Post ablation

[CookieinAL]

Hi all, I had my second ablation this past Tuesday. I have been having chest discomfort/tightness, particularly when I breathe deeply. I do not remember having this after the first ablation. Is this something to worry about?

[jeanjeannie50]

Please don't fret about it. Call your GP's surgery tomorrow and get it checked out. We're talking about your heart here, not some of the minor things some people go to their doctor for.

Let's know how you get on please.

Jean

[Elli86]

Hi cookie.

I had this after my ablation 15 weeks ago. The tightness lasted maybe a week but the discomfort dragged on for a while.

If it’s to the point where it’s obstructing your breathing though probably best to get it checked out as Jean says 👍

[Snowgirl65]

I had that symptom too after my second ablation. It lasted a little over a week and then slowly faded. I believe it's perfectly normal as your heart is healing.

[seasicksurf]

I had it after my ablation. I was told the tightness and shortness of breath was due to fluid build-up in the chest from the irrigation associated with the procedure. I was coughing it up for about a week. I had a radio-frequency (heat) ablation that utilizes a heating element with an irrigated tip to control the temperature, so the fluid explanation made sense. Who knows? It went away after a few days of hacking. Hope you feel better.

[Hms03049 in reply to seasicksurf]

The symptoms sound like pericarditis. As Seasick wrote it is fluid in the sack around the heart. The evening of my PVI it got so bad I could only take shallow breathes and it still really hurt. Besides being really uncomfortable it isn't dangerous in the short term.

They gave me colchicine and in a day it was gone.