Week six post ablation

[Slidingdoors99]

Hello All,

First of all I would like to thank the person or people who wrote those sheets about what to expect after an ablation. No professional gave me any comparable helpful information about how I might feel afterwards.

Anyway, this is week six and I’m worried that I’m going backwards.

This week, day and night, my resting heart rate has gone (within less than a minute) from 60-130.

It’s been on average 124 for the last couple of days and I can’t bear the feeling when I sleep on my left side.

I saw my GP last week for an ECG and he was concerned about my heart rate and was going to contact St Barts, where I had my ablation.

So I am doing something about it! I just wanted to know if anyone else experienced this in the weeks after the procedure?

PS Still getting some post ablation indigestion from time to time too.

[jeanjeannie50]

A lot of we members here never sleep on our left hand side when in bed as it can often trigger AF. I wouldn't dare.

Jean

[Sixtychick in reply to jeanjeannie50]

Yes that happens to me. I stopped sleeping on my left hand side. Something to do with the Vagus nerve, I think.

[Singwell in reply to jeanjeannie50]

I've read this but it's not the case with me. If I'm IN AF then yes, I avoid sleeping on the left but all other times I start the night on my left because I have a hiatus hernia and it's much better for acid reflux to sleep on the left.

[SuziElley]

I’m so sorry to hear this. I do hope you get sorted soon. Thinking of you xx

[CDreamer]

High and erratic heart rate are not unusual for weeks or months after ablation but that does sound a little high so good you saw your GP. Hope it settles very soon.

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to CDreamer]

Thank you for that. 😊

[Sixtychick]

I had my ablation on Sept 19th. I was given Lansoprazole for 6 weeks, to stop any problems with heartburn. I was ok when I stopped them. My heart rate was about 100 or more, for a few weeks and I was getting a lot of ectopic beats, which don’t happen as often now, although I still have a few and my heart rate seems more or less back to normal. It does say that this may happen for several weeks afterwards. Hopefully it’ll all be worth it, if it keeps the dreaded AFib away. Hope yours is succseeful.

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to Sixtychick]

Thank you! 😊

[Paige70]

I had a cryo ablation at Barts nearly 7 years ago and my resting heart rate was about 100+ following it and I found it hard to sleep. I contacted the Arrhythmia nurses and found them helpful and supportive and restarted sotalol to bring it down and also took Gaviscon advance to help with the indigestion on my GP s advice.

It took a while for my heart rate to come down and I don’t lie on my left side anymore.

I hope it soon settles and you enjoy nsr

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to Paige70]

Really useful! Thank you!

[Singwell in reply to Slidingdoors99]

Take Gaviscon Advance for preference. It stops the acid coming up by creating a 'blanket' over the stomach .contents. When you take the Gaviscon at night, don't eat or drink anything afterwards. If you're in AF you will need to hydrate if course but if all is well as you go to sleep, try not to drink the water unless you wake up.thirsty in the night. It'll give your digestion a chance to settle down.

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to Singwell]

Many thanks for that Singwell.

[DCX31416]

I'm 71. Was on flecainide 150 2x per day for ~20 years, since early 2000s. Worked great. Decided to finally try ablation after AF episode (despite flec) triggered by cancer related treatment in March (special infusion included hydrocortisone). Had cryoablation in late May. See image from Apple watch that recorded my AF post ablation. They kept assuring me that it took three months to know if it was a success. I was really apprehensive as I watched the AF episodes steadily increase over the 6-8 weeks following the procedure. Plus I was told the new problem was atrial flutter, something I'd never had. The steep decline/drop off of AF/atrial flutter events occurred after the electrophysiologist had me completely stop taking the flec. I've been without AF since August. Lucky. (I'm in the US, just fyi. Texas.)

Apple watch graph of AF showing rise to 75% of time over 2 months, then abrupt collapse.

[CDreamer in reply to DCX31416]

Often a Beta Blocker is prescribed alongside Flecainide to prevent tendency to develop Atrial Flutter, just wondered if you had been made aware of that?

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to CDreamer]

Thanks Dreamer. I can’t tolerate Betablockers (they give me awful asthma) and I have never been prescribed Flecainide. I asked about it and the consultant told me that it wasn’t for me! Perhaps because I also have HCM?

[DCX31416 in reply to CDreamer]

I still take a daily low dose of digoxin (which I've also taken for ~20 years) . When I was meeting with the doctor (EP) about the AF spike, he told me it was actually flutter and indicated one function of the digoxin was to suppress flutter. He also told me I'd never had flutter prior to the ablation, so that increased my worry a bit. But again, it all went away with healing + ending daily flecainide. So no complaints.

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to DCX31416]

☺️

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to DCX31416]

Thanks so much DCX. That’s raised my spirits this evening!

Because I also have HCM - inherited from my mum- I have been told that my ablation has a 50% chance of working and that the next step for me would probably be a pace and ablate which I really want to avoid if possible.

Never been a lucky person in life, but have been praying daily that- for once- I could be in the successful 50% team!

There’s no cure for my HCM, but it would be so fantastic to be rid of this AFib nightmare!

PS! How did you manage to put that picture onto the site? I’m not very techi!

[DCX31416]

Well, I hope things work out for the best. Glad to share that sometimes things look worse after the procedure before getting better. Can't say that always happens though. Regarding inserting the image, if you look at the greyed-out looking buttons to the left of "Reply" (when composing a reply), the first one is supposed to suggest a photo of a landscape. If you click that, you can look for an image file on your computer to upload. Hope this helps. Good luck!

[Slidingdoors99 in reply to DCX31416]

It does. Thank you again! 😊