Im having a cardio ablation on October 24th

[Alfieros]

So the one thing I’m worried about is that 4 days before the cardio ablation, I have to change from Sotalol to metropolol. I’m a little worried because a while back, my regular cardiologist told me that if I ever have to switch from Sotalol, I would have to do so with a hospital stay, Now I’m being switched because they said they don’t want to stop the arrhythmias during the procedure. I did talk to the EP about this but he said I would be fine. Also FYI I have Paroxysmal afib. I’m 64 female with no other health issues. Any thoughts?

[BobD Volunteer]

Trust your doctor. What option do you have? An EP doesn't want to be looking for AF which is blocked by drugs after all. It could make the ablation a waste of time he if he can't promote it during the procedure to find out from where it is coming.

[Alfieros in reply to BobD]

Thank you. I guess I’m just nervous to go into afib, but sometimes you have to take the pain to have the gain (metaphorically speaking).

[Spoiler in reply to Alfieros]

I just finished my pvi ablation on the 25th, they had been unable to complete on Jan. 5th due to complications. My EP Dr had me to stop Flecainide 3 days prior the surgery, since I had already gone into atrial flutter 2 days prior discontinuing the medication I guess it all worked out. They ablated the flutter first, as it was active and on the left side. They said most flutters are on the right side, I do not know. Other than suffering from a 2-1 atrial flutter for 6 days prior to surgery and being told twice in ER (different hospital)on the same day I had converted to NSR after a cardizem bolus! I told them, NO my rate is still too fast 70’s-80’s) my normal always is low 60’s. When I arrived at the Cleveland Clinic prior to surgery and was told I had been in flutter the whole time according to my pacemaker and ER at a different hospital had it WRONG, I never converted. It was horrendous that a heart hospital could not read a atrial flutter ekg!

We will be filing a complant to the hospital, I had to take two flights and manage in airports via wheelchair for my ablation and was in atrial flutter rates as high as 200. Especially me going twice in 6 hours. Completely incompetent and did not listen to me. Even said 70-80 could not get any better than that. By the time we drove home 80 miles my rate had alrwady climbed due to the cardizem bolus wearing off. He even said it would be malpractice to cardiovert me. I have never converted on cardizem, only makes me feel better taking the rate down. Dr.’s need to listen to patients that are aware of their rhythm history and response. Long story short, for your ablation they need to be able to provoke the abnormal rhythm. In my case I was in atrial flutter, which previous to the partial first pvi, it would have been persistent afib, so guess something is starting to work hopefully!

[Alfieros in reply to Spoiler]

Oh my gosh you’ve been through so much. I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you are feeling better soon. God bless you and thank you for your response.

[Cat04]

I'm stopping my Sotalol today ready for ablation on Thursday, like you nervous what is going to kick off without it!

[Alfieros in reply to Cat04]

How did your ablation go? How did it go with stopping your Sotalol? I was instructed to stop mine yesterday. Today I start with Metropolol. For some reason I went into a fib last night, which hasn’t happened in ages, and I hadn’t even stopped Sotalol yet. I’m still not back in sinus rhythm yet. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Maybe my mind told my heart to go into a fib LOL. All the best to you for a speedy recovery.

[Cat04 in reply to Alfieros]

Hi, yes I went into arrhythmia after stopping the sotalol, unpleasant but all part of the pathway. In hospital for 8am, was climbing up the steps to the table by 9am. Anaesthetist had a lot of trouble finding veins and have a lot of bruising from his attempts.It was scheduled to take 3 hours but took 5 hours. In extreme pain in recovery room, a new word in my medical data base - pericarditis! No problem with groin entry. Still in hospital on loads of drugs and painkillers but the qood news is that the Ep was pleased with result, he had to dig really deep at one point to get to where he wanted. I'm not allowed to know whether it was a pvi or gp ablation as I am part of a trial being run by Imperial College London. To be honest at this point I don't really care, just want to start feeling better again but I can say my heart rate and my BP hasn't been this stable for years and don't have any arrhythmia discomfort in my chest (just post procedural pain). Hoping all goes well for you on Weds and keep us updated 😀 x