AF after Ablation

[Amurray77]

Hi All:

Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I had a pulmonary embolism in April and went into AF as the hallmark sign I was in trouble. I had it once 5 years ago and thought I would never get it back. Now I am post ablation, and I had one 5 hour episode 12 days after the ablation. I usually have 5 to 8 hour episodes and Cardizem eventually brings me out of them. I’m just curious, I know that it is common to have AF after an ablation during the blanking period, but is that a bad sign it was so long? Most people seem to have short runs of like an hour or less than 15 minutes. I’m hoping the ablation worked, but I’m concerned. Would love some input. Many thanks!

[djbgatekeeper]

Hi there, I had an ablation in September this year and for the first 2 months after my heart was all over the place, much more than usual. I have read a lot of posts on this forum and your symptoms do not sound unfamiliar as most folk have experienced many ups and downs along the way during the blanking period which takes 3 to 6 months. My symptoms started to ease at about 10 weeks post ablation and now I have hardly any issues thankfully.

If you are concerned in any way contact your arrhythmia nurse and get some support/reassurance as they are a great source of help, that's what I did. Also if you scroll down to the bottom of this web page and view 'pinned post's' you will see one called: recovering from an ablation... have a read of that too.

There's loads of really knowledgeable people on here and I'm sure you will get some great support and advice, have a good day, try not to worry and take care 👍

[Amurray77 in reply to djbgatekeeper]

Thank you DJB!!

[BG2017]

Hi, I had my second ablation on the 4th December, 6 days afterwards I went into a fast Af that lasted 2.5 days. I believe this is a perfectly normal part of the recovery process and shouldn’t be regarded as an indicator of the success or failure of the procedure. Good luck with your continued recovery.

[Amurray77 in reply to BG2017]

Thanks BG2017! Did your first ablation fail?

[BG2017 in reply to Amurray77]

Hi Amurray77, yes unfortunately the first ablation wasn’t completely successful - but I knew it wasn’t uncommon to need a ‘touch up’ procedure. I also was having problems with long pauses from Sick Sinus Syndrome (between 6 and 10 seconds) and I think this may have encouraged the ‘rogue’ Af signals to initiate again. I had a pacemaker fitted and now my heart rate won’t go below 50 - hopefully this will also help this ablation be successful.

Has your resting heart rate increased since the procedure?

[Amurray77 in reply to BG2017]

Yes my resting HR was in the 90’s and then at 12 days I had a 5 hour run of a fib. So he upped my cardizem back to 240 and now it is back in the 70’s. I am pretty sure it would be in the 90’s still without meds. I feel like an idiot. I didn’t get the proper information before my procedure and I was shocked when I went into AF. I was hoping I might get lucky and not have that happen. I know it doesn’t mean a failure. I’m 39 and first had AF when I was 33. 5 years went by with nothing and then boom pulmonary embolism. Thank god I went into aAf because I wouldn’t have gone to the ER.

I had been there two nights before and they told me everything was fine, that it was probably just a pulled muscle. As my clot got worse, my heart went in AF. This actually saved my life.

[BG2017 in reply to Amurray77]

Gosh you have had a difficult time.

My first ablation was done as an emergency and as such, like you, I wasn’t prepared and didn’t fully understand the implications and what to expect. (I was 43) A couple of years on, and thanks to this forum, I have understood the processes involved so much better. There is an Af ablation factsheet on the Af association website which is written with patient input and is very very informative- it is well worth reading as it will give you an indication of what to expect over the next few months.

I wish you well with your continued recovery- let’s hope it will be ablation successes for both of us!

Best wishes

[icklebud99]

I had my cryoabloation in April this year and on week 3 after the procedure I went into AF for over 12 hours and took Flecainide twice during this period. It eventually reverted and I have been AF free since. Take it easy, the heart takes a while to recover but what you went through sounds perfectly normal after an ablation. Good luck