After having 6 Afib episodes and already having CAD and 5 stents, my cardiologist has recommended an ablation as the only reasonable treatment plan for me. As Im 57 he is not happy to prescribe medication that has long term side effects, and Flecainide is not an option because of my CAD. My choices are to do nothing now - but with the expectation that the Afib will get worse over time I think I'll just be delaying the inevitable. Or, go ahead now and have the ablation.
It got me thinking how long the wait might be to actually have this treatment. What have your experiences been?
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Tab1966
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Waiting times for ablations on the NHS are a bit of a postcode lottery but the general thinking is the sooner it’s done the better. In some areas it can take up to a year.
So variable depending upon where you live - ask your cardiologist. Also ask who will do your ablation and where you would have it and a lot more questions about it. It’s best to have a specialist EP who works at a major centre and who performs many each year and yo will find the centres of excellence usually in the big cities so worth travelling. It’s not a procedure I would want to have at a local hospital.
I had both mine in privately in London and travelled from Devon but that was 10 years ago when fewer centres offered ablations so the wait was for the compulsory 4 weeks on anticoagulants prior to the procedure only.
Look up the all the information you can on the AFA and be sure to read the How to Prepare and Recovering from ablation help sheets - written by patients not medics so you will get a far more realistic perspective of what it entails.
Also know that ablation is not always successful long term and often people will have 2,3 or even more as AF can and sometimes does return. For this reason it is advisable to have ablation as early in the process as you possibly can to halt progression.
Thanks for that advice. I was wondering about the wisdom of doing nothing at this stage - Ive had 6 long episodes in 12 months. With the idea that I will probably have to have more than one ablation, I had been thinking that it might be best to leave it as long as I could. I've since done some research ( alongside your advice too!) And realise that it's best that the sooner I do it the better!
I think a lot depends on where you live. I was diagnosed with AF a year ago and referred for ablation around 8 months ago. Having the procedure in just a few days!
I only had to wait 6 weeks for my first ablation at a top hospital in London but that was 14 years ago. At a Q & A session at the hospital prior to this I was told that as I had at that time a 16 year history I would almost certainly require more than one ablation. Since then I've gone on to have 3 more. I believe waiting times these days are more likely to be 12 months.
Longest period of AF free was 16 months following 1st ablation. I used to get 2 or 3 episodes a year which doesn't sound alot but they were highly symptomatic and refractory to chemical cardioversion. I usually ended up with 'emergency' dc cardioversion.
I think I'd love the surety of 16 months afib free, but of course there's no guarantee with this thing is there!! Because of family events over the next 18 months or so, we have lots of traveling abroad planned, and I feel this Afib complicates that rather a lot!
I live just outside Manchester uk. I was told the expected wait to see the EP was about 12 months then another 12 months if they decide to do the ablation.
I would have waited only 3 months for mine for persistent AF and should have had it in April 2020 but Covid put paid to that. My next appointment was September 2020 but my brother-in-law died so had to cancel that as was helping my sister move house at the time and had another appointment for Oct 2020 when the whole Cardiac Department had to close because of a Covid outbreak. At the time I was in NSR after a Cardioversion in Feb 2020. At the beginning of 2021 the EP asked me to have all my tests and scans repeated only to find that my heart had successfully remodelled itself so further cardioversions or ablations would be unlikely to work. though the cardioversion I had had back in Feb 2020 continued to work up until June 2021. I had had a long wait to see a cardiologist in the first place after diagnosis in 2017 and a lot of interruptions to starting treatment in the first place as there was no cardiologist at my local hospital - 14 months to first possible appointment - saw a private Cardio EP - out of area as there weren't any at the usual private hospital I went to, and had all tests and scans due to have 1st cardioversion with NHS 17 months after diagnosis but had to be cancelled due to Norovirus outbreak at hospital. so it was really over 2 years before I got into the system properly and given various medication and 3 cardioversions before seeing the NHS EP newly employed in the area who put me forward for my ablation - in fact to move things on I did pay to see him privately in the first instance . The 3 months wait at my major hospital was usual back before the pandemic - now I would probably say it could be up to a year.
If you could be available at short notice ask the hospital to contact you if there are any cancellations which may mean you can get in quicker.
Although I would have liked to try an ablation my permanent AF is low rate and doesn't really bother me much - also I am much older than you and have only just come to the realisation that maybe I shouldn't expect so very much from life at nearly 80 - but still manage to go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, go for long walks.
Hope your ablation is not a long wait and you have a quick and uneventful recovery.
Thanks for your reply. I hadn't thought about saying that I'd accept a cancellation - even though I've done that before successfully! And huge well done for going to the gym so often - you're a better person than me!!
Currently waiting at least 18 months to see the EP. Then I will hopefully join the 2 year waiting list for another ablation. I am referred to Blackpool.
Wow! That's such a long wait! I hope it's not affecting your life daily - more intermittently like me? I'm completely fine between the times that it happens, but the uncertainty of when it will happen bothers me more than anything!
I had my first ablation in less than a week after meeting with my EP. The first was cryo-. I was in tachycardia already. The ablation lasted about six months. I had a monitor Implant. I received a call from my doctor and his assistant one day stating they had just received a report and would like to set me up ASAP for another ablation so again within a week I had an RF ablation which lasted over a year. I took these for granted in the beginning, not realizing, what a blessing it is when you get relief from them and how you feel if you don’t get the relief, I also know now there’s no guarantees with anything when it comes to a fib there is no cure when you have it for life. Even with my fancy pacemaker at the end of the day I have relief for the most part, and I am being saved from further damage to my heart, but horrible, a fib/flutter. (I have atypical flutter.) still rears its ugly face when it feels like it and I still feel it, so definitely not like I once did and no more tachycardia along with it.
I thought I was finally getting it when it comes to understanding a fib but every day has a learning experience it seems. Today I realized I was feeling normal. I like this, so I will enjoy it while I can to those just beginning the journey. It is what it is and different for each of us even the one that we have you will find changes such a confusing disease. 😡
This was within months of Covid beginning to be serious. Thankfully, my EP and Cardiologist did not want me to stay in the hospital, so I was sent home early evening, so as not to be exposed if it could be helped
Thanks for replying. I'd love mine to take place as quickly as yours did, but I doubt it somehow! I'm feeling a bit down about it all to be honest, it's my 3rd heart condition and if I said I'm a bit fed up about it, I'd be hugely understating it! I'm sure I'll pull myself together and be fine, but the sooner I have the ablation the better!
Yes, you want to get it over just because waiting is difficult and I think the list you have time to think about it the better. In the beginning everything was like a new adventure but by the time I was going for the pacemaker suddenly I was nervous, and was not the brave soldier I had been. I was afraid I was not going to wake up, thankfully for me since a year ago this month I have been with the same team of doctors and medical staff, including the OR and even the nurses. It got to be like old home week coming and going.
My condition is unique I am told. Because of that there was no pacemaker for me as such. The device is dual, but I have HIS pace, bundling just for me because everyone is different when it comes to that and it is a relatively new procedure being done. Everything is fitted for my heart. I also have heart failure. So I do understand what you’re saying. Do you know what type of ablation you are having? Just remember when it’s over the little things you are going to feel that you might have forgotten about if you’ve had an ablation before. One of the things for me was the ache in my chest until my EP reminded me that I have it each time I have any procedure. I also end up with pericarditis as a rule although, thankfully, with my AV node ablation, I did not get it this time. My EP had me on a course of antibiotics, this time I have a feeling that’s what helped. The worst thing about the ablation for the AV node was the headache. First time for me to get one following an ablation and oh what a headache. It’s been years since I have had migraines and those were nothing compared to this headache. Thankfully, because of the people on here, I realized it’s normal for most people after an ablation.
Just reminding you so you don’t get scared like I did. And it’s OK to be scared. We are human.🙏🏻❤️
The sooner you have the procedure increases the chances of a better outcome. The longer the errant electrical signals are allowed in the atria of your heart, the harder it is to block/correct them and return the electrical path to normal.
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Thanks for your earlier support for my 1st ablation. But now more questions.
How long is long
1.5 weeks post AF ablation. How long are you on beta blockers? 
how many of you refuse an ablation 
