Afib worse after ablation

[mirtilla]

I know that after ablation one has to be patient till the end of the blanking period of 3 months. But Afib gets Afib anyway, and probably it is better to avoid the establishment of rogue signal paths through the heart’s little scars left by ablation. I have a paroxismal Afib, a episode every about two or three weeks. I had an ablation ten days ago and, notwithstanding the fact that I get 100 mg flecainide and 2.5 mg bisoprolole twice a day, after ablation each night as soon as I get in bed and relax Afib starts for 9 or 10 hours, each single night.

Has anybody been in the same situation and what has he/she done? Change drugs, get a cardioversion or just wait?

[jeanjeannie50]

I believe you can only have a cardioversion if your heart is in constant AF, not if it comes and goes.

I've had many cardioversions and once when I was about to have one, my heart flipped back into normal rhythm after being in constant AF for a few months. There I was all wired up ready, but that cardioversion was cancelled.

I'd let your EP know what's happening, call his secretary and ask her to pass a message re what your experiencing to him.

Jean

[Tomred in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Hi jean , just saying ,i was given cv 3 times for PAF.

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Tomred]

You were given a cardioversion even though your AF attacks were coming and going?

[Tomred in reply to jeanjeannie50]

yes jean , this was after treadmill test and first diagnosis of paf.

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Tomred]

Are you in the US or UK? X

[Tomred in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Im in uk

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Tomred]

I'm enthralled by this. Am I right in thinking you had a treadmill test that put you into AF. So they then felt obliged to give you the cardioversion? Did your heart rate go very high? Could you raise the top of your bed, put books underneath to see if that helps your AF. That must be awful for you being in AF every night.

After my 3rd ablation, for a while I could stop my AF by taking a big breath in and then holding it in for as long as I could while bearing down and tensing the heart area.

[Tomred in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Yes jean i had treadmill which put me into afib, with very high heart rate, i had been running to drs for years and had ecgs , home monitoring 48hr numerous times etc, then one day consultant decided i needed treadmill to confirm if i really had af, lo and behold ,i went into af and was formally diagnosed with paf and taken straight away for cv, which didnt work, jean you must have read my conversation wrong , im not in af every night but i am in af every 5-7 days approx which lasts approx 24-36 hrs

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to Tomred]

Sorry I was confusing you with Mirtilla whose post this is.

[BobD Volunteer]

Firstly a cardioversion will not help unless you are permanently in AF. Secondly., like many people you are too impatient. Read our fact sheet on recovery and relax. It will get better. Three months is the absolute minimum before you need to worry.

To explain the mechanics, the scars need to form before they can block the rogue impulses and that takes a lot of time..

healthunlocked.com/redirect...

[Bell50]

hi I had my ablation twelve weeks ago today and since then have had 7 episodes and worse than before I had the ablation. My EP then altered my beta blockers a week after I had it done as he wanted to see me and I have recently had to have a heart monitor on which I will know the results from that in three weeks time, I didn’t have any tachycardia when wearing it then two days after taking it off the heart decided to play up. The worse one I had was when I was in it for 9 days that was horrible then last weekend we did a walk and it was one that I had done before but this time I was in tachycardia and I think it was the worse walk I have ever done I struggled to finish it but I am keep an open mind about whether it has worked or not and it is still early days for you so try and stay positive and don’t do too much.

[Singwell]

Early days yet as others have said. I popped in and out if AF fir 3 weeks after my first. Some days I was in AF on and off for up to 18 hours. Then I started converting quite quickly, with no fuss, then it stopped. And that was not a successful ablation fir various reasons. You do just have to sit it out if you can.

[Sozo]

So sorry your going through this frustrating time!! Humm... Well from what I understand by all my research and speaking with my doctor. yes a high heart rate is normal while healing, but actually being in Afib episode does not sound right. Maybe a second opinion?

[Andywolf]

Sorry you're having a bad time. I've had issues which needed intervention after an ablation last march.

My suggestion is to stay in contact with your specialist team which is what I have done. Changing levels of medication has been necessary to get on top of the AF and another ablation has been recommended by the consultant.

Below I give more details but I think each person has their own journey so as you will notice my history will be different to yours.

I'm awaiting a further ablation (no idea when) as it was identified that I had been experiencing (atrial?) flutter as well as AF.

Initially I had persistent AF for 2+ years ( minimum as not identified quickly (in 2016)) only controlled to paroxysmal when flecainide added to the bisoprolol (in 2019) which did nothing on its own. Paroxysmal AF occured for a few years till I was able to get an ablation in 2022.

After my ablation things were fine for six weeks with no AF, then I started to reduce my medication as advised (flecainide from 100*2 to 50*2, bisoprolol static at 2.5). Heart was ok for further weeks and so flecainide dropped to 50*1. After 2 weeks started with AF again and continuous until medication increased enough to make a difference and required increase of bisoprolol as well as flecainide. AF paroxysms occured on medication stable at 250 Flecainide daily and 7.5mg bisoprolol. Since October Flecainide increased to 300/day and Bisoprolol to 10mg/day that is the maximum recommended dose by manufacturers. Paroxysms of AF now absent.

I hope you get personal advice that suits your needs soon. My specialist nurse describes adjusting medication as requiring experimentation if that's what you need and response to it in my case was altered by the ablation.

Best wishes

[afibber57yo]

I was having 2-6hr episodes every 7-10 days for a year before my ablation. After, going on 2 months, zero AFib but occasionally a second or two of tachycardia. Zero meds. I feel really, truly lucky.