Higher heart rate after second ablation, despite being on flecainide & digoxin

[Ormy1]

Hello All. Should my heart rate to be higher 2 weeks after a second ablation, even though I'm on flecainide and digoxin? Would have thought the medication would keep it down.

[Lien-Ju]

Hello there! Apparently it is not uncommon to have a highest heart rate after an ablation. I'm almost 5 months post ablation and my heart rate is still between 76-90 (depends of my tiredness, anxiety...).

[CDreamer]

What do you mean by ‘high’? My HR took 9 months to come down to my pre-ablate levels despite being on both rhythm & rate drugs. My ‘norm’ average was 65 pre ablate and 80-120 post ablate - it came down very, very gradually and that seems quite usual for many of us. One can only imagine what it might be without the drugs.

It’s easy for us to forget that ablation means you have had very invasive procedure on the inside of your heart - it needs time to recover - a lot, lot more time than we ever believe it ‘should’.

[Hidden in reply to CDreamer]

agreed, took 9 months for mine to come down too

[BobD Volunteer]

This is exxplained in our fact sheet on recovery. HRs around 85/90 are quite common post ablation and may take up to nine months to return to lower levels.