6 months following cryoablation, something called tachycardia just pop-up!

[Lien-Ju]

Good afternoon from France everyone!

Today I'd like to share with you what happened to me yesterday, it's a little bit long but I wanted to write the full context to make the story easier to understand.

We decided with my girlfriend to visit a beautiful place called Chantilly in France, there is a castle to visit, a wide garden and a parc where you can stay to enjoy your day.

We spent a really good time until the evening when we decided to go back to home.

We were walking till the car then I had this strange and new feeling that my legs couldn't support me anymore.

When I finally sat down into the car I waited few minutes and I started to sweat.

I knew something was wrong and then I automatically checked my pulse and discovered that I was in sinus rythm but fast one (around 110-120 bpm).

I didn't have any pill on me and we had to drive for about 1 hour.

Hopefully she was driving but she was scared that something could happen to me, I tried to do my best to calm her and then calm myself but to be honest I felt like my body was super heavy and it was hard to move. I decided to stay focus on my breath and that's what I did for the whole hour. Breath again and again, tried to calm my mind.

The good new is that it worked, after this tachycardia episode I felt like a ran a marathon and until now I'm exhausted. I sent an e-mail to my GP that told my it can be an AFIB episode but I don't think so to be honest, because I checked my pulses and to me it was regular but fast.

The only thing that I noticed since my cryoablation was the increased heart rate and thanks to you I understood that it was a common side effect (and today problem is solved).

But my question is, what can I do now? See a cardiologist or wait and see?

Thanks for you attention everyone and have a great day!

Julien

[BobD Volunteer]

This sounds a lot like atrial tachycardia which is not unknown after ablation but this usually needs cardioversion as it seldom stops on its own. Unfortunately unles you could catch it on an ECG there is no real way of knowing what it was. I tend to agree that if regular it is not fibrillation. My only suggestion is to cantact the EP who did the ablation and see what they say. A letter to their secretary should do it.

[Lien-Ju in reply to BobD]

Most of the time I keep hesitating to contact me EP, telling to myself: "If you are still alive well it is not a big deal" but I can't stay without answer. Thank for your wise words BobD.

[DJP12340 in reply to BobD]

A really useful post. I have been referred for cardioversion for atrial tachycardia, 8 months after my 2nd ablation (5 years apart) and am unsure if it is a suitable treatment. I was concerned that ablation may be the better option and I really don't think I could cope with that, as the memory of the last one is too painful! Is it worth me going ahead with the cardioversion? I know there are no guarantees, but don't want to go through any procedure unnecessarily.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to DJP12340]

I had A Tach after my last ablation and the DCCV stopped it. That was 2008. Since then I have had three more ATach events needing DCCV and am now waiting for an ablation for the A Tach with date early August. Not the easiest one to deal with I understand.

[Hidden]

Not sure if this will help but around 6 months after my second ablation I started to experience a number of runs of rapid but regular heartbeat which generally lasted anything up to about 10 mins although occasionally some lasted longer. They only occurred when I felt stressed and I found using the Vagal Maneuver (holding your nose, closing your mouth, trying hard to exhale and perform a bowel movement all at the same time) quite effective although not an attractive sight!

It’s also likely that I have an overactive thyroid and that is being investigated to see if there is a connection. It has eased significantly but still happens occasionally.

[Lien-Ju in reply to Hidden]

Interesting point if the attacks only happen when your are stressed, I was under pressure for several minutes when it happened but I didn't do the connection, because to me it was something usual.

I'll see my cardiologist tomorrow so I'll be able to ask to him which phenomenon can lead to those attacks. Thank you for your feedback FlapJack.