Down time after ablation

[Electricblue1]

Could anyone tell me what the down time is after ablation as I’ve heard six weeks and six months.Asking as regards to go back to lorry driving or driving in general.

[BobD Volunteer]

Depends on where you are in the world. DVLA here in UK ban driving for 48 hours after any sedation or anaesthetic and doctors may say a week. HGV and PSV are more restricted and you would have to check your own situation.

For a general guide to recovery read this.

heartrhythmalliance.org/res...

[Hylda2]

Husband had to wait 6 weeks after his pacemaker before he could use his C1 licence

[jeanjeannie50]

There's no saying how long it will be really. I've had 3 ablations and felt differently after each one. After first I felt washed out for several weeks, the second I felt drained for a few months, but after the third I felt well immediately.

I guess it all depends on how much you have done.

Jean

[Ducky2003]

Take as long as you can. I went back to my foot health practice after 4 weeks and wished I'd had another couple of weeks. I should imagine yours would be a very physical job.

[Cara95]

My EP gives a medical certificate for 3 days after an ablation under local- and 5 days under general anesthetic . I suppose if you feel very unwell you could ask for more. But this is not usually a big deal.

[Jetcat]

Everybody is different. Iv also had three ablations and each one had its own and different recovery times much like jeanjeannie. Just book some time off and rest, keep well hydrated and take it easy.👍

[momist]

For general car driving, I would think three days at least. You don't want to tear the insertion site, and should be doing nothing but lying around at home. For HGV, I couldn't advise, but I wouldn't want to drive very far even two months after the ablation. But then, it's been a bumpy road in my recovery.

[seasicksurf]

Hello blue1,

I had ablation several months ago. I had some off beats and a bit of lethargy and dizziness that first week, but after 10 days set off on a cross-country drive (US) of about 2000 miles. The first day was ok, but on second day I was having variable HR and ectopic beats. Had to pull off and switch drivers. The driving was stressful that day (heavy traffic at times)—which probably contributed to my reaction.

I was able to drive again the next day (splitting time with my partner), but didn’t feel great. It probably wasn’t advisable to be driving. Thankfully it all worked out in the end.

It took about 3-4 weeks to feel stable and confident to drive. After 5-6 weeks my heart was apparently healed (enough) that I was no longer having bad or irregular beats. I started increasing all activity levels significantly after that and am still getting stronger—back to normal. Of course, we are all subject to our own condition and healing rate so everyone’s going to be different.

Based on my experience, I’d give it a month before driving. And if you’re the nervy type, expect the stress of driving to show up as symptoms in your still-healing ticker.

[Electricblue1 in reply to seasicksurf]

Thank you for the reply 😊