Hi fellow Afib’er.
Been offered the winter vaccinations on the 24th Oct.
I had cyroablation on the 15th Sep. What’s everyone thought on getting these injections.
Should I go for it while still in the blanking period or is it too soon. Thanks for any opinions.
If you mean vaccinations (typo / corrective text??) then why not. Flu etc is bad at any time but more so if you have AF. I have my covid booster Wenesday and my flu on Saturday.
Thanks for your reply. Corrective text is a pain sometimes and not proof reading doesn’t help 🫣
I’ve never had any issues in the past getting these vaccines just don’t want to trigger the Afib after going through the ablation 🤕
I understand how you feel.I am 8 months post ablation with 2.5 years persistent before ablation.I had the flu jab but not the covid .I had had all the previous ones with the opinion if it made me Ill I may get my ablation quicker.Now I don't want to risk it.My choice good or bad ?
Flu on Saturday, booster today. Previously never had any issues with the vaccines bar a bit of sore arm for a few days.
booster last week, flu yesterday no problems. I’m grateful to Bob for clarifying, I would have gone for vacations only because I’m away for a while from next week 🏝️🏰🎢
How you feel at five weeks post ablation can vary significantly from individual to individual.
I'd say, wait and see how you feel. If for example, you're fatigued and/or having a lot of ectopics and/or SOB, etc -- that might be your body telling you that it's not ready to mount a new defense and can use all its energy on ablation recovery.
If on the other hand, you're feeling pretty good, then take the jab(s).
Jim
I decided, for multiple reasons, I am not having anymore vaccinations so no to both Flu and COVID. I tend to agree with Jim - depends how you feel and ablation recovery can take very much longer to truly recover from than you think.
There have been multiple reports of arrhythmias starting after having had the COVID vax. I have always reacted to both and took me longer to recover from the vax last time, than it did to recover from COVID. I have autoimmune disease which is the biggest reason for me not taking anymore, my immune system felt assaulted after last year’s overload of COVID, Flu and then Shingles and I am struggling enough at the moment.
Very personal view.
I know how painful shingles can be from personal experience and wish you a quick recovery.. Best etheral
I had shingles but luckily I had Aciclivor on repeat prescription so was able to take immediately and didn’t develop, both my son and grandson (juvenile) had it so daughter in law was able to argue with GP - who told her it’s impossible for a child to develop - it’s not and he was very uncomfortable and quite ill. I got off very lightly.
From what I have read the risk of these mRNA jabs is much higher than normal and therefore even if you are feeling well I would postpone at least until you have had no problems for 6 months. QOL is most important and it is too easy to take too much medication for 'possible risks'.
This decision has to be made by you alone .
If I told you what I think of both jabs and you let that influence you, then if you did have a reaction to them or didn't and then caught what they were meant to prevent. I could be blamed that your outcome was all my fault and you shouldn't have listened to me.
Personally, because of how I felt after having them in the past and this is not advice to you, I'm not having any more.
Jean
I had both Covid and Flu vaccinations on the same day without any issues, I have had flu and Covid and been very ill with both of them as I am asthmatic, so am very grateful to receive these vaccinations!
i had my ablation on 19 th September. I was due to have my Covid and Flu jabs on Saturday 30th Sepember, so thought I’d ring the Cardio Nurses number I was given for advice and they suggested it would be better to split them up, so I opted for the Covid first, as it’s spreading round here and then had the flu one a few days ago. No problems.
It’s entirely your choice. I’m just getting over Covid , for the very first time. Tested negative today for the first time - it’s taken 12 days to clear. I’ve been told there’s a ‘lot of it about.’ I’m 57. I’ve always had the vaccines when offered.
My HR rose overnight on Day 1 to over 100 trying to sleep ( normally 60 or below) and for 24 hrs I was violently sick with this strain ( it’s a symptom of this variant) and couldn’t even keep water down, or my medication 😳…I’ve never felt so rotten in my life. Surprisingly, I never went into afib but I’m left with ectopics now that I never had before.
Typically, I got an invite to have the jab, as soon as I went down with it…I wasn’t going to have the vaccine, but I am now, now I’ve experienced what I’ve just been through. I’m going to book it soon.
It’s an entirely personal choice for you and only you can decide what you think is best.
Like you, I received my invite when I was ill in bed! It’s a very nasty variant. The gastric symptoms took me by surprise. Very unpleasant.
I really sympathise - it’s horrible isn’t it? I had no idea about that sickness…though I’ve heard since how others too have been like that. It was relentless wasn’t it? I lost count of how many times - and there was nothing in me except water….At one time I had a fear it wasn’t ever going to stop, then it was literally like a tap being turned off 😳 very strange.
Just need to get these ectopics gone now…oh and to be able to smell and taste my coffee 😳 have you lost your sense of taste and smell? Everything else seems to be back, but coffee smells and tastes like weak, milky tea 😳 I only have one cup a day, but miss it.
Yes, I had the altered taste/smell thing, it was bizarre. I tried smelling lavender oil and coffee and couldn’t smell a thing. I tried some porridge one morning and it tasted like sawdust. Some tastes were very strong, like anything with salt tasted 1000x more salty. Other tastes were just flat and seemed to have parts of the taste spectrum missing — that probably makes no sense to anyone who hasn’t experienced it! Coffee tasted as if it had been made with black pepper. It was very, very strange. It has improved but I’m not sure it’s quite back to normal yet. There is some interesting info from the AbScent website but any scent will do to help “rehab” your olfactory senses. I’ve been eating a lot of spicy food as a kind of DIY taste training therapy, but whether it actually works or not, I can’t say. I need to know that I’m actually tasting something!
I’m with you on the salty tastes - I also have overnight oats with yoghurt, oats and berries and also agree about the sawdust! That experience was fairly short lived, I’m pleased to say…pickle is good and tastes like pickle I find. I’m also totally with you on the spice….I’ve been smothering my food in Levi Roots sauce too to get flavour. Chocolate -aaaargh! I like 70% dark and it’s tasting like treacle.
I read about the smell training and may have to get onto it. I have a lovely almond shower gel and it’s been smelling rancid, though I think I detected a very light whiff of my beloved almond this morning, so hopefully it’s coming back.
Interesting that coffee is like black pepper for you 😬 I really hope this isn’t long term for us, hopefully not 🤞
May your taste buds return to normal very soon.
Take care.
Thank you. I think it’s recovering but it’s not 100% yet. It’s certainly been a strange experience.
I’ve just had to tell you….tasted my coffee this morning and it actually tastes like old socks 😳 not that I’ve ever tasted old socks. I’m heart broken. I’m now a few days negative and praying this doesn’t last 🤞
I think it' s better to wait at least 10 days after testing negative before you have the jab - it could be longer. Best if you ask.
Thanks Desanthony,
I’m going to 😊 there is such conflicting advice on the NHS’s own website about Covid I’m going to work it out myself I think….they say two different things about it & they obviously haven’t updated it correctly which is disappointing ( but not surprising) . It also conflicts with what’s on the Gov.Uk site, so yes, we’re going to wait another two weeks so it’ll end up being about 4 weeks after first symptoms in the end.
Thankyou again.
Yes previously when the first few jabs were being given my sister and a friend of ours who had just had Covid were told to wait a month after first testing negative after having Covid. They usually say 10 days after having antibiotics or cold or infection for flu jab so thought it may have changed to ten days by now. Obviously no-one can make up their mind on this one or parts of the websites have not been updated - as you say not surprising.
I last had a flu vax when I was in school 60+ yrs ago and had the flu once in 1999/2000 for 10 days and obviously recovered. It was ironic me catching it, as I was having a bit of time off work after mixing heavily with the public in my working life. Re Covid I am intouch with numerous people who are mixing with 100s of people daily and most didn't get Covid when it first came out. The two or three that did were back to work in next to no time with most claiming it was fluey symptoms. I had somethinglike a heavy cold for around 36 hours and was then fine - no vaxes of any sort for me.
I wouldn’t dream of giving you advice as it is a very personal decision
I had a pacemaker implanted in September and after a couple of weeks with the pacemaker surgery my afib tachycardia decided it would fight the PM. Thankfully it has settled now and all feels well
However my point is for me I don’t think I will have any more covid jabs, right or wrong, because the last two left me with 5 weeks of afib tachy snd I don’t want to upset my pacemaker again
I have to say I’m still undecided but worried so good luck and best wishes whatever you decide
Looking back at my records, looks like I had my RF ablation Mid Nov ‘21, my Covid and flu jabs a week later and 6 weeks after that did my fastest 5k run for at least 5 years. From that I infer (but it’s not fact) that neither jab nor timing made a difference to my health. 3 days after my fast 5k, I got Covid - pretty mild, only stayed in bed because I was isolating from the rest of the family trying to keep them safe. Had 2 days where I had a slight impact on breathing and had to put a little more effort into it. Tester +ve for 10 days.
Since contracting Covid, I’ve never got close to that 5k time again. For 6 mths, my breathing was laboured every time I ran. When swimming I was literally gasping for air, I just could not get enough air in to swim even at a moderate pace (front crawl head in water, breathing very 2nd stroke - I used to only need to do every 3rd stroke).
It took a year before I was no longer struggling to get enough oxygen in my blood. Even today I can’t get anywhere close to my 5k time nor my old swim pace.
I believe that catching Covid, has had a long term impact on my body. And that was despite having had the vaccination which contrary to popular belief the real benefit is reducing the severity of Covid and reducing the chance of you passing it on rather than stoping you catching it.
My view is therefore that although without risk in itself (over 50 people in the UK have had the vaccine attributed as the cause of death), the risk is far greater from not having it (those dying not having had the vaccine are in the 10s of thousands).
Would my Covid have been much worse if I had not had the vaccination? I’ll never know for sure, but I will continue to get the vaccine when available.
However, these are my own experiences and we all differ and have different values and approaches to risk.
How awful that Covid has left you less able than before. I hope you improve in time. I agree it’s not a benign infection for some people and we can’t predict who those people will be. I’m also of the view that the purpose of the vaccine is to prevent severe illness and death. My neighbour died in the first wave in 2020 and was only in his 50s, no known underlying conditions. I’m reminded of that every day because he really has left a big space. We know that vaccines aren’t perfect but we can’t go back to a time when Covid didn’t exist. I think complacency will catch people out, sadly.
Had both, no problems. Like to feel protected from the worst of the symptoms.
All the best.
Roy
Well, lifeboatbob, you asked a simple question, should I have vaccines in the blanking period after an ablation, and didn't get many answers. BobD, who probably knows more about AF, than most posters, gives a positive answer.
I can't answer as I've never had an ablation. If you'd said you were in permanent, though asymptomatic, AF, I could have answered, as I am, and I've had every jab going, not just covid and 'flu, but shingles, pneumonia, TB and polio, and probably others when I was younger.
I notice you are 52 which is much younger than most people being offered Covid vaccine, not sure about flu. That suggests you have a medical condition (not AF) which qualifies you? Up to you what you do but you have to bear in mind that you will be much more ill with the real thing than a vaccination so if you decide against I would be going into hermit mode or wearing a very effective mask during the blanking period!
I had my RF ablation on 8 August and then had my Covid booster on 27 September and flu jab on 7 October. Did worry about it but no problems with either so if you previously had no ill effects, I would say go ahead.
I would be tempted to check with cardiology about this. I’ve had all my jabs to date, but do prefer to get them separately. When I got the Covid one, they asked where I had got the flu vaccine (paid in Boots), and was told not to pay for it next time but to just say I only wanted the one, then return on spec for the other.
I’ve not had any reactions to vaccines at all - except for a sore arm and a headache after one of them. (Didn’t happen this time though.) However, last year I caught Covid, just 10 days before my booster was due, so I had to put that off. I wasn’t very ill and didn’t (immediately) go into AFib. Yet a week after the infection cleared I went into AFib and this time it didn’t stop.
I was waiting for an ablation, and that kept me in rhythm for less than two days. Too much fibrosis in left atrium for further procedures. I will never know if that had built up over the years or whether the Covid infection hastened it all. But I’ve gone from one, admittedly week long, episode a month to persistent AFib with rate control only.
It has to be your own decision in the end. One factor that I’ve always felt is that choosing vaccination is something we have opted for, so we have more of a tendency to worry about having made the choice. Yet catching something like Covid can be so much worse, so really the decision not to be vaccinated is also on us.
So sorry about your ablation complications and last year’s Covid. It’s a nasty sneaky virus. I had AF about 3 days into Covid and many more ectopics after a period of relative calm. I’ve definitely been a lot more “skippy” since then.
Thanks! I’m sort of resigned to it now, as usually my heart rate isn’t too bad on the Bisoprolol. Though it’s been a bit bouncy since I half ran for a bus yesterday.
It is indeed a sneaky virus, I will definitely keep up with the boosters.
Rather than give an opinion, I will give my own experience. I'd had a wonderfully successful ablation and got the shots 3 & 4 months later. After the second I reacted right away with a month of shortness of breath. But that wasn't all. A few months later AF came back worse than ever. My cardiologist says no more of those shots for me. I am so thankful he has protected me from a third shot. I've since had another ablation but I don't feel as well this time. I won't be getting the flu vaccine either.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment.
Have decided that after only having the ablation 5 weeks ago, and it’s only been the last 7 days I haven’t had an Afib episode. Don’t want to tempt fate or trigger something over the blanking period.
I’ve went ahead and rescheduled my appointment for 30th Nov and will see how I am then.
Your decision should be based on your risk of getting the vaccine compared with the risk of becoming infected without having the vaccine, because that’s reality, unfortunately.
How long is it since you’ve had flu ie proper influenza and not a bad cold that made you feel a bit rubbish? A lot of people haven’t had flu for a good few years because of not mixing as much as prior to 2020 and have developed a false sense of security. As for Covid, how do you think your body would deal with it if you were still recovering from your ablation?
Do you think you can live in a bubble over the next few months and successfully dodge becoming infected with flu or Covid? That’s a legitimate question because some people can still “shield” if they’re not working and can go without socialising very much. We don’t live in a virus-free world and if we’re out and about we’re going to be exposed at some point. So really it depends on your risks and your exposure. If you haven’t had flu or Covid since 2020, be assured it’s not if, it’s when. It will happen at some point. Consider your personal risk and make your decision based on that.
I rarely post to this forum, but after enduring a severe reaction to the Moderna Vaccine "Booster" this past Friday, I would not encourage you to get the so-called booster if it is from Moderna. After speaking with my EP and PCP, they both advised that Moderna is not exactly the same as the Pfizer this year. Additionally, neither are boosters for your previous jabs since they have both been modified for protection against the newest variant, hence they are referred to as Mono-Valient this year. The Moderna has an additional ingredient to create a more robust reaction for more "advanced" protection. Had the injection on Friday, 10-13 and the following 72 hours were miserable, to say the least. On Monday, speaking with my EP, he advised to take an additional half dose of Sotalol 80mg and within an hour I was back to NSR. The mRNA vaccines can certainly do a good job for what they are intended but behold, this year's version is far more than a simple booster.
I would say it all depended on how you feel? If you feel you shouldn't have the vaccine just yet and you need to take precautions against catching Covid - which could be much worse than the vaccine, then wear a mask when in public - preferably an FFP3 graded one and go back to taking the old precautions until such time as you feel OK with having the vaccine.
We re wondering whether to have the flu jab as my husband is in permanent AF wondering if it will effect it
Vaccine for pneumonia
So how does the winter affect your AF? 
