read the very many posts here about recovery from ablation. Mind you most EPs don't seem to have either. We have produced a guide but it is currently in the approval stages having to be passed by the medical board etc before publishing.

Migraine is normal, caused by the inter-septal puncture and chest pain just is. It takes at least three to six months for full recovery and returning to work in anything less than two to three weeks is generally not likely. Raised heart rate post ablation is another common side effect and can take anything up to nine months to slowly return to pre AF levels. Heart awareness is also very common so apart from your bleeding issues which although not common are not unknown it all sounds just on the bad side of normal.

We are really trying to improve education and expectation but it is not easy.

[Achant1 in reply to BobD]

I’d say six months is being optimistic as well, it’s taken me about nine months to really start settling down. Problem is the EP’s make it sound like three months and you’ll be running marathons with no wobbles at all. Some people say it even takes a year to properly settle. Like Bob has said in many other posts , patience and trust in the procedure are needed, it’s not an easy healing process! I had shocking headaches from three months to about eight months! For your own sake try and relax. It’s not easy I know.

[jeanjeannie50]

Hi RebbyAnn

I'm sorry to hear all that has happened to you since your ablation, to have had all the things that you say happen is unusual. I've had three and can tell you that I reacted differently to each one, so please don't think that if you need another it will be so awful again.

After my first I felt fine immediately afterwards, but then quickly went downhill and felt worn out for several weeks and didn't go back to work for around two and a half weeks. After the second I was unable to walk far for a long time, certainly had difficulty for about 6 or more weeks. After my third one, apart from a run of tachycardia the day after. I felt fine immediately. They were all carried out by the same EP.

I think the reason we don't feel too good afterwards depends on how much work the EP had to do. For a first ablation I would guess there's a lot to do.

Migraines after an ablation are quite normal. Saying that my first two ablations were done under sedation only and I had no migraine with them, but did when I had a general anaesthetic the third time.

I'm glad you didn't stop your meds when the EP suggested that. It never seems a good idea to stop them before it's certain you've been cured.

It's quite normal to have a high heart rate for many months after an ablation, so don't worry about that.

However if you do have any worries, don't sit and worry, give your GP, AF nurse or EP a call.

Wishing you well.

Jean

[RebbyAnn]

I had read some posts about recovery but I’d also relied on the information given by health professionals who had told me I’d be back at work in a couple days and didn’t warn me of some of the things I came up against when I woke from the GA.

I was and still am very open minded that everyone’s recovery is different but it’s very hard not to feel low.

They have said I could have another ablation in a few months for the SVT but I’d be extremely hard pushed to want to do this again at this point. Considering that the same could happen and they might not be able to induce the SVT.

The migraines I’m glad to hear are common as I wasn’t expecting them and the pressure in my head and chest.

Problem is I’m the main Bill payer I can’t afford to be out of action for months with a high heart rate unable to walk or do my job.

[Hidden]

Ann this is tough, but right now you need to put your negative experience behind you. You are only day 3 and your procedure sounds to have been pretty straightforward on the technical side. Clearly there can't have been any significant physical problems or you would not have been discharged so quickly.

Stop with the "I feel cheated" stuff, forget about what can't now be changed and try not to brood on problems which almost certainly won't happen.

Nothing you have said suggests you will have a physical problem which will stop you getting back to work, timeframe context dependent.

Concentrate on the present, organise things so you can rest as much as possible for the next couple of weeks and ease back in to things slowly. You are a young woman and you will make a full recovery and you will go back to work.

Chin up, all this negative thinking is not helping you.

Easy for me to say I know, but I have been there and I am glad in retrospect that my wife ultimately told me to show some spine, when I was feeling so sorry for myself.

Wishing you well.