Hi all.Had cryoablation last Wednesday at Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital under Dr Todd. Brilliant hospital and EP. Wasn’t completely straight forward and had funny turn when they tried to get me up. Also had a lot of bleeding from groin and ended up wearing a femostop for 4/5 hours and then a thick pressure dressing for a few more hours.
They found I had a common vein on the left that showed irritation. I went into Afib as they finished so they shocked me but went straight back into Afib. They tried 3 times to no avail. Dr Todd saw me next morning and said they would give me some bisoprolol and extra Flecainide but if that doesn’t work I was nil by mouth the following morning and would try shocking me again.
Only got as far as one dose of bisoprolol and hour later back in NSR....phew.
Back home Friday and it has been rather slow recovery so far or am I expecting too much too soon? I’m doing everything booklet says. I have a tight chest, coughing, ectopics and had a very short run of Afib Saturday. Acid reflux has been awful as well. I know all these are part of recovery so not worried, just annoyed.
This evening though I had a chesty coughing session, only about 10 seconds but I bought a small blood clot up. About the size of and apple pip and dark red. Cough actually felt better afterwards. I rang the ward I was on and spoke to a staff nurse. He said he didn’t think it was anything to worry about and it might just be some debris. Was told to keep and eye on it and if it keeps happening or clots were big to see my GP or go to walk in centre. I did have a TOE’s as well.
Has this happened to anyone else? I live on my own so was a bit shocked at first as didn’t know what to do. I’m calm now.
I don’t want to take chances or be stupid about this but do think it’s possibly debris I bought up after everything done but would like to hear from anyone else this has happened to.
Many thanks and sorry for long post.
Love Frances xxx
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Hi Frances and yes I do think it likely to be debris from the TOE and intubation during the procedure. I had quite a sore throat after my ablation last month as well as some bad oesopheal pain which I treated with a short course of ppis for a few days. The reaction you had sounds quite normal as well. My heart reacted quite badly to my ablation for atrial tachycardia and even now at five weeks I get occasional short self correcting runs of ATach (less than 30 mins). It is a slow steady recovery so stay resting as much as you can for a bit longer and don't forget to stay well hydrated. By the way I had a new type femstop which was stuck on rather than the old clip held on with a great bandage. Made me wish I had asked then to shave a bit larger area. Like the old joke goes, do you want it off in a series of whimpers or one loud scream. lol 😂
Thank you Bob and that is reassuring. I am moving around the house fine and stairs feel easy, but I’m not overdoing it and spend hours on sofa. Must drink more now you’ve mentioned it as I’m not. Did go to end of drive (which is on a slope) yesterday with some rubbish. Fine going down but coming back up was a different story 😬. I’ve never felt so incapacitated or weak.
I had the belt and brace femstop. The thick pressure dressing was a different story when they can to remove it. I think I uttered something about people paying good money to have this done! I had shaved myself and only did half. Note to self “if I have this done again the whole lot comes off”. Oh and the bruise is fantastic. I’ve taken selfies!
What was new was the forehead contraption that showed how deep I was under anaesthetic.
I unfortunately suffer from acid reflux as it is so the acid caused from the transseptal puncture is the cherry on top.
Despite all this I’m glad I’ve had it done and would do so again.
I was talking to the anaesthatist before he put me under and asked about horror stories about people saying they were aware of surgeons cutting bits out of them and his replay was interesting. He told me a) that they used an electrode strip on the forehead to measure brain activity so they could tell if your were waking up (like yours) which I had never had before and b) that the greatest risk of the occurrence was during C section when the mass of the baby did sometimes mess up the equation of how much to give. (I think it is dependent on body mass etc). So we constantly learn something new.
I think the digestive thing is more inflamation of the oesophagus from stray heat during ablation.
The mechanics of the ablation and the proximity of the oesophagus to the back of the heart can mean that it can be irritated by the heat of the ablation. This is why in our fact sheet on recovery we tell people that this is not uncommon but a couple of weeks of PPIs is usually more than enough to smooth it over. I think I took pills about five times over the first two weeks and Gaviscon a little more often.
How do you know it’s a run of AT that you get? Does it differ from a reaction of your hart to the ablation? So how do you know the difference between the 2?
OK hands up I don't. I just assume that with a rate of around 140 to 150 which is typical of AT then this is what it will be, just as people with AF often get short runs of AF for some time after ablation until the scars form at 3 to 6 months. Until such time as the hospital sorts out my 48 hour monitor I'm relying on my own 15 years experience. (Since I just had the date for my three month check up they need to sort themselves out. lol )
Had a little giggle Bob when I read date for 3 month. I was told at consultation my ablation would be October/November. Couple of weeks later I got a letter with appointment for follow up 10th January. No date for ablation. Rang the secretary and said I take it if I’ve got a follow up I’m having a procedure first and she laughed. Yes, on 18th September. Don’t know why it was 1-2 months earlier but certainly wasn’t complaining.
Mine is AF but have had one or two ATs that I know about. xxx
Oh ok. So you get runs of 140 or 150? So it does come suddenly and disappears after a few minutes?
I asked you because my HR is still high after my hybrid ablation of AT which was 4 months ago. So when I rest it is in the mid 80’s but when I move it goes up to 90’s and over the 100. But it goes slowly up and comes slowly down. The doc says that I don’t have a arrhythmia anymore, but a bit sinus tachycardia. They will try to get my general HR down with excercise.
So it’s because I’m still in doubt if they cured it and really don’t know what to think about it, so it is interesting to know how other experienced people like yourself, are living it.
Hello, I am curious if your heart rate has settled down and if you had these numbers even on rate control medication? I am 3 months post Afib ablation and I have the same heart rates ( mid 80’s at rest and above 100 walking around)I have these rates even though I am on a small dose of metoprolol. I was also told that it was sinus tachycardia and that I needed to try and lower it through exercise. I am hoping it all settles down and my heart rate goes back to normal. Would love to know if you have had any luck getting your heart rate to go back to a more normal number.
That means, when I am really resting at night in the sofa, I get around 78 to 82. Sometimes when I have a really good day without any stress I get 75.
While moving around the HR still goes around the 95-105.
When I’m exercising at the cardiac revalidation my HR has already dropped a little since I got there the first time.
I think it dropped 10 or so since the beginning.
BUT... when I walk and talk at the same time or stress a lot and walk, sometimes my HR jumps to 150 to 170, but this is not longer than a minute or so. So I told it to the cardiologist who is following me at the cardiac revalidation and he told me, I really have a sensitive heart and this wil never change he told me, he presumed that I already have developed this since I was little...
At the moment I have a few sessions with the psychotherapist and she is trying to get to the bottom of my triggers that give me stress.
They think that if I can get rid of some of my triggers that this also would be beneficial for my HR so it can drop some more.
I can quite understand your concerns and need for some reassurance. I echo all that Bob said.
I also have joint pulmonary vein and I had the experience of heart stopping at the end of the procedure - awoke to find nurse pumping away on my chest so it does happen but I recovered quickly.
I found the dry cough - irritations in the esophagus caused by the TOE - took a few weeks to disappear and the acid reflux - quite a few months. I found sipping warm water, avoid tea or coffee, regularly really helped.
Take one day at a time and only do essentials and listen and tune into your body signals, trust your body, it has far more wisdom than your brain. If you are breathless - slow down, if you are tired - rest,
Thanks CD. I expected all the above and was quite prepared for it.....or so I thought! It’s being so weak that has floored me. The clot was a bit scary at first but once logic took over and I had it comfirmed I was fine. Acid seems to come in waves now but for me having acid reflux anyway it’s like acid on acid 😬.
It’s the coughing that’s getting to me. It hurts the chest to keep coughing and have to hold onto groin to stop that hurting at same time. It’s not long stopped weeping so don’t want to open it up again. I must look a pretty picture 🤣
Unless I try I won’t know and as I feel I can do a bit more I will try going to end of drive again. If it floors me then I’ll give it a few more days and will let nature take its course.
Keep looking at bruise as I think it was Bob who said it was a good indicator of how the heart is healing. Mine is still a deep purple but can see fading around the edges.
When they were trying to stop the bleeding in recovery I had all these people rushing around getting things and a nurse pressing down hard on the groin. Once they had clamp on and was back in my room 4 nurses were rolling me to change sheets which by then were saturated. Even in that state I can remember feeling quite humbled that all these wonderful people were there just for me, looking after me and helping me in every and any way they can. I can’t thank them enough. xxx
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