How long do you have to take beta blockers after afib ablation? I’m on atenolol now and I can’t stand the medication. I’m so weak and out of breath easily upon exerting. I just want to lay around. I mowed my front lawn and had to stop twice. My first ablation for aflutter and SVT was a piece of cake compared to this! This ablation took 6 hours and was way harder on me. I just can’t take beta blockers I never could. I’ve been back for checkups and have been in sinus rhythm ever since surgery. Of course I have paroxysmal afib. I’ve only experienced afib twice in my life and it scared me to death! Mine is horrible getting to close to 200bpm with RVR as well. So since I’ve had it twice in 8 years they said it’s best to fix it now while I’m younger. I’ve never took beta blockers long term and can’t stand it. My resting pulse at night in a beta blocker is 65! It used to be 55 before surgery with NO beta blocker. I felt so much better before this surgery. But I know it would have gotten worse each year.
1.5 weeks post AF ablation. How long ... - Atrial Fibrillati...
1.5 weeks post AF ablation. How long are you on beta blockers?
Breathe, and understand that a week and a half is not a long time. I only had one diganosed episode of Afib before my ablation. My ablation was last September and took 5 hours. My EP said that I should not resume normal activities for 3 weeks, but, he apparently thought my normal activity was sitting on the couch and watching TV. It was 3 months before I was able to really resume my active lifestyle, and even then, I had to proceed slowly. He said that my heart would not be totally healed from the ablation for a year. I was on Metoprolol from June of 2018 until last month when he finally let me get off it. I had the same side effects, tired, exhausted. Be patient and be persistent. Make sure your EP knows what you are feeling, and what you think of being on medications. Don't be shy. You are in charge of your health care as long as you take the lead.
I find him and he halfed my atenolol dosage real quick! Which I’m thankful for. He said the only reason I’m on it is for precautionary reasons. My EP said you don’t have to take it after an ablation it just helps your heart heal quicker and helps you from going into afib or PVCs. I would quit taking it if my resting heart rate didn’t change by 10-15 beats a minute. Nobody told me my heart rate would be higher after the ablation either. They say it will go down with time. My first ablation I had no side affects. Of course it was the easy SVT AFLUTTER in the right atrium.
Do not stop taking beta blockers abruptly. Wean yourself off them very slowly.
I’m only on 12.5 mg in AM and 12.5 in PM. Basically the weakest strength half of a pill. The pharmacist said it’s such a small dose you can quit cold turkey. So did my EP. atenolol goes 25,50,100 mg! 🤷🏼♂️
We are all different. Talk to your doctor. Perhaps he can change your med I’d be very surprised if you go off at any time soon. I am still on it and I have a pacemaker now. I am also on my anticoagulation for life and losartan my beta blocker although it was cut in half recently. Everything you have said is very different from anything I’ve heard but like I said, we are all different. You do need to take a deep breath and learn to be patient. The healing part alone is going to take you some time you have to realize the trauma, your heart and body have had, it’s not going away. You are getting a break. If I were you, I would sit down and have a really good talk with my EP. It does not sound as though all of the facts have been discussed to prepare you for the future. I thought I have been fairly well prepared and rolling with it and just recently I’m realizing that the reality seems to just be kicking in after 2 1/2 years. We are so busy being in the moment with a fib that we don’t digest it right away best of luck.
I had SVT ablations which were relatively easy to get over. My EP warned me that the AF ablation would be far more invasive and take a lot longer to get over. My last AF ablation was 3 months ago and I’m still on Atenolol and Digoxin. I’ll see what my EP says when I see him next month. Don’t stress, just give yourself time to heal.
My cardio upped mine after my op for three months.....then halved them.....and I’m still on them five months on . He said it gives the heart help to heal. If you’re only one and half weeks after op don’t think mowing lawn is a good idea...you really must rest.....take it much slower, don’t push yourself, you will get there slowly.......just look on the next three minutes thst as convalescence, and let Mother Nature do it’s healing bit........I know it’s hard but it’s all in a positive direction.......
Sue
Interesting that your EP recommended an ablation after only 2 Afib episodes in your whole life. How long did those episodes last? When I raised the question, "Why not just do an ablation now if damage is done over time?", My cardiologist advised me against an ablation because my episodes never lasted more than a day and a half and lately been reduced down to a few hours. He said that the heart won't be damaged in that short a time. I was having episodes about every 30 days or so but now am on flecainide and metoprolol which seems to prevent them much better. (I've also intentionally taken off 40 pounds since my diagnosis.) I know a great majority of ablations are successful so, as others have said here, you probably need to take it easy for a few months as far as strenuous activities are concerned. All the best!
Because afib is progressive. If you have it 1 time in your life it’s gonna happen again it’s just a matter of time. Afib doesn’t go away. So where I have paroxysmal afib and had 2 episodes it would have kept getting more frequent eventually. And if you do heart ablation before the afib gets to bad and more frequent the better the success rate. I’m up in the 99% because I caught it so soon. You should tell your cardiologist you want it done ASAP! Because your just going to have to take medicine until you get sick of it and get an ablation anyways. In America they treat afib on first episode with ablation of you have insurance. As you know it’s a progressive disease and if you get afib once it’s not going anywhere it’s just getting worse like cancer.
My EP took me off all meds except eliquis. I’m 21/2 weeks post ablation and I have no afib or flutter or anything. I’m. Rey tired. More so this week than last. Some EPs do not continue medication. Don’t mow your lawn! Too soon!
Thanks! That’s awesome you’re already off medication! Did you have constant afib?
I shared your statement above regarding ablation with my Cardiologist. This is his response:
"Bill,
I don't agree that ablation is always the best or only solution. What is appropriate for one may not be for another. Procedures carry risks. If you speak to someone who had a complication, they may a different spin on it.
If your symptoms are worse, we can discuss further."
There are many opinions on this and, as he points out, we are all different.
Wishing you the best of health
It’s a VERY risk free procedure in America. I mean just minor kinks you have to deal with for a couple months. But besides my heart beating a little bit faster than normal I’ve had not 1 miss of a beat. When I go back to my EP in a couple weeks he will probably take me off all medicines. Like I said the longer you wait the worse it gets and the chances on more surgeries. Maybe your EP doesn’t feel comfortable doing it as it is a 6-7 hour long procedure that does take a lot of burning and fluids. You need to be in decent shape to handle it. What kind of shape are you in? The anesthesia for 6-7 hours is enough to kill someone. I had extra spot they had to ablate once they got in there. You never know what your gonna find! That’s why I had it done now.
I am in America. According to the American Heart Association, the typical Ablation procedure usually takes from 2 to 4 hours unless there are many more areas of abnormal tissue. Again, this is a very individual matter. I'm glad you are doing well.
2-4 on an aflutter SVT ablation. 4-6 for afib. Mine was closer to the 6-7 because of the 2 extra spots. It’s takes a minimum of 2 hours to do the mapping of the heart before they even start ablation. And then it takes 1 hour for the anesthesiologist to do the TEE of your heart to check for blood clots once your asleep. 4 hours is the minimum. Noway 2 hours on afib ablation. But yes on aflutter and SVT that’s about how long mine took. They don’t have to cross over into the left atrium which is the more difficult and dangerous part. Don’t let a doctor do yours if they tell you 2 hours just a heads up!
I’m not sure why you think it is risk free in the states. There are no procedures without risk, because we are all different. Think of it. Like cooking, you use the same recipe for years and then one time it comes out completely different and horrible. You have no idea why perhaps one of your other ingredients was different although on the surface, it looked the same.
I am in the states I’ve only had a fib 2 1/2 years. They are people on here that I’ve had a 30 years. Some were fairly young when they were diagnosed I was in my 60s. Again we are all different. It sounds like you are just at the beginning of your journey. I just realized just when I thought I was starting to understand. I have come to realize this is so different. It’s impossible to understand because it changes so quickly. You can have an ablation last you for good or for a month just like cardioversions and sometimes they don’t work at all. To have an ablation they can be off just a millimeter and it will not do what it was meant to do my EP would not do another on me, because I had had three and one was quite aggressive with extensive scarring. If they fail, why do you want to keep doing them same with cardioversions I had two. My first only lasted 3 1/2 weeks. It was heaven while it was working. And the second one failed completely with three shocks. Again if it failed. Why repeat it? The trauma it does to your body and organs is very hard on us. If I could’ve seen the future, I would’ve asked for the pacemaker right away and even that is far from perfect although the only thing that has given me quality of life.
You may want to sit with your EP and get more facts. Maybe you will be one of the lucky ones and have no further issues but you can’t rush the healing. Best of luck.
Like a lot of people I stopped all heart meds after my 3 month check up with my EP, the only meds now is anticoagulant rivaroxaban as being 65 my chad score is 2.
That’s what I’m hoping for! My doctor said the same thing where I only had afib twice. I only had paroxysmal afib I never took medicine before the surgery for it. So my surgery he said is in the 98-99 percent success rate first time. I’m wasn’t waiting till I get afib to have ablation because I’m young and wanted to get rid of it early! As that monster grows fast!
Very true it was, AF & Flutter was a monster on my back for a good number of years before my Ablation last year my QOL was abysmal but over a year now without AF & Flutter.
I had my aflutter SVT ablation 4 years ago and not a peep from my heart! Now I’m hoping the same from the afib ablation! I’m almost 2 weeks post op and I feel good! Except my resting heart rate is about 15bpm higher for some reason. They say it will come back down over time
That's true but don't expect it to happen anytime soon, my heart rate has only now(13 months later} got back to pre ablation levels when I was not in AF
Oh great. I can’t handle the heart beating faster than pre ablation. That’s the only side affect I have. It’s till only 68bpm. But I’m used to beating 52-55 resting
I was reading on your old post about migraines and jagged lights! The first week I had blurred vision and jagged lines about 3 days out of 7! It went away with heat and ibuprofen. I had no clue that was a side affect of ablation. They did a brain CT scan on me because they thought it was a blood clot 😂.. I’m glad I know why I got headaches and visual disturbances now
I was on flecainide, Bisoprolol which did work for a number of years but come the end I was in AF more times than not.
My visual disturbances on lasted a few days after the op, I believe its where they push the Catheter through the septum that separates the right atrium from the left atrium.
That’s so weird. Yeah my headaches are gone and visual disturbances also. I can’t believe you had to wait 11 months for ablation. Here in America I got mine in a week. 🤷🏼♂️. These crazy liberals over here want Medicare for all government paid health care and they have no clue how good they have it to be able to go to the doctor and have surgery whenever you want to. Of course I pay for insurance but I would rather keep it that way.
You might try the the following. It's free and can't hurt you to try:
--------------------------------
After 9 years of trying different foods and logging EVERYTHING I ate, I found sugar (and to a lesser degree, salt – i.e. dehydration) was triggering my Afib. Doctors don't want to hear this - there is no money in telling patients to eat less sugar. Each person has a different sugar threshold - and it changes as you get older, so you need to count every gram of sugar you eat every day (including natural sugars in fruits, etc.). My tolerance level was 190 grams of sugar per day 8 years ago, 85 grams a year and a half ago, and 60 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer. If you keep your intake of sugar below your threshold level your AFIB will not happen again (easier said than done of course). It's not the food - it's the sugar (or salt - see below) IN the food that's causing your problems. Try it and you will see - should only take you 1 or 2 months of trial-and-error to find your threshold level. And for the record - ALL sugars are treated the same (honey, refined, agave, natural sugars in fruits, etc.). I successfully triggered AFIB by eating a bunch of plums and peaches one day just to test it out. In addition, I have noticed that moderate exercise (7-mile bike ride or 5-mile hike in the park) often puts my Afib heart back in to normal rhythm a couple hours later. Don’t know why – perhaps you burn off the excess sugars in your blood/muscles or sweat out excess salt??
Also, in addition to sugar, if you are dehydrated - this will trigger AFIB as well. It seems (but I have no proof of this) that a little uptick of salt in your blood is being treated the same as an uptick of sugar - both cause AFIB episodes. (I’m not a doctor – it may be the sugar in your muscles/organs and not in your blood, don’t know). In any case you have to keep hydrated, and not eat too much salt. The root problem is that our bodies are not processing sugar/salt properly and no doctor knows why, but the AFIB seems to be a symptom of this and not the primary problem, but medicine is not advanced enough to know the core reason that causes AFIB at this time. You can have a healthy heart and still have Afib – something inside us is triggering it when we eat too much sugar or get (even a little) dehydrated. Find out the core reason for this and you will be a millionaire and make the cover of Time Magazine! Good luck! - Rick Hyer
Post beta blockers 
Ablation 8 weeks on
Body goes into lockdown on (all) beta blockers
Flecainide - with or without beta blocker.
