Post ablation fatigue

[oddbeats]

Hi All

Firstly very best wishes to all here dealing with this condition.

I'm a sporty 60 year old, elite athletics in my youth and exercise and alcohol induced afib starting two or three years ago. Ablation was two months ago and went perfectly with nothing unexpected and I'm trudging through the recovery with flecainide and apixaban.

Cardio said I should continue with both medications for the rest of the blanking period but as I said I'm struggling a bit with fatigue and sluggishness he said I could reduce the flecainide from 100mg to 50mg twice a day later which I have started to to do.

My question is have others experienced this extreme fatigue. I may have overdone it with five sessions of badminton last week but yesterday I had to lie down most of the day. Anything energetic is an effort to start, as if the heart needs to catch up, not realising its time to get going!

Is this normal, will I get my energy back? What are other peoples experiences.

Thank you all.

William

[kitenski]

I started to experience feeling very tired and out of breath after taking flecainide for 2 years.

I didn't feel that way after either of my two ablations.

I've since stopped it and am feeling so much better! I'll write up a bit more after my consultant phone call on Tuesday.

[mjames1]

Post ablation fatigue is very common. I'm at week 12 and still am not back to pre-ablation energy levels. A large part of it is the physical insult to the heart. And there's the anesthesia. And on top of everything, the deconditioning that takes place right after.

No doubt those five sets of badminton didn't help at all. Your body is telling you to slow down. Listen to it.

Jim

[Speed in reply to mjames1]

I believe, and have seen research that says Flecainide will limit your HR. Unlike Bisoprolol and other beta blockers, it doesn’t effect resting HR but impacts progressively up to Max HR where it reduces by circ 12%. The feeling as I try to exercise is one of the muscles always short of energy. I generally need therefore to exercise at below my previous intensity levels.

Note however, on Flecainide, it’s nowhere as near as bad as a beta blocker that I found totally destroyed any attempt at meaningful exercise.

In agreement with my EP, I came off bisoprolol as it had such an impact on my QOL

[oddbeats in reply to Speed]

Yes I was nervous of being put on beta blockers though I'm sure sure people are fine with them. I should say that flecainide was magical in its effects on the afib at first. Only later I'm noticing the side effects more. I think you're right about the "capping" of heart output. My cardio reluctantly seemed to acknowledge this at the last chat.

I'm happy to accept a reduction in exercise intensity, can be part of aging as well. but I'm glad to hear that the debilitating fatigue is usually a temporary part of the recovery period.

[OldJane]

maybe overdoing it? Cut back and let the heart mend? Good luck

[oddbeats in reply to OldJane]

yes agree. No more the three badminton sessions in a week and no gym and badminton on the same day. Yet

[OldJane in reply to oddbeats]

Hope joke. Why risk it?

[MisterMagoo]

Hi Offbeats,I'm a sporty soon to be 59 year old, elite drinking in my youth.

Like you I have exercise and alcohol induced afib but it was over a decade before I had my ablation 6 weeks ago.

I'm on Flecainide at 50mg a day and now have one or 2 short episodes a day often at bedtime but also sometimes after exercise.

I very gradually started exercising after 4 weeks and my fitness is at least as good as it was before (I did an MTB route on Friday in 53 minutes rather then the hour it took me preablation) but my general fatigue levels are higher than they've ever been. By late afternoon I'm ready to drop.

Being on Flecainide reduces my maximum heart rate from around 180 to 150 but my heart seems to be much more efficient.

My resting heart rate remains in the low to mid 50s - as it ever was.

The ablation appears to have made Flecainide more effective but I suspect that the AFib will fully return when I come off it in a couple of weeks.

[oddbeats in reply to MisterMagoo]

Hi let's hope its stays away. Elite drinking I must say I also used to be a bit heavy on the alcohol which must have been a factor in developing the condition. I've stopped that a year ago apart from very occasional glass of wine with food or shandy. Non alcohol beer can be great I find.

Agreed the ablation potentiates the flecainide and I'll go down to 50mgb twice a day at the two months point as cardio suggested.

I think you are at a very similar point in the recovery to me and the afternoon fatigue I totally recognise. People here appear to get past that in the few couple of weeks which is encouraging.

So good luck and I guess patience is key.

[Afibflipper]

Hello oddbeats, I had my 3rd ablation 8months ago but, I did have a very rocky recovery. Took 4 months until normal rhythm. Fatigue was an issue until that point. I was told a weeks recovery on discharge which now is so wrong. I thought I should be doing allsorts & why couldn’t I - the lovely people on this forum reassured they also needed more time. We’re all different but, I have not touched a drop of alcohol, no caffiene and now feel great. I hope you continue your recovery with hitches,

[oddbeats in reply to Afibflipper]

Thank and glad you have got through the recovery. Yes people do seem to have different experiences.

[Snowgirl65]

Two months after my ablation(s) was about the time when my energy started to pick up again, so just be patient. After that, it quickly gained pace and in fact was much better than before the ablation. Things will improve for you! I was just telling a friend that my energy and endurance levels now at 73 are better than they were 10 years ago.

[oddbeats in reply to Snowgirl65]

Hi, that is a good story. I'm hoping that's how mine will go. Thanks for the response and glad you're doing well.

[Snowgirl65 in reply to oddbeats]

Best of luck to you.

[Cookie24]

I was fatigued for a couple of months.

[oddbeats in reply to Cookie24]

OK seems to be a theme. Nearly at two months so looking forward.

[Moongold7]

I had hudge problems with extreme fatigue, brain fog, plus loss of short-term memory and cognition when I was first prescribed Apixaban and Bisoprolol for my diagnosis of A-F October 2021. Unfortunately, this lasted for almost two years, lessening only over the last few months - and I still don't know if either or both meds. caused it! I also gained a lot of weight which I now know, through my own investigations (doctors don't seem to know, for some reason!!) is a common complaint with Bisoprolol. It is only just recently, over the last couple of months that my memory has SLIGHTLY improved. However, I must add that 2 weeks after the diagnosis I also (which I regret very much) had the 2 Covid vaccinations. My earlier GP and Cardiologist told me they haven't had reports of Apix. and Bis. causing these symptoms, but this was in fact untrue! My latest Cardio (I've now seen 4, trying to get them to be straight up about these medications) told me that in fact the tiredness and weight issues have been known to be side-effects of Bisop. for some time!! Not sure about Apixaban, but was SO relieved to realise I was starting to remember little things just several weeks ago. Of course any questions about the vaccinations were met with absolute resistance and denial of any side-effects, which we all now know is not true either. I hate taking any medication and hope to be able to adjust to a more healthy lifestyle with more exercise, my mostly healthy plant-sourced diet, and then hope the natural remedies I also take such as Hawthorn Berry, Quercetin, Nattokinase, B, C, D and E, will mean eventually the Apix. and Bis. dosage may be able to be lowered. What may help you especially: My local chemist also gave me a bottle of CoQ10 capsules, and I found these helped the tiredness a good deal so perhaps you can ask about these. Magnesium was a real 'miracle find' as it calms the heart and other muscles and gives a lovely sleep every night - all natural as well! Hope this may help in some way. Of course time helps sort things out also, but I would keep your doctor informed of all things you want to try, as some things suit one person but not another. Magnesium is at least one they all recommend for AF especially.

[oddbeats in reply to Moongold7]

Thank you for this. I hope you're doing well now. , I'll look into CoQ10 and magnesium.

[Moongold7 in reply to oddbeats]

Yes, thanks, Oddbeats: things have settled a little but I do want to try to ease off both medications. I know they are there to lessen risk of stroke and heart attack so will be guided by my Cardio, but at least he's open to me easing off the Bisoprolol if I can do it. Healthy lifestyle, diet and exercise are the factors one needs to stay with in order to help with this. Just wanted to add that the magnesium comes in several different forms and most can cause lots of bloating and gas, but eventually I found non-buffered Magnesium Bisglycinate, and believe it's a far superior product all round. I'm in Australia and order it from a company in Canada, 88 Herbs - here's a link to their products. It's good value - about 90 capsules for around $20 at present (I think US $). I take one about an hour before bedtime, or two if I feel it's needed. All natural, so no concerns. Best wishes! 88herbs.com/product/magnesi...

[oddbeats]

Its great to hear peoples experiences on here and thank you so much to those who replied. I now feel that this fatigue is very commonly experienced during the blanking period and usually goes away. Also its not really mentioned by doctors.

I was actually questioning whether I should have had the ablation as the effect of the fatigue feels almost as bad as the afib ( except its not actually anywhere near as bad)!

Thanks again to all.

William