Afib ablation recovery. What to expect in your experience?

[jonesy510]

Ablation recovery. What to expect

[Hidden]

Lots of answers to this if you do a search, but in general you need 2 weeks of doing nothing.

Then ease back in to things.

It took me 3 months to get back to full fitness (well, the level i was at before the ablation)

Also, expect migraine, stomach issues, raised heart rate and lots of palpitations as things heal and start to settle down

[jonesy510 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you!

[jonesy510 in reply to jonesy510]

How was ur breathing and sleeping first few nights or so? Appreciate your insight. Going in tomorrow. Having procedure tomorrow. Have been doing nothing but reading still like to get the prospective of people who went throug it.

[Hidden in reply to jonesy510]

I had a general anesthetic and to be honest sleeping was not an issue. Also I had no pain from the groin wounds. I was talking to my kids about this yesterday as it's almost 12 months since my ablation. The worst bit for me was the pain from the catheter .

I did doze off a lot during the day the first week, it was bliss!!

I never had any issues with breathing, other than getting a bit short of breath from week 3 on wards when i was trying to get back to full fitness probably a little too quickly.

The thing that most took me by surprise was the palpitations/ectopics that hit me on day 10 onwards, but over time these reduced considerably .

The main thing is to listen to your body and stop when it's telling you. I know it's an old cliche but its true and will give you the best chance of recovery and being rid of this silly condition for as long as possible

[jonesy510 in reply to Hidden]

Little about me. - jst turned 39, obese, 75 pounds over weight but in the same sentence have been working out. Was an athlete. Can still jog 3 miles before the afib started a month ago. Now I’m in persistent afib. Dr thinks it’s been longer since the left Arota is a little enlarged. Thank you all and appreciate all insights.

[Hidden in reply to jonesy510]

and all the best for tomorrow, please post and let us know how you are getting on (when you are able)

[jonesy510 in reply to Hidden]

Will do, thanks Mike

[BobD Volunteer]

This post compliments an earlier one "don't believe the literature.". Sadly few EPs have ever had ablation so really have no idea what it is like. Some months ago I did a round robin asking for tips and "things I wished they had told me" which I collated into what we hope will become a fact sheet from AF Association but although I hope it will be available later this year as yet I have no publication date.

[sjanee11]

I had an ablation done for SVT instead of afib (and then post-ablation ended up with the flu and a blood clot in my lung) but I definitely wasn't ready on day 3 to return to normal like my EP said. I started feeling more normal at about a week (coincidentally when I was diagnosed with the flu and pulmonary embolism). I haven't had a lot of weird rhythms but there have been some. My dr went through my groin and my collarbone and honestly the collarbone site was more painful than my groin. But still very low on the pain scale. I also had a catheter but had no pain from it. The first week I felt really tired. It did feel like recovering from the flu. I just had a general achiness and tired feeling.

[sjanee11 in reply to sjanee11]

Oh! And I did have trouble eating for about 2 weeks. I didn't really feel hungry and I didn't feel full when eating. As soon as I finished a meal (even though they were smaller), I would immediately get bloated and have a stomachache. It got better and better each day and did go away by 2 weeks or so. Now it's just occasional.