Cryo-balloon ablation completed Nov. 5

[Madscientist16]

Hi All, I am currently recovering from my cryo-ablation. I decided to write about my experiences as to possibly help others. This forum had been such a great place for support and learning for me that I want to give something back. I often commented on the forum, but I never fully introduced myself in the beginning. I am a 53 year old female from the US who was diagnosed with AF in July 2018. I have no other health conditions and was not consuming alcohol or caffeine at the time of my diagnosis. I quite smoking in 1998. Doctors thought this condition for me was hereditary because my father has had well controlled AF for 30 years. Unfortunately, medication helped my condition but could not stop the episodes. I did my homework and pushed to have this procedure done. I returned from the hospital the day after the procedure (yesterday). I suffered from an aura migraine last evening with a terrible headache and high blood pressure afterwards. I have had aura migraines before and knew from this forum that this could be a side effect. I still have a low grade headache but my blood pressure is still a bit high at 125/90. My heart rate is 95, quite a difference from the 65 before the procedure. I was not in AF before the procedure. I am experiencing some ectopic and palpitations that have already started to lessen. It is amazing how little I actually feel my heart beating compared to before. They have stopped all of my heart meds, diltiazem and digoxin, and I am only taking Eliquis which was started about 1 month before my procedure. I am taking it easy at home for the next week (I can work from home) but hope to be back to work sometime next week. I will take it day by day and see how it goes. I plan to continue to update everyone on my progress and if anyone has any questions, don't be bashful, just ask me.

[BobD Volunteer]

Thank you. No doubt you will have read our fact sheet on recovery and know about the migraine aura and also the raised heart rate which is typical. It can take three to six months or more for this to settle. Rest rest and more rest still please.

[Madscientist16 in reply to BobD]

But of course I have. Thanks for your reply Bob! Gotta go rest now.

[Hidden]

Well done Mad, it’s always good when people share their experiences and it all sounds as if things are on track. Take it easy and if it’s possible, make sure you are spoilt rotten for as long as possible ......👍

[Madscientist16 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks FJ. Will do!

[Hidden]

Since you are so young, you might want to try what works for me:

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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 50 grams today, so AFIB episodes are more frequent and last longer (which confirms the fact that Afib gets progressively worse as you age) . 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, and have done it a hundred times since. 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?? I also found that strenuous exercise does no good – perhaps you make yourself dehydrated??

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. I suspect the Pancreas is involved, but not sure yet. I also suspect there is a gland(s) that are sending mixed signals to the heart, perhaps one telling the heart to beat fast, another one telling it to beat slow, so the heart doesn't know what to do - and you get skipped heart beats, Afib, etc. 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

PS – there is a study backing up this data you can view at:

Cardiab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2840-7-28

[Madscientist16 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Rick. I eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly. Never been much of a fan of sugar but that didn't seem to prevent me from getting AF.

[KMRobbo]

I read in an article 12 or 15 months ago that a raised HR post ablation is a good sign, in that those with initially raised rates are more often succesful. So good luck !

[Madscientist16 in reply to KMRobbo]

My doctor said the same. Thanks for the well wishes.

[myrnalynn52]

May you have a great healing and hope all works well for you

[Madscientist16 in reply to myrnalynn52]

Thank you Myrnalynn.