Recovering from ablation

Diagnosed with afib 5 years ago, prescribed 120 ml Verap and 25mg Xarelto. Was on beta blocker for around a year, did nothing for me. My main problem is feeling of being on the verge of fainting, with or without fast irregular beat. 3 years ago diagnosed with melanoma. Had been advised to have ablation but couldn't face it. At last agreed to have ablation in February, doc says it went well and I have had fewer heartsymptoms since. Sorry I'm far less well up on heart vocab than most posters. I am a little disappointed with my recovery, I have very little energy and my appetite is poor. Played 9 holes of golf today and I'm wiped out. Had hoped to be much better by now. I'm worried that doc will suggest a second ablation, it seems to be quite common, and I really couldn't go through it again. I need to brush up on my technical knowledge to keep pace with this site, but I didn't ask doc many questions and he gave little information

[BobD Volunteer]

It takes from three to six months for recovery and many people report they are still improving up to nine months after ablation so please don't stress too much about it. If you are still on drugs (other than anticoagulant which you probable need to stay on) these can give you such symptoms.

For lots of useful information please go to our main website (AF Association ) where you find more than enough to educate yourself.

[CDreamer]

Hi and welcome although there you give quite a lot of information - no specifics. So - when was your ablation? Are you still taking medication? If you had pre-syncope (near fainting) was the cause known - eg low or high BP when in AF or for another reason? What is your current resting HR (heart rate)? What is it when exercising? Symptoms are our clues. Are you still experiencing symptoms? Your age? How and when was the melanoma treated?

What was your expectation of recovering your energy and how quickly? It’s simple - but our body is a matrix of very complex interconnecting systems and if one thing goes wrong - the balance is upset and can take a long time to rebalance.

I do think the older we are, the longer the healing process is and that sometimes we can have unrealistic expectations of ourselves so perhaps we need to check all of those things out.

Why was the ablation so bad you couldn’t face another? How do you know it didn’t work? For me and many others it was a relatively easy and painless procedure which really improved our QOL (quality of life).

It is important to question your doctors and drill down into their answers and ask for explanations and it does help your understanding if you can learn a little of the language.

You have been through a lot as many of us have been, and perhaps you could benefit from offering yourself a little kindness and compassion - instead of trying to punish your body for not keeping up with the things you want to do,

Very best wishes

[Hidden in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks to Cdreamer and Bob for your kind response. I am 73, a woman. My meds are the same, Verap and Xarelto. My ablation was is February and I was also prescribed Medium which caused severe diarrhoea, so I gave it up. I still have borderline nausea and my sense of taste is distorted, hence poor appetite and low energy. Melanoma was treated with two lots of severe surgery and six month follow up with dermatologist and oncologist. Also had breast cancer 15 yrs ago, oncologist always had a good listen to my heart at check ups and he discovered irregular fast heartbeat. My blood pressure is normal. Up to around 3 years ago I had great stamina and find it hard to accept lesser quality of life, silly I know. I try not to dwell on problems, denial is not always a bad option. Ablation may well have succeeded but doc did emphasise it could be and often was done again. Away to do a bit of study , woefully clueless about all the technicalities. Again thank you for your helpful input.

[CDreamer in reply to Hidden]

Its hard to adjust - but Feb is still relatively soon so you may find your stamina WILL improve over the next few months. x

[glenpointe]

I hope you don't have to go through the second time. I had an ablation yesterday and feeling awful today. Feel discomfort in my chest, hope it goes away. Laying still for 6hrs is hardest thing.