So I had my SVT Ablation on Thursday at St Thomas’.
Not a great experience. Procedure took 3 and half hours. I was awake the whole time and conscious of everything!
Four puncture wounds on groin. Two either side.
I could feel the catheters going up into my veins and tweaking around my heart. I had terrible pains in my lower back, like electric shock.
The nurse kept asking me if I felt sleepy, as she had given me two shots of fentanyl and liquid paracetamol. I said no I’m wide awake and very uncomfortable, I could feel everything.
She then looked at my arm, which had swollen up like a tennis ball!! The painkillers and sedative had been going straight into the tissue and not my vein for the last two hours!! The cannula was not in my vein!
No wonder I was in so much discomfort!! Plus my knee was absolutely killing me from my total knee replacement I had 9 months ago. It was the lying still for hours. The cardiologist kept saying try not to move your legs.
Very uncomfortable procedure indeed.
When they administered the Isoprenaline to speed up my heart I was gasping for breath.
Horrible feeling. Felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest!!
Once they realised their mistake they injected the fentanyl and painkillers into my groin.
Instant relief as you can imagine, but far too late! That was done in the last half an hour!
So for 3 hours I had no sedative or painkillers!
Not a positive experience for me sadly.
All day Friday my heart was all over the place. Many palpitations and ectopic beats all day and night.
I felt extremely emotional and exhausted.
Yesteday was a better day. I think I’m expecting miracles. I know it takes around 3 months for the scar tissue to form in the heart. So I won’t know if it’s been successful until that happens.
They couldn’t trigger my palpitations during the procedure but he did ablate something, which he assured me would help with my symptoms.
If I were to need another ablation I would DEFINITELY make sure I was sedated and dosed up with painkillers!!
So I now have a tender, bruised arm to add to all the other effects of an ablation.
I guess I’m just one of the unlucky ones and this is very rare.
I feel quite let down that I had to suffer, when they should have realised I was in pain, discomfort and obviously wide awake!
The nurse actually said “Carol you’re hardcore, it’s not having any affect on you”
I counted 10 people in there with me.
My partner has since spoken to that nurse and expressed his concerns. She apologised and said as soon as they realised the mistake she removed the cannula and injected the fentanyl into my groin. Not good enough really is it!
I’m sorry to share such a negative experience, but that’s what this group is for isn’t it. To share our own personal experience.
I’m just praying my ablation has been successful and I don’t have to go through that again.
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I agree with you it's really not good enough. I once had something running out of the cannula in my hand when I was having a procedure, but I was able to tell them about it. It must have been absolute torture for you to be awake and with no sedation.
I'm sure you will never have to go through that again. A general anaesthetic is so much better, see if you can have that if there's ever another one. I had 2 ablations with sedation and the 3rd and last one with a GA. I recovered faster after the GA one too. Was sick after the very first one with sedation.
The majority of stories I’ve read involve GA, god knows how I got through (most of) that with no sedation or painkillers whatsoever.
My partner said to me “Surely out of the 10 people in there with you, one of them must have thought she’s still wide awake and wincing in pain!” You’d think so wouldn’t you.
You certainly would think they would have realised that you were awake, though I guess most would be watching the screen and where the catheter was going. For my first ablation I had a nurse sat watching me all the time, Whenever I started becoming a little aware he would signal for more sedation. Being wide awake would be enough to give you PTSD, it must have been like a form of torture.
So sorry to hear how you suffered, it was careless of all medical staff. I have to say that yours is an unusual story.
Jean
No consolation for you, but your experience is something I have never heard of before. I hope you get an explanation as to what went so wrong. All we can do now is hope your recovery period is far less traumatic and that things get much better for you soon, best wishes
You are doing the right thing. At least it might prevent it from happening to someone else and make sure that they do what’s best for you to get over your terrible ordeal……
I was aware about what was going on, some discomfort but no real pain as such until I heard the words PACE then I got a few almighty jolts. I also felt very cold at times but the team responded well to requests for more knock out drops! Seems so long ago now!
Gosh ... what a drama and what a terrible experience. I have never had the experience of either cardioversion or ablation and so have nothing I can relate to ...... but I do congratulate you in the way you put your experience into a post and gave such a balanced view of your experience. Hopefully it will do two things ... 1) still encourage peeps to proceed with an ablation if that is the deemed appropriate approach to problem solving and 2) your post hopefully will enable others to just accept yours is a one off experience, al beit an unfortunate one. Maybe also increase peeps awareness of the surgery issues that they might otherwise not hear about ... as you say 'one purpose of the forum'.
Wishing you a very speedy and complete recovery and most important a very successful one with no repeats. 🤞😊
I won’t know yet if it’s a success. Apparently it takes the heart up to 3 months to heal, so I could still get the dreaded palpitations, which I was on Friday. I’m still taking my ramipril and diltiazem.
Another shocking thing is, when I called the team for a follow up appointment as advised, the secretary told me I could be seen in September…….’SEPTEMBER’ I repeated.
That’s 10 months from now. Was told follow up needs to be done within 3 months of the ablation 🤷♀️
Blimey 10 months? My one is due next Monday at Barts, which is 4 months after the ablation. And that's only because I was away on holiday when they originally wanted to do it. Maybe that's because I'm on Amiodarone which they don't like keeping you on for more than a few months. Can't believe the difference in experience you've had, especially with both hospitals being only 2 or 3 miles away from each other. The only time I felt I needed more relief, was when I could feel the blood almost boiling up my neck every time they did the burns. Luckily I only needed about 4 or so of them and as soon as I reached the point where I felt I couldn't stand the heat any more, it subsided. Lets hope it's all for the best for both of us Carol. I had one little run of AFib lasting about 3 minutes which happened at the end of the 2nd month. But they said it is quite normal, so hopefully your palps will subside as well. Good luck x
I had my ablation for SVT sept 23 at Barts, it is 7 weeks and my heart has threatened to go into an attack many times but reverted after 10 minutes. Apparently the operation was successful so I sure hope it will be at the 3 month recovery period.
Hi Carol. Sorry to to read about your recent experience. To my mind your response demonstrates great strength of character on your part. You describe an awfeful experience which is thankfully atypical from that of most people who undergo surgery.Regards.
I’ve had palpitations all my life. My mum noticed something wasn’t quite right when I was 2yrs old. I’m 55 now, so back in the day technology and research wasn’t as good.
I was diagnosed with a heart murmur. I remember my palpitations getting worse through puberty. They would last around 20-30 minutes, not a great length of time but very distressing when your heart rate is 180 beats per minute.
More investigations and I was told I could take medication, have surgery or live with it.
As a teenager I decided I didn’t want surgery or to take meds. So I opted for the latter.
My first pregnancy at 21 made them even worse. Lasting from 30 - 50 minutes and coming more frequently.
The same with subsequent pregnancies.
They seemed to settle down a bit for a few years. Still quite frequent as in every other day, but not lasting as long.
When I reached 50 (peri menopause) they became more frequent. So there is a pattern with hormones.
I was referred to St Thomas’ and more investigations. They discovered I have AVNRT and early signs of dilated cardiomyopathy. Inherited TTN gene. I was put on Ramipril and Diltiazem. Which have helped, as in the palpitations don’t last as long and aren’t as powerful.
I still get them every day. Mostly when I’m in bed and they sometimes wake me in the night.
They can range from 2 minutes to 20. A trigger for me is alcohol, which I love but have cut down considerably and only drink socially now.
I have a loop recorder, which was fitted last year. My EP offered me the ablation around 2 months ago, so I decided to go ahead.
I’m praying it has worked. I’m still getting palpitations, but it’s only been 4 days.
Truly horrible experience which I consider medical mistake. How could they not notice that for hours? Number one is to make sure the needle is within the vein before fixing it!
However I noticed how you describe alcohol. Try to cut it completely for a while as it may considerably lessen your symptoms. Alcohol is heart toxic in any dose, sorry.
I know. I do try to lay off it as much as I can. The odd glass of wine or vodka is fine. I don’t tend to get more palpitations than normal. I’m talking 4 or more.
Thank you for sharing - it is so helpful to hear other people’s experiences of this condition. I am 56 and always had ‘palpitations’, but noticed as you did that pregnancy made them more noticeable. When I went through the menopause my thyroid became underactive and then at 52 I first had the more dramatic episodes where I didn’t self rectify and went to 220-240bpm. This resulted in an ablation for flutter and 2 years off the Bisoprolol, but then another episode earlier this year saw me going back on it and I was told it was SVT.
It has put me off yes , but if I do have to have another ablation I will make sure I am sedated and given painkillers through a cannula that is actually in my vein! I’ll make them check and then check again.
I know if I had been sedated it wouldn’t have been so traumatic.
I don’t want to put anyone off having an ablation. I hope my story has helped, as in someone checking everything is how it should be before the procedure proceeds.
I’m so sorry you had that experience. It’s difficult to believe they don’t have a protocol for checking the patient isn’t in pain. If they did, they obviously didn’t follow it. I am down for an ablation at some point, not sure when yet, but just wondering what the rationale is for not having a GA? I can’t imagine wanting to be awake and having to keep still for such a long time.
I agree. That’s what amazes me. There were 10 medical staff in the cath lab with me.
I counted two shots of fentanyl in the cannula before she realised something was wrong.
She obviously saw my arm swelling up and a vital clue would be I was wide awake and alert.
The keeping still was very uncomfortable, as I had a total knee replacement 9 months ago. Still recovering from that. My knee was aching so much. I had shooting pains in my lower back too like electric shock. He said it was probably the catheters touching a nerve.
God I sound like a right miserable cow moaning, but it was honestly very uncomfortable.
Hi, I was concerned about having an ablation and sort of talked my way out of it at first but my svt got worse over time so I went back to my cardiologist and said basically I am ready, can I now have an ablation. I think that they accept that a patient knows when they are ready. It was all ok, no issues. Lying flat for about 2 hours afterwards was probably the hardest bit.
My svt episodes meant that my heart rate (hr) would instantly jump from say 80 to about 140. It would stay high for say 15 minutes the instantly drop back to 80. Various things would trigger it, stress (adrenaline) being the main one but also bending down to look in a low cupboard or to tie my laces etc could trigger it. I found by chance that I could reset my hr by lying on my back. This would usually instantly reset it. As time went on though my episodes became more frequent, say daily, and lasted for longer, maybe 2 hours and I also couldn't get it to reset myself, hence ablation.
As to your question, after my ablation I had no episodes of high hr, no palpitations or anything. I'm not on any meds. My ablation was about 3 years ago now. I am 67 male.
Mine too can be triggered by coughing, sneezing, bending down and even someone slapping me on the back once.
I feel disappointed I’m still getting palpitations , even after the ablation on Thursday. I know none of us are the same and our recovery is very different. I was hoping for instant relief
I can’t say I’ve had a full blown episode yet, but I’m experiencing erratic heart beats and ectopics. I’m hoping these will settle down
My hubby had similar. 6 hours, heart rate sky high, didn't manage to ablate anything, was awake throughout. Now told can't do anything for him, he's as good as he's gonna get. Just has to live with it. They nearly lost him, he was grey, the shock pads fell off, he was sweating so much. Wasn't a great experience. I put a complaint in on his behalf which got us nowhere. They did try again under general but he had a clot in his appendage they said so couldn't do it and not going to try again. Now he's to have a kidney out while suffering with AF and has both flutter and fib. It's all very tricky. Just praying he has a good aneathesltist for his full kidney removal next month. 🙏
My first ablation wasn't successful. I was too scared to go through it again but I had to.Things got too bad.Fortunately the 2nd one has been successful.Maybe it was the different Dr.Who knows but I'm glad I'm not getting SVT all the time.
I have lived with mine for 55 years. It’s just a way of life for me and to be palpitations free would be absolutely life changing for me. I’d be elated. I’m praying it’s worked.
Yes well my condition got so bad the only way they could stop the racing was to do a system restore on me several times.ieStop my heart and start it up again.
Oh my! So sorry to hear of your dreadful experience. It sounds appalling. I've had 4 ablations. The first I was awake for a small part of it and then kept wriggling, so they knocked me out. Since then I've had an anaesthetic and was told they had changed the procedure as its better for patients to be kept still! I hope you feel better soon and its done the trick.
My understanding is its an ablation on the outside of the heart. I'd investigated having a Mini Maze, but after speaking to a Surgeon, in my case that was not possible. So my electrophysiologist has suggested this 'alternative'. Apparently they have done about 99 now with success. However, my understanding is limited as to whether best for AF or Atrial Tachycardia. And I now seem to read that if an ablation done for AF it can lead to constant Tachycardia - which I seem to generally have had. If however, they are unable to get through existing scar tissue, they will see if they can do an internal ablation. And if that all does not work/not possible, I will then have to have a Pace and Ablate which I've been putting off for years.
Oh god I don’t like the sound of any of that. You poor thing having to go through that. I really do hope it’s successful and you get some relief.
I often feel sorry for myself and think why me, but then I quickly realise there’s so many more worse off than me.
I am a Senior Learning Support Assistant in a college, supporting students with special needs every day, aged 16 to 22.
I look at some of them, their disabilities and how amazing they all are, it makes me so very grateful for the life I have and that my kids are living normal, happy lives.
That sounds like a nightmare. Poor you. My daughter in law tells me that up to half of IVs fail and infiltration into surrounding tissue can happen in a fifth of attempts with some having veins that are very hard to find. They should have noticed much sooner, I would have thought, for goodness sakes but in the business and rush of the procedure, well, who knows what it's like for them?
Let's hope the ablation works, You deserve that much after going through that.
It’s only when she asked me a couple of times if I felt sleepy and I said no, that she then asked me if my arm was hurting. She must have seen the huge swelling, then realised it was going into the tissue. It felt a little achy but nothing too bad.
I questioned it when I was back in the recovery area and said to the nurse who fitted the cannula “You didn’t put it in correctly did you”, she replied “Yes I did, it was flushing ok”. It obviously wasn’t.
Plus when the other nurse removed the cannula, whilst I was still in the cath lab, there was no blood. Normally they have to press on it don’t they when they remove it.
It’s no consolation at all, but I think the pressures on nurses has intensified a lot with so many going part time and post-Brexit many from European countries having returned home. The 12-hour shift system isn’t helping with their lunch hour not counted yet no chance of leaving the ward. Add in travel to and from the hospital and the day is all but gone.
Hi, really sorry to hear about your experience which is dreadful. I've had 3 ablations and 3 cardioversions and no pain or problems. The people doing yours do seem to have screwed up massively and I would make an official complaint, won't necessarily help you but might help them do better with others. A big hospital like St Thomas's shoud be the gold standard.
Feel your pain,literally, as I was given minimal sedative/ painkillers ( not by mistake, their choice) was wide awake and extremely uncomfortable all the way through until I couldn't stand it. I shouted I was getting off the table, and they increased it.
Hope it was all worth it,mine definitely has been,but may need a top up after a few blips a while back. Insisted that its on my notes to sedate/ pain relieve better. I shall make it loud and clear if not!
You’d think so wouldn’t you. When I questioned it the nurse said “It sometimes moves out of the vein”. I’ve had plenty of cannulas and that’s never happened before and my veins are great
I found my ablation, which I had on 19th September, very uncomfortable at times and I was sedated and had painkillers, but still felt it, so goodness knows how bad it must have been for you. I’m still getting ectopic beats, but they are lessening a bit now. Mine was for AFib, although I did have episodes of SVT, which I was diagnosed with in 1973 aged 22, although I’m not sure if the Doctor ablated that as well. I’ll ask him when I have my follow-up appointment. I can usually stop the SVT by lying on the floor with my legs up on the wall, but you can’t do that on the High Street.!!!! On the very odd occasion I couldn’t stop it, I went into the A&E dept and they gave me a shot of Adenosine, which stopped it straight away.
I think SVT , for me, was easier to handle than my AFib, which was very symptomatic and I couldn’t stop it myself. I was told by Doctors to go into A&E, as my blood pressure and heart rate went sky high and they needed to keep an eye on me and give me treatment to try and stop it. Fortunately, I’ve only had 9 episodes of AFib since 2014, when the first one started, after I caught a nasty virus at my sons wedding, which actually put 3 people in hospital, including me.! I’d never heard of AFib till then. (It seemed very similar to the Covid virus)
Hopefully I was a good candidate for an ablation, with only getting it occasionally, but unless AFib starts again, you’ll never know if it’s worked.I will just have to try not to worry about that and just keep my fingers crossed, it has done the trick.🤞🤞
I’m still waiting for my 3 month follow up appointment, supposed to be on or after 19th December. As it’s near Xmas, I probably will have to wait till January now.
Hope you get on ok and don’t have any return of your SVT. Best wishes. Cath
I had sedation but think I'm particularly resistant to it as I kept asking them when they were going to sedate me and they already had.😁They gave me a huge shot when they had to cardiovert me twice during the ablation but the rest did get uncomfortable at times.
When I went for a contrast scan once, a "trainee" managed to stick the cannula where she shouldn't and a golf ball size lump appeared on my arm. She went pelting out the room to a senior nurse saying 'I think I've hit an artery" Before I decorated my underwear, the guy dashed in and started to gently remove the cannula and to my relief, I could tell it wasn't arterial blood.
The "trainee" had managed to collapse a vein and my arm was painful for days. When I queried why a trainee was doing this unsupervised, I was told she had been doing it for 9 months!
Hopefully, you won't need to have another and you have a gentle road to recovery.
Sorry in advance but that first bit did make me laugh 🤭
When they realised the mistake she injected fentanyl into my groin and the relief was instant. So I know I would have been able to cope much better if I’d had that from the beginning. Far too late though.
Hi Carol. This happened to me. I was told that the pain relief would be administered through the cannula. From the minute the surgeon started the procedure the pain was terrible. I pleaded with him to stop but he carried on. They eventually sedated me and when I came round the ice cold head pain was severe. When it was time for the cannula to come out the nurse noticed that it was incorrectly fitted and all the medication was sitting in a lump on my arm. I got no apologies whatsoever.
I should have complained at the time but once they took the cannula out I started to feel unwell and started drifting . The nurse said I no blood pressure so they immediately squeezed 2 lots of fluid through a drip then the surgeon abruptly said that I was staying in hospital as my house was too far away to get back.
When the EP started to puncture my groin for the catheters, I did think ‘Ouch that is bloody painful’. He was pressing and digging for a while and then said “Sorry, your blood vessels are quite deep”.
So I endured that with no painkillers as well.
The bit where they speed your heart up was the worst for me. I was gasping for breath. Omg my heart was thudding so hard and fast I was on the verge of telling them to stop. So unnatural isn’t it.
Hi Carol. I feel for you, your experience sounds dreadful . I got no explanation at all from any staff. A nurse told me next day that they were aware of what happened and it was getting brought up at their meeting but I heard absolutely nothing. It was pointed out to me that I wouldn’t see the surgeon next day as he didn’t attend after surgery. This was 7/12/2020 and it’s still at the forefront of my mind. I wish I had complained .
I too was surprised at the level of pain putting the catheter into groin. 6 attempts! I asked what was happening, he said I had ' thin veins ' haha....
Ohh my gosh what an awful experience. How could they not pick up on that for almost 3 hours. Truly shocking ,given my own experience was completely the opposite, the sedation & pain relief was fine & 3.5 hours just flew by! I hope you take it further & don't suffer any psychological damage. Best wishes.
After the second shot of fentanyl she realised I wasn’t sleepy. That would be a clue ay!
Then she noticed my arm was swollen.
I doubt complaining will result in anything, but it may make them check and check again.
I’m not hardcore, I’m not resilient to sedatives. Once she gave it to me in my groin I was a different person. Even helped with the knee pain. Albeit for the last 30 minutes or so.
I had a similar thing when I had a kidney x ray years ago. They injected a type of iodine into my arm. I was screaming with the pain . The doctor just told me I was making a fuss until I Insisted he take it out. A quick x ray on my arm showed he'd missed the vein completely. Raw iodine into a muscle burns like h***. These things can happen but I think you should send in a report so they can maybe find a way to avoid that happening to anyone else in the future. Unless of course you prefer to make a complaint. I once got a hospital's entire procedure regarding steroid injections completely changed to make it much safer.
😳😳😳 That is terrible. Of course they get it wrong sometimes. They are human but you’re right. They need to be made aware of their mistakes, so they can learn from them.
I found it odd that the nurse who was in the cath lab with me, who noticed my arm swelling, called me the next day at home to check on me.
My partner was told by another staff member that was very unusual and they never make follow up calls to patients.
I agree with Jean - I have had 4 ablations 1st with sedation which was OK but the next 3 were done with anaesthetic as .... interestingly that cardiologist rarely uses sedation because he needs a patient to be completely relaxed. So sorry to hear about your experience it sounds quite dreadful. Hope it doesn't put you off another if needed. I felt worse after the 1st sedation than any of the others. My cardiologist only works alongside one anaestist & he was very thorough checking & rechecking the canula before proceeding. If you can, it is worth checking with cardiologist who will be the anaestist .
Let’s hope they investigate and can give me some answers.
I just wish they had made sure I was sedated and comfortable before they started the procedure. Not difficult is it.
So I’m now thinking the Cardiologist who performed the ablation, did those puncture wounds and inserted the catheters without me having any painkillers.
I don’t remember him saying ‘sharp scratch’, as in, he was injecting local anaesthetic into my groin 🤷♀️
Id never have another ablation under local anaesthetic after my my first experience either.!!! I felt everything. So the next 2 we’re done under general and it was a breeze.👍
Wow, sorry to hear of this terrible experience carol, no , its not good enough, not nearly good enough, im sure the whole build up is bad enough without this, makes me happy that i refused an ablation so far, i realise this doesnt happen to everyone, but due care and strict attention were lacking in your case, hope you have a speedy recovery.
Not a great experience, for sure. I am puzzled why you have four entrance marks on your thighs...I had an ablation with only one entrance mark on my right thigh and they were done within an hour and only two doctors during the whole procedure.......
When he started I could feel him digging on one side of my groin, then it became uncomfortable, then he went to the other side and did the same. The right side took a little longer. I did question this with the nurse and he heard me. He answered that he had punctured twice on both sides, as he had to insert 4 catheters. He said on my right side the blood vessels were very deep. He’s added that to my notes
Again I didn’t say anything as I thought this was normal.
Just read your experience. It sounds just like mine. It was horrible. I am not going to go to PALs I just want to get on with my life as stress causes my heart to go into afib. the medical profession just stick together. I told my cardiologist directly what I thought. Hopefully they will take more care the next time.
Thanks for contacting me. I’m just taking it easy and not lifting or doing anything strenuous so the surgeon can blame me or say it was my fault if anything goes wrong.
I am so sorry to read your post about your awful experience, which I can honestly say is extremely rare occurrence. I wish you all the best in your continued recovery, just take your time and try not to over exert yourself for a few weeks, listen to your body and when you feel strong enough please feel free to contact either you GP surgery or our Patient Services Team for advice.
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