Catheter ablation Friday, extremely anxious

[Joshthackray]

Hi everyone

I am due to have an ablation this Friday, I’m 27 years old from York, North Yorkshire. I get heart palpitations when I play tennis or badminton When smashing the shuttle or bending down for one near the net. This happens ONLY when I play raquet sport. Things like going to the gym or running I never get palps.

These palpitations last around 2 minutes then I’m ready to keep on playing for the rest of the hour which is wierd.

I’m debating on whether to get this operation done given the risks involved, I’m feeling anxious as my palps are very sporadic so if it’s just a nusense should I even go ahead. The last thing I want is them doing it and it making things worse.

I’m interested to hear about people’s thougyts on this. Like is the operation painful etc

[rosyG]

Hi

You don't say what you are having ablated?? Do you have AF or other palpitations? The risks vary accordingly.

[Joshthackray]

I’m not too sure. I think it’s SVT as the palpitations are a regular beat last 2-3 minutes and stop suddenly when I take deep breaths

[rosyG in reply to Joshthackray]

Hi Josh

A lot of what you may get from us may not be relevant as ablation for AF is a much longer, trickier process. Talk to your doctor to get more details but if it is the case that you have a re-entrant type of tachycardia, I have heard it only needs a tiny burn to break one particular circuit- of course everything has risks but get more info from your doctor- good luck and let us know how you get on

[Dinodog]

Hi

I would Of course go with your doctors recommendation. I had my first ablation for afib yesterday and I’m 44 and pretty healthy- need to lose some weight. I too could cope with my symptoms- but afib seems to always get worse and mine was. Decided to move forward to try to get ahead of it. I had general, spent a night in the hospital and couldn’t move for 6 hours after. It was totally fine. I’ve had some slight ectopics since which is totally normal- and just feel really tired. I’m going skiing in 2 weeks and have no doubt lll be up to it. Best of luck with your decision!

[azriverrat]

Death is very very unlikely, but never say never. For best outcome get the most experienced EP available to do the ablation.

[Hidden]

Hi Josh. We are all different but as you read posts from people who have had ablation hopefully you will find a little reassurance that most of us have come thru it fine with a result that has made us feel better afterward. It's not a painful post op period and many say they feel better afterward as it often makes daily afib life better. I had an ablation in Nov 2016 and have been able to let go of meds that had side effects that caused lots of 'ups and downs' for me. I won't say 'don't be nervous' because you will anyway. It's normal to be afraid of surgery. But Friday is almost here and soon it will be behind you. Good luck, take care. I'm glad I had mine. Been feeling much better ever since.

[Joshthackray]

Thank you for all your replies it’s very kind and reassuring. I’m having my opp at castle hill in hull. I’m not sure what type of ablation because they haven’t yet diagnosed me 100% until they do the ep study before the ablation. My other concern is them not being able to get the palpitations while doing the opp. Anyone know of anyone not having the opp because of it ?

[Hidden in reply to Joshthackray]

Hi Josh. Friday is almost here and soon this will be behind you. Will be thinking of you Friday. Bet you'll do fine and will wake up feeling better than you probably do right now. (AV node ablation with pacemaker insertion Nov 18, 2016.) Doing fine. BTW my pacemaker is named 'Seymour'. We're very close.LOL Take care irina1975

[Buffafly]

Hi,

This procedure is very expensive so it is unlikely you would be offered it unless your EP thought it was a good idea. Many of us have been told, after very many years of arrhythmia that our hearts have been damaged, a procedure may not be successful or even that the arrhythmia has become permanent. I believe the thinking nowadays is that it is best to act early before your heart gets into bad habits.

Best wishes.

[UScore]

This is certainly a consideration I took into account when deciding on my ablation. I'm 41, not as young as the OP but still relatively young in AF terms.

I think it's a gamble either way. If the ablation is successful you may be arrhythmia free for a very long time. I guess a risk is that unsuccessful ablation(s) may cause scarring that spoil chances of future treatment.

But If you don't have the ablation then over time your heart might remodel as the frequency and severity of arrhythmia increases, and I have heard some suggestion that the best chance of success is to do an ablation as early as possible.

I decided to go for the ablation, rather than hope some future technique is invented that still works despite years of remodelling. You never know, that same technique might work with failed ablation scarring too.

I'm not saying I'm right. But that's my thought process leading to my decision.

[Joshthackray in reply to UScore]

Thank you for this, I seriously considering cancelling my appointment as I currently don’t take any tablets and ever have and can stop the palpitations using breathing techniques. I’d say if I didn’t play tennis for 12 months I wouldn’t get the palpitations.....so is it really worth it

[UScore in reply to Joshthackray]

I certainly can't advise you what to do. Everyone's circumstances are so different.

I also don't take any tablets (although I have some to take when arrhythmia visits).

How much do you love tennis/racquet sports? I know when I was 27 if I had to give up playing football (even for 12 months) or have a medical procedure, I'd have opted for the procedure.

[Joshthackray in reply to UScore]

I love tennis more than anything! So will continue to do so. Hopefully if I do decide it goes ok 👌

[UScore in reply to Joshthackray]

Well good luck to both of us. Mine is on the 13th Feb.

[Joshthackray in reply to UScore]

Yes good luck and god bless

[Wendus in reply to UScore]

Mines 27th Feb , are you takeing the apixaban at the moment ,if so how are you getting on with it, I'm starting it this Saturday , I am not looking forward to it!!!! Hope your op goes well .

[UScore in reply to Wendus]

Yeah I started on Apixaban at the end of December. To be honest I haven't noticed any difference at all. Absolutely zero side effects or anything.

Good luck on the 27th. Hopefully by then you'll have heard how well mine and Josh's went and everything will be disco for all of us.

[Wendus in reply to UScore]

Nice to hear from someone about to embark on the same procedure as me around the same time . Are they going to make a incision into to your left atrium from the right, as this is what I'm having done!! Yours is fast approaching , have you been for your pre op yet? Good luck for yours..

[Hidden in reply to Joshthackray]

It's me again. Been re-reading some of your replies and lots of good ideas. I just wanted to say something that popped into my mind about waiting to see if a better tx comes along. It probably will someday but all we have is NOW.

[Haynbo]

Hey Josh- let me try and ease your mind with my experience- now, I’m a lot older than you but I started with all kind of crazy episodes of irregular heart beats when I was 14years old - that episode turned out to be atrial tach- had episodes of a fib for close to fifty years until I had enough and went to see an EP at u of penna. I had 2 different issues that needed to be corrected- AVNRT and Afib- both were successfully completed. Post procedure though I was left with another problem- PVC’s- they were really bad. My doc offered me the option of another ablation for those. He basically said that it is a much simpler procedure, particularly if they are coming from the right side of the heart than the afib ablation. It turned out that with a change in meds, I didn’t really need to get it done then but, within the last 6months ago it seems like the “skips” are coming back with a vengeance. I can tell you that if they don’t settle down shortly, I would not hesitate a second of going for another ablation.

Bottom line for you, if you are seeing a good EP and are going to a reputable hospital, the procedure will be well worth it- coincidently, I just finished reading an article about treatment for pvc/pac’s that compares drug therapy vs. catheter ablation and the ablation procedure was hands down the winner- best of luck to you,

[Joshthackray in reply to Haynbo]

Thanks for your kind words, I’m feeling less nervous now, just want to get it over and done with 🙈 I hope you get better soon, will post my experience when I’m done tomorrow night ☺️ All the best

[Joshthackray]

Hi everyone, I’ve had my op. It all went well although with no sedative it was messed up feeling my heart race at 275 beats. I had AVNRT, in which they burnt the tissue off and say it should be at 90% success. I don’t care what anyone says, it’s very scary, but I’m so glad I did it. Thanks for all your support, I’ll post my 1 months post op on this thread so you can check my progress if you’d like. God bless

[li17 in reply to Joshthackray]

Hope you get well soon. So you ablation is not for afib? Wow, no sedation sounds very scary.

[Hidden in reply to Joshthackray]

Make a plan to take it easy. Then tear it up and make a new plan to take it even easier. And then tear that one up....you get the picture. EPs often seem more gung ho about getting back to normal activities than many members here have found wise.

[Wendus in reply to Joshthackray]

No Sedative!! Was this your choice? Did it not hurt? So glad you've had yours now Josh, I know you where anxious . I'm having mine on the 26th Feb and I'm very anxious whilst waiting!! What meds have they kept you on?