I had a cryoballoon ablation on Dec 1, 2020. 3 days later I finally slept on my stomach. Got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, laid back down and my chest started booming and I went into Afib. The same thing happened to me on the night before the procedure.
Before the ablation a few times I’d gotten up in the middle of the night and when I laid down the same thing happened but no irregular heartbeat. When my EP did my cryoballoon he detected a flutter. I went in Jan 28th for an RF ablation to take care of the flutter. Before all of the ablations I had trouble sleeping, that has gotten a lot better.
I’m currently taking Xarelto, 12.5mg of Metoprolol and 50mg of Flecainide twice a day. And a few times a day I get what feels like a gulp in my chest, guessing it’s a palpitation or a missed beat.
Still dealing with some fatigue on some days but trying to walk at least 45 minutes a day.
I also have a loop recorder embedded in my chest and I haven’t had any episodes of Afib or flutter since the RF ablation, even though the procedure put me into Afib until 4:00pm that afternoon.
I’m guessing my fatigue is from having two procedures within two months of each other. Also since I’ve been on the Xarelto since November I feel like I sometimes only get 9/10ths of a breath. Not shortness of breath but just a strange sensation and it is random. Anyone else?
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Thank you, I try to walk each day with my 84 year old employer since he’s a little unsteady on his feet at times. I’ve had to hold the back of his coat to keep him upright because his back gets stiff and it makes me walk faster to catch up to him sometimes.
I had my ablation done 7 days ago and I feel really exhausted after walking for 30 minutes, so truly amazing!And I didn't know they make two procedures in less than 3 months apart.
I have lots of ectopics as soon as I get into bed. Occasionaly I have a-flutter episodes for few minutes. I feel pretty okay when I am up and being active, but as soon as I lie down, it starts. I am not fully sure why changing your body position triggers it, haven't found any logic in it except slower heart rate might have something to do with it, but I sure have problems getting full night sleep cause of this! So you're not alone.
Yeah, it’s weird that a positional change would cause that to happen. My cardiologist and EP have no idea why. Also I’ve lost 120lbs since Jan 8, 2020 so I’m wondering if I have more room for my heart to wiggle around. My sleep greatly improved after my cryoballoon ablation. Hope your condition improves soon!
And of course last night I roll to my side from my back and boom boom, irregular heartbeat. I have a loop recorder and clicked the clicker I have to alert whoever gets the readout (and I have to upload when I’m in my truck because I don’t get enough of a cell signal for it to work at home.) I didn’t look at the clock because I didn’t want to know if it was 1 am or 5 am... Then I tried to walk with my buddy but we went down the country lane and I had to tell him I just didn’t feel good, so I took him back and let him get his walk up his long driveway. Drove to my parents, was feeling a little sketchy when I got out of the truck to go inside which was about 10:30am (I take me metoprolol, flecainide and Xarelto at 9:00am.) I laid flat watching tv, ate lunch and started feeling better. About 2:30 I decided to go upload my loop data so I drove about 5 minutes from my parents and uploaded and right after uploading, I was back in regular sinus! Whew, exhausting. Then went to help my 82 year old other boss with her computer about 4:45pm. Called my cardiologist office to see if someone read my loop but didn’t receive a call back before close. I’m sure another bout of paroxysmal Afib... Hadn’t had one since my RF ablation on Jan 29th. Ugh!
67-year-old male. I had my 4th ablation OCT 23. My first was for Flutter; the rest for AFIB.
I've had the 'gulp' and hiccup in chest that disrupts breathing. It's the PVC's and other ectopics.
After my 3rd ablation, I had them continuously and very uncomfortable. Doctor said no issues, so just ignore. I couldn't. Found 300 to 400mg twice a day of triple magnesium complex smoothed heart out to normal with a week. Ectopic beats never returned. Miracle stuff ..... and cheap, too. Might be worth a try.
I'm a long-distance walker. Been walking 60- to 70-miles a week for years. 12 days after my last ablation, I was feeling energy .... so upped my pace to 4mph and out to 10 miles (last mile uphill). I had 4 or 5 PVC's a minute after that for a week. Then they faded away and haven't returned.
Just got off 2 week Holter heart monitor. We'll see what they say about that. I didn't feel any significant erratic beats.
Most recommended dosages are too low for therapeutic benefit. With magnesium ... you know when your dosage is a little too high when laxative effect kicks in. Then, just dial it back a bit ..... and that's good.
Magnesium probably helped my aggressive AFIB a little, but did not stop its progression. However .... very helpful for PVC's and other ectopic beats. Magnesium's calming effect is quite beneficial in a number of ways.
Thanks for that........bit disappointing regarding your A/F which you call aggressive.
I was diagnosed A/F in October (last) and haven't felt myself since then. The pumping
station of my heart shows up OK on echocardiagram and my normal pulse at rest is
fairly constant at 60 bpm. I do plenty of walking etc dont get breathless, but when the nodes start misbehaving I feel rotten. Was hoping I could be ME again with the
help of magnesium... perhaps not, by the way I'm 80 and taking 2.5mg bisoprolol
You're not too old for a simple ablation ..... which may give you what you're looking for. A 2 hour procedure under general anesthesia with an overnight stay for observation might give you a lifetime free of AFIB.
A friend of mine who is your age came down with AFIB ... and on my advice received an ablation by a local EP in our city. He's doing fine now .........
Or ... if it gets worse, might consider low-dose Flecainide as pill-in-pocket to bring you out of AFIB when it hits.
Or .... take low-dose Flecainide prophylactically on a continuous basis to hold it at bay. Seems you have a number of options.
Take it easy. so impressed with your employer. It is so good to get out in the fresh air weather allowing. Good for him and you. I was going to say take it easier and go out a couple of times a day for shorter walks but it looks like it is doing both of you some good. Take care and look after yourselves and each other. Well done!
I take 20mg Xarelto every day once a day and 50ml Atenolol once a day.....I tend not to worry if i go into AFib.....I just try to do something to take my mind off it and it disappears without me noticing.....I get very breathless but that is because i have COPD and with the lockdown and shielding i've put on weight and it's made that worse....I do walk every day but i now have to use a rollator....I'm hoping to strengthen my core and walk unaided again.
I couldn't tolerate Xarelto -- felt wiped out, exhausted, and just generally not well! When switched to Eliquis, I felt much better -- and don't seem to have any side effects. I had a cryoablation 2 weeks ago --other than a high --but not irregular --heartrate -- so far so good!
I had a succesful PVI Cryo ablation 29th Jan 2018. 9 days later I went into reentrant atrial flutter , rate controlled at 140bpm by the diltiazem I was taking as rate control. ( can't tolerate beta blockers). My EP advised there was no trace of flutter on the Ecgs prior to the cryo, nor during the cryo. He advised it was the flecainide that promoted the flutter. I was not surprised it was related as my local a&e thought it was a recurrence of the afib and doubled my flecainide dose to see if I would cardiovert me and things got worse. I was breathless walking a few yards into the kitchen ,( contrasting with afib where I was asymptomatic in afib even at v high rates 195 resting ).
I had an RF ablation for the flutter on the 26th Feb 2018. That stopped the flutter Even though I was still on 50mg x 2 flecainide. Maybe this could also have been the issue with you???
I was quite a bit tired by this time but the worse problem was I had spent the 3 weeks lying down so my muscles had atrophied. I started walking round the local park after a week and did 3 ish miles and gradually built over several weeks walking and running a bit so by the 30th April I was running the 3 miles and by a month later I was running 5.4 miles. I was 57 going on 58 yrs old.
I cannot sleep on my front as I got older my xiphoid process has ossified and is uncomfortable to do so so I never had that issue.
I think i understand your 9/10ths breath but what i always thought was my breathing was always a breath or 2 behind what i needed which then led to a shortness of breath?
If so I was sure it was the rate control drug responsible which was diltiazem. I did not take xarelto any way so gave no experience of that.
Interesting... I experienced Afib in pre-op for surgery in Dec of 2019. I didn’t feel any different was just sweating a little bit and they tried to take my temperature and couldn’t get it first. Once I got it and sell my temperature was low they hooked me up to the EKG and the anesthesiologist came in and said sorry you’re in a fib we’re taking you down to the ER. So they converted me with Cardizem kept me overnight and did the surgery in the morning and kept me again and then I got to go home. I was prescribed diltiazem 180 mg. I had an echocardiogram while I was in the hospital and everything was good and then in January I had a nuclear stress test and everything was good. I stayed on diltiazem and went to the cardiologist in March and everything was good. Fast forward to June I get bit by a tick pull it off don’t have really any problems then also can I get a burning sensation on the left side of my chest where my lymph nodes are just outside my arm pit.Of course with everything shut down with Covid I call my doctor and he prescribed me a seven day cycle of doxycycline just to be on the safe side in case of lymes disease. 4 days into the cycle I’m outside talking to a friend of mine And get lightheaded and dizzy and have to go sit down. From then on I was getting hypo static hypertension and tingling down my arms in my legs. I’ve had two lyme test which came back negative and between June 2020 and now I’ve had eight blood panels and eight metabolic panels and they all come back normal. I called my cardiologist and said could it be the 180 diltiazem that is knocking me down and causing this in a low pulse rate and all this stuff. So they put me down to 120 Diltiazem them and I was still getting some Afib episodes. Before the tick bite I had no a fib episodes. So they switched me to metoprolol and for precaution put me on the Xarelto. And prior to the cryo-balloon ablation I had severe fatigue and couldn’t sleep at night. Of course nobody thinks of the tick bite had anything to do with it but my question is I had severe pancreatitis in May and have my gallbladder taken out and never had any episodes of the regular heartbeats while I was in pain or prior to the surgery or during the surgery. So I’m kind of dumbfounded while this Went off the rails Post tick bite. And part of me is also thinking I might’ve had Covid back when I was in the hospital for my gallbladder because the first night they put me up in ICU next to a Covid patient and I was only up there because of the staffing shortage they had on the regular floor and the amount of nurses they had an ICU compared to patients. And I’ve seen stuff about people having Covid having problems with the irregular heartbeats.
If you don’t mind me asking, I wonder how you managed to have two ablations in such a short space of time and how long you had to wait in the first place.The only reason I ask is that I have been waiting 18 months for my third ablation with no prospect of it happening anytime soon.
My EP saw the flutter when he did the cryoballoon and since I have a loop recorder embedded in my chest when I went for a check up he read my loop and saw I was still having some instances of flutter so he scheduled an RF ablation. I think they could be so close together because they were done in different parts of the heart is my understanding. The cryoballoon they went up both sides of my groin, with the RF they just went up the right side. I’ve been in regular sinus since 4pm after the RF because the procedure made me go in Afib.
Oh, and I went to my EP for the first time on Nov 4th of 2020, he explained the procedure and I said sign me up! His first available was on Dec 1st so I took it. Then had my follow up on Jan 6th of 2021 and he discussed the RF and first available was on Jan 28th. Now I can function! Before it was get out of bed, eat and meds, do to my parents, lay down and watch tv, eat lunch, lay back down, at 5:30 eat dinner and sit in a recliner at my house and watch tv and try to go to bed at 9:30 because I’d wake up at the crack of dawn. And repeat. 5 months of Groundhog Day basically...
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