hello again everyone who helped me recently with my worries and fears about my upcoming ablation. You helped me such a lot, so much so that i arrived in the cath lab almost calm the day before yesterday.
however! since the ablation which i was told only lasted an hour and all went well, I went into fast AF on the ward that night lasting several hours and again this morning at home and still in AF now.
i can hear voices from some saying it’s only 2 days! but i’ve always had my episodes at night and every 2 months approx so its been manageable. right now this is a disappointment. I know so many of you have much worse but I expected to come out of the ablation better than I feel right now. you have my permission to say be patient! but any tips would be good. i’ve read the info sheet. thank you for your support x
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foxglove1
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If you have read the fact sheet then you know why. Your heart has had a really good kicking and objects very much to this. As we explain it can take three to six months to settle down again. Surely there is enough information there for you to realize that the idea of feeling better straight away is a non starter.
Any procedure or operation takes time for recovery.
thanks Bob. feel suitably in my place! i think what bothers me is i’ve only ever had episodes at night which means i’ve been able more or less to manage my life. Now post ablation getting during the day. i’ll try and be patient.
I had an ablation on Dec 30th and was in afib for 3 days but NSR before the procedure but then it tapered off on the 4th day and now no afib since. My doctor put me back on amiodarone for a month and will see if I can go without it in 2 months. It's a waiting game.
Good Morning foxglove1, I am glad you have read the info sheet. It is normal to be a bit anxious if you are experiencing symptoms following an ablation, please try not to worry, your heart needs time to heal and recover - during this time you may experience some 'breakthrough episodes'. I wish you the best for your recovery.
thank you Katrina and CD. Lovely to get responses. i’m usually a positive person but feeling very sorry for myself today as wondering if i should had elected to have an ablation in the first place. xx
I’ve also been feeling like my positivity has got up and gone - so these replies to your post are cheering. I had gone into persistent A fib a few weeks before my ablation, then went back into persistent less than two days later.
At six weeks now, so these replies give me a glimmer of hope. They did some radio-frequency ablation in addition to the cryoablation. I was also taking part in a study, so it was a longer procedure.
I have read the information sheets, but feel mine isn’t ‘some episodes of atrial fibrillation’ - it’s all the time.
Just to say that I really do know how you’re feeling, and it is difficult to get in a positive mindset sometimes. Yet it’s early days for you at the moment. Rest is the main thing.
Stress (Physical as well as psychological) = inflammation. Your heart is reacting so the best thing you can do to help yourself is accept ‘that’s how it is today’ rest and recuperate and stay positive.
Unfortunately there are no quick fixes right now but I am sure there are plenty of people who will chip in to say that happened to them but heart calmed and 4,6,12 months hence they are all the better for it.
Trust the process and cultivate patience. Go well.
Being told that this is what happens doesn’t help when you had such high hopes that an ablation would make your quality of life better. Believe it or not for a majority that is what happens hence we do not have 800,000 members of our forum.
Those who are here are often people who have experienced difficulties.
Truth is that whilst success in inverted commas is reasonably to expect it really can be weeks and or months for an improvement but believe me that is what normally happens.
In my case after the last ablation I had 5 years ago my quality of life took many months to happen but improve it did.
Try not to get stressed and hopefully all will gradually improve.
I felt wonderful just after my third ablation. My daughter came to visit in hospital and said it was lovely to have the old mum back. Next morning, before I could leave, my heart went into tachycardia and I was kept in hospital. I went home the next day after my heart rate went back to normal sinus rhythm. A few weeks later my heart took off racing again and after a week or so of that I had a cardioversion. Since then my heart rate has never gone high again Yes, I'm still in AF, but at a rate mostly between 60-90. My life feels normal again and has done for the last 5-6 years since I had that ablation.
All sorts may happen regarding your heart now, but it's what happens after a few months that really counts. Your heart just needs to form scar tissue now to block those rogue beats. Please give it time and write here if you're worried about anything.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, it's very hard mentally dealing with a heart condition but you've taken a big step having the ablation. Fingers crossed you will soon be feeling better and reaping the rewards. Take care and rest up!
thank you djbgatekeeper means a lot to read messages like this. i m usually so active and only ever have this horrible afib at night.,that’s what’s getting to me. i can cope with nighttime. still in afib from this morning hr 145 up and down. but as c dreamer says accept that this is what it is today.
stopafib.org comments: “Atrial fibrillation recurrences during the first 3 months after ablation are rather common. It is generally believed that the mechanisms of afib in this setting are different from that of the patient’s clinical arrhythmia. Acute inflammatory changes owing to energy delivery; modification of the autonomic nervous system with consecutive changes in the atrial substrate; or delayed effect of radiofrequency ablation due to lesion consolidation have been considered.”
So the key point is that AF after an ablation is, or may be, caused by a different mechanism from the original AF. There is still everything to play for- it certainly cannot be said at this very early stage that the ablation has been unsuccessful,
It will be 11 weeks tomorrow that I had my ablation and I too had a flutter after having it done then tachycardia I also stayed in over night and had to be monitored as my heart was beating too fast I have since had four episodes of tachycardia the last one being the longest that lasted eleven days, my EP who I saw two weeks ago said it can and does happen but he wasn’t sure if it was a flutter I now have so I have just had to wear a heart monitor for two weeks and I am seeing him him now again in March. I am hoping that he doesn’t say I need another ablation as on the good days I am now starting to feel much better and as everyone has said on here it takes time to heal so try and rest as much as you can.
Are you still on medication? After my (first to date) ablation in July last year I was taken off medication immediately. I suffered a lot of arrythmia and tachycardia and was put on medication again ( Amiodarone) for 10 weeks. That seemed to help the heart heal peacefully and I came off my meds in October. I have had no further episodes and hope this respite continues. So it is early days and as has been said your heart has taken a beating and until the scar tissue completely forms it is not unusual to continue to have episodes.
thank you. I was paf and on no meds at all apart from apixoban. my episodes were once every 6 weeks or so and always at night so manageable. since ablation pretty much constant af.
i’ve just got to accept this is what it is and hope for the best. thank you for getting in touch
since message earlier my consultant called and has put me on bisoprolol twice a day. i’ve never taken it and read horrible things about it, but on the ward after my ablation and getting massive AF during the night i was given 3.75 of Bisop and a magnesium infusion. that worked. don’t want to be on Bisop daily but i’ll see how the AF behaves. felt better after talking with my consultant. was lucky to get hold of him. x
That's good news. I think if you are having very fast Afib it would be good to slow it down during the blanking period while your heart heals. How much has your Dr put you on? Lots of people take Bisoprolol with no problems. Some don't need to take much for it to be effective others need larger doses. I was on 3.75 with no problems.
I’ve always been told there is a 3 month “blanking period” following an ablation where it’s normal to experience AF after the procedure. My nurses/doc weren’t interested (in a nice way) until after this time when they reacted to the fact that it hadn’t worked. Just realised as I’m typing that because I’ve had 3, since Nov ‘21, I’ve had 9 months blanking periods and I’m due my 4th ablation on 16th Feb.
I really hope you feel better soon Foxglove and I’ll have everything crossed that this works xx
I know how it feels, but you have to realise that your heart has had a huge insult and needs a long time to heal from this. If you had had a operation on a joint, for instance, you would not expect the muscles around it to be usable for weeks, if not months, and the important thing is to rest and try not to strain your heart while it does the first important step along it's healing path. Some ablations take longer to take effect than others, mine took nearly a year, with a bad session of AF at just over 10 months after the procedure. I've had nothing in the 9 months since then - fingers crossed!
don’t be too disappointed foxglove. (Easier said than done) but it really is early days. Your heart will be pretty upset at the moment having been messed around with. I’m sure things will settle down.👍
hang in there. Keep reminding yourself that it’s not life threatening as long as you’re anti-coagulated. Do some yoga and Tai Chi to learn breathing techniques for anxiety. Maybe even search out an anxiolytic(? I got on Gabapentin which helps but there are better choices).
I’ve done all the above and STILL had to get five DCCVs to stop the arythmia. But then I’ve had Afib followed by atypical flutter (left atria) and wondering what’s next!
Keep living your life as best you can; don’t hesitate to pester the medics; breathe deeply.
Yes, very disappointing -- it happened to me too. If you can consider the ablation as sort of like a wound or injury, i.e. bad when it first happens, worse the next day because of inflammation, but then it begins healing (of course not the same visuals when it comes to a heart ablation), but the idea is the same. Yours may just take more TLC before your heart stops protesting.
yes! heard that analogy earlier and it’s so good. thinking a wound. i’m already looking at the groin entry point which is healing and imagining my heart to be doing the same. thanks i was SO fed up and down this morning but feel a lot better with everyone’s support and encouragement. hope i can return to others in time x
thanks Hiliana. i agree. may i ask how much beta blocker were you taking that didn’t agree with you? i’m going to see my GP tomorrow as having similar problems.
Hi foxgloveIt was a few years ago and I cannot remember the exact figure. It was on the low side, but it caused a drop in my blood pressure which in turn made me faint and feel really washed out. I tried various beta-blockers afterwards, all low doses, but none really agreed with me. I have not tried any for a couple of years now and just take a blood thinner. I can usually feel straight away when I am getting af which is not pleasant, but the main thing that bothers me is tiredness. And of course it is not possible to tell if it is the af causes the tiredness, only possibly. I am on the list for an ablation, but have only just gone on. There is a 9 month waiting list. Best of luck with your recovery.
yes i was on the waiting list for ever - 18 months. i could have had it earlier but wanted to wait for my consultant. how often are you in afib? i was once every 6 weeks or so at night and was manageable on apixoban. hope you hear soon. perhaps a cancellation.
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I am two days after my ablation procedure for afib and a flutter. 
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