Shortness of breath 6 months after ablation

[jaammestaylor]

On a 66 year old male ...always working out and relatively trim all of my life. July of 2022 ...out of the blue...pulmonary embolism and afib! Finally got an ablation August 2023 but in the last couple months had progressively worse shortness of breath. My EP, cardiologist and pulmonologist couldn't find a clue as to why this occurred! Fortunately the shortness of breath is starting to get better but not yet completely gone. Anyone out there have any clues?

I had a pulmonary function test, echo and ct scan and nothing came up!

[BobD Volunteer]

I have SOB under invstigation. Pulmonary function down, Pulmonary hypertension (moderate) and currently waiting for CAT angiogram to investigate possible pulmonary vien problems. Seems to be a grey area in medicine few understand.

[jaammestaylor in reply to BobD]

Yeah crazy. So I probably would have chosen a Wolf Minimaze procedure if I had lived in the Houston area but I was talked into doing the ablation first. Had the ablation August 17th 2023. No arrhythmia for 5 days then arrhythmia came back for 2 days and have been arrhythmia free ever since...but always have had some minor sob that then got much worse around late December when I decided to get a transthorasic echocardiogram and then a pulmonary function test. Doctors didn't see any abnormalities at all!! Then the EP said that there was a very minor chance that pulmonary vein stenosis could be the problem so I got a ct scan. I just was sent the test results that my EP hasn't read yet but the radiology report looked negative as well. I will call the EP Monday as he hasn't called me yet probably because no red flags!But the good news is that my sob is almost gone on its own! Maybe because of my continued daily light workouts I'm training myself back to decent shape but very puzzling why 4 months AFTER the ablation my breathing got marketably worse for 8 weeks ( where even an inhaler did no good except give me leg cramps!) but is now ALMOST all gone. Still a bit concerned but hopeful! Thanks for maintaining this forum!

[green4par]

I would try an allergy/asthma doctor. You may have exercise induced asthma, or mild allergies, where your nose may not run like a faucet, but you still have inflammation or constriction in your lungs. Just a thought.

[jaammestaylor in reply to green4par]

Thanks for your reply. See Bob's post for my lengthy reply! Thx much