I had a PVI ablation on Tuesday, so today is day 4. The experience from beginning to end was very good. I had all 4 pulmonary veins and a spot on the back of my heart ablated.
My recovery so far, is going well. I’m pleased to say my throat and esophagus is much better today. I can walk about 60 steps 4/5 times a day, gingerly, and my resting HR has gone down from high 90’s to 80’s. When I walk my heart pounds and I’m very SOB, but is regular.
My main problem is that I get sudden gasping for breath, especially lying down. It wakes me up and is very unpleasant. I feel like my heart is doing funny stuff when this happens. I’m not freaked out by it, but wondered does this sound normal for this stage in recovery, or normal at all !
Also I was prescribed Nexium to prevent acid irritating the esophagus and to try prevent esophageal fistula, which can be quite nasty seemingly but are relatively rare. When I took Nexium in the past, it caused me to have a.fib so I’m a bit reluctant to take it. I don’t want to do ANYTHING to mess this up.
I hope your all well. ☘️
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Eirecara
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Hi, pleased It’s done for you. I think it’s important to take the nexium as oesophageal fistula is more than nasty. If you have a contact number for the AF nurse I should phone her about the SOB to be on the safe side and in the meantime don’t lie flat to sleep. Best wishes 🍀
Yes, I had what felt like an uncomfortable pressure sometimes when breathing, especially when taking deep breath. Sometimes like you, I felt like I needed to take a deep breath. I was told this is normal since the pulmonary veins are treated in the procedure. After about two weeks, my breathing felt much better. I too refused to take the pantoprazole PPI acid reducer after my ablation, but luckily did not have any acid reflux. I also believed that taking a PPI long term caused my AF. I was on pantoprazole for 8 months for gastritis when the AF started. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Had similar with the pulmonary isolation and ablation procedure in April 19. Take a long time to see results and in my case over a year before I've been free of any strange after effects. Watch for flutter later as this is common seemingly, but easily fixed. Take time to recover, and be kind to yourself and exercise very slowly at first, the heart has to heal, good luck and wish you every success.
I was put on Nexium 3weeks before ablation as afib returned after cardioversion 3weeks earlier. Ablation seems to have worked (29th July) but reflux is dreadful even taking Gaviscon as well as Nexium, I don't like taking ppi as I took them for years and blame it for afib(it depletes magnesium levels) I could be wrong. Ep said on Thursday last he wants gastroscopy done as ablation can cause an ulcer, lovely to hear I don't think!!so I'm waiting for appointment to see gastrologist another 110euro. (I'm in Ireland and unless you have insurance you would be waiting up to a year for appointment) this was ablation no 3 and hope this works. Stay safe and well 😀🙏🙏🌼🌼💐
Please take it easy for at least 3 months post ablation. Yes, being upright and walking on level ground is good, just do not be in a rush to expand your mileage. Do not lift anything heavier than 10 to 15 lbs. Your heart has to heal from this ablation surgery. Give it time to do so. If you want this ablation to last, give it time to heal. Yes, you will die of boredom and feel useless to everyone around you. Get over it. Get some good books to read and a good collection of videos to watch. You will be in the way of everybody and a total pain in the ass. Good! That is as it should be. Unless you live alone. Just be sure you get plenty of sleep. Eat well. Let us know how it goes with you.
I had the ablation done in February 2011 in Maryland and was released late the next day. It was a cold day and we ducked into a restaurant near the hospital to get a bite to eat. When we stepped outside to walk to the hotel (we were staying close to the hospital just in case) I took one breath of that cold air and thought I was going to die. We dove back into the restaurant so I could recover and called a cab. When we saw the cab pull up outside the restaurant I held my breath until we were in the cab. Nobody warned me about the effect of cold air on a newly ablated heart. I should have been wearing a scarf wrapped around my face and neck. I was thinking of the old me, not the newly ablated. It also took me awhile to wean myself off of caffeine as I was an avid coffee drinker. It took even more time to stop the alcohol. I have never been a big drinker, but I liked having drinks with friends occasionally. Arrhythmia runs in my family through my mother and her father. 9 years out from ablation and I cannot even feel the skipped beats anymore. Yes, I am one of those one and done people, so far. Good healing to you.
Thank you, I appreciate that. It is not my habit to haunt these pages. I usually come here when I get an email that someone replied to a post of mine. Also, my situation at the time became complicated at the three month mark out of surgery. I found out I had Prostate Cancer and scheduled the surgery for June 2011. Evidently the doctors considered me healed enough from the ablation surgery to go through with the prostatectomy. I call 2011 my year of living dangerously. Recovery from the prostatectomy took me till October and I returned to work in November 2011. From my experience with AF, I know what my triggers are: Exhaustion and Dehydration not necessarily together. Exhaustion is a lot less likely now that I live in a condominium with no yard work or major projects to work on. Dehydration is a much harder trigger to ward off because I sometimes get so engrossed in what I am doing I forget to drink enough water. Now I assume that if two hours have gone by, it is time to have a drink of water.
Since I do not have many questions to ask, it makes sense that I do not have any original postings. Since I started coming here and respond to others questions, I have found a larger community of people afflicted with AF with all of their trials and tribulations. I remember running into a cardiologist on a layover in Seattle, WA. I had set out to walk up to the Space Needle. I do not remember the actual meeting, but he decided to walk with me. He was attending a convention and was taking advantage of break. We talked about Afib and other medical matters. He eventually told me that I would need a pacemaker someday. If I am not suffering any symptoms of Afib, would that still be necessary?
SR it is! Let's all hear it for SR! It is the holy grail for all who suffer from AF. My limited experience with AF informed me that I would not have much of a life if it had continued to afflict me. My symptoms were so strong that when my wife asked me if I needed to go to the emergency room, my immediate thought was that was an excellent idea. There was no way I could have driven myself there. On the drive down to the hospital, I had to close my eyes and ignore the amount of time going by. Having no idea what was going on it was all I could do to hold myself together. When I finally got hooked up to the machinery they told me I was in AF. That centered me because my condition finally had a name. I do not remember much of what went on that night. I had worked on building a fence in the back yard all day and had nothing to eat since breakfast and had nothing to drink since then either. I was so focused on what I was doing that I was surprised that it was getting dark and that I was famished and exhausted. It was when I sat down to eat that I found that I could not. My heart felt like it was trying to come out of my chest and I felt nauseous.
By morning I had reverted back to sinus wave and they tried to wean me off of the IV. That is another story. I was so glad my wife was not there to see that event. It would have scared her to death.
It sure is a nasty beast. Blighted my life for far too long. Like you I was very symptomatic. The very thought of It being no longer part of my life, makes me want to jump for joy. Don’t worry, I won’t, yet😉☘️
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