Post op

[djredlocks]

I'm 4 days post ablation and cryoblation. Whole procedure lasted about five hours. Had to have defib to get my heart back to NSR. Prior to procedure, my average rate was about 95 - 100bpm and I was 114kg. I lost 10kg and my average went down to about 85bpm. Now my rate is average 110 -120bpm. At one point, it went to 125bpm. I went back into AF 2 days post procedure. I can't stop crying. Still taking same meds as advised. I was advised that it'd take about 3mths to heal. I still feel bruised.

[Rambler398]

If you think you have had persistent atrial fibrillation AFib for the past 2 days, I would contact your arrhythmia nurse. You may need a change in medication or possibly a cardioversion DCCV

If you have a Kardia device you may want to post a trace here.

[djredlocks in reply to Rambler398]

Thank you, I've done a Kardia reading....120bpm, no signs of AF, just tachycardia. Don't know how to upload

[Rambler398 in reply to djredlocks]

I believe atrial flutter and atrial tachycardia are usually regular and can follow ablation.

I will post the question on the forum about uploading a kardia trace

[Rambler398 in reply to djredlocks]

A couple of members have replied to my post asking for help in uploading a Kardia trace.

[Singwell in reply to djredlocks]

Take a screen shot on your phone, save as an image ad upload

[BobD Volunteer]

Please read our fact sheet on recovery below which will re-assure you that things are quite normal . Relax. rest and stay well hydrated.

healthunlocked.com/redirect...

[djredlocks in reply to BobD]

Hi...I've read this now...I feel so much better, thank you xx

[mjames1 in reply to djredlocks]

Yes, fact sheet is useful, but if you are having a sustained tachycardia, best to get the tracing to your ep and let them decide whether this is "normal" or needs some sort of intervention.

Jim

[JOY2THEWORLD49]

Hi

Gee hope h/rate goes back under 100bpm as no operations are done over. With GA.

Good that you lost weight. Controlled I was finally down to 86-96 but I lost 6kg and nows avg 60s day and stays at 47vge night. Was Rapid Persistent AF. On Diltiazem 120mg AM for rate and Bisoprolol 2.5mg PM for BP.

No ablation, cardiversion or anti arrhymn.

Cross your fingers and I hope it settles down.

cheri JOY. 75. (NZ)

[Nan1]

I hope I can reassure you as I had my cyro ablation just over four weeks ago. I left hospital in normal rhythm and got in car to go home and erratic heart started. For the first week I had awful episodes of AF with heart rate up to 137 and spells of Tachycardia. Like you I was weepy and didn’t know what to do for the best. This Forum has been so helpful. I called the Arrhythmia Nurse who reassured me that this was quite usual. Anyway AF continued till 3 days ago and I have been in normal rhythm since then. However I’m fully prepared that it will revert now and then whilst in the 3 month blanking period but I’m a lot more hopeful that all will be ok. Keep positive. Regards

[Singwell]

Try to stay calm. Bob has pointed you towards the fact sheet, so you now realise that high HR post ablation is quite common. Your heart is healing - give it some time. I know how upsetting it is though - your heart has its own mini brain, like the gut - and this can make us feel very disturbed by the sensations we get when we get AF, or other disturbances. I had loads of little tachycardia episodes even months post ablation. I use a breathing technique to calm myself down when that happens and it does work. I'll DM you with that.

I also use a trick for panic attacks that has been researched for helping people with phobias. Put your finger on your pulse and mentally count the beats in time with it. You have to be physically feeling your pulse, not using a Kardiamobile or similar. Close your eyes and mentally count with the pulse. After a few minutes you'll notice it slows down a bit. Relax into that and tune in again, it'll likely calm down a bit more. This technique works well with tachycardia in my experience. Not do useful for AF because it's so hard to count the beats.

[Ppiman]

The first four to six weeks or so are ignored and called the "blanking period" since arrhythmia and tachycardia are expected during this time as the scars "mature" and the disturbance to the heart cures itself. I would phone the hospital and ask for guidance as well as reading the guidance here.

I had lots of initial issues following my ablation for atrial flutter in 2019, especially once I stopped taking bisoprolol, including an awful day of AF with very fast rate. I was called back to the consultant at the arrhythmia clinic and was put down for an emergency cardioversion, but one 5mg tablet of bisoprolol did the trick within an hour, and calmed things down well.

Your current fast rate will likely be sinus rhythm but tachycardia, I expect. I don't think atrial flutter (AFl) is likely following an AF ablation, or at least, I have never read of that being common as it's a different kind of arrhythmia occurring in the right, rather than left, side of the atrium. AFl creates a unique fixed heart rate being a ratio of the flutter rate of 300bpm. It's almost always in a step-wise ratio of the atrial rate, hence 150bpm (2:1), 100 (3:1); 75 (4;1), etc. Mind you, the whole of the atrium, both sides, have been irritated (to put it mildly) by your procedure, so in these early weeks, odd rhythms are surely a possibility. Have you been advised to take a beta blocker or similar?

I am sitting here myself having had AF since at least 3.30 this morning (so having to correct far more typos than even I usually make!). I attach a screen shot of my Apple Watch ECG and my Wellue ECG traces. What I do is "export" the trace from the mobile phone, emailing it to myself. Then, once the email arrives in my Inbox, I click on the file that is attached (Kardia works the same as Wellue and Apple Watch in this). The ECG then opens up as a photo / picture. Next I take a screen shot using the side buttons (it depends on the phone model, or whether you use Windows or MacBook). This creates a snapshot photo of the screen contents and this photo (usually called a "jpg" file) can be attached to posts here (i.e. it needs to be a photo file as a PDF type file isn't accepted).

Steve

Apple Watch ECG screenshot

[frazeej in reply to Ppiman]

My hat’s off to you for typing such a pristine and lengthy reply…..while in the middle of a multihour afib episode! You are a trooper!

JimF

[Ppiman in reply to frazeej]

That’s very kind of you to write that. Thank you. I needed a boost this weary morning and you’ve provided it. It was nicely distracting to write the post.

I don’t get disabling symptoms with AF, except that first after my ablation. I am lucky in that. I don’t know why. My heart rate is often under 130bpm, so that might be the reason, but I’ve had 160+bpm while driving once and somehow coped. I’m back to normal now and felt a bit light headed when it was on this morning , so guessed my BP was down. It’s about the third time it’s started up in the night and after a loo visit (thanks to 70-year-old man problems). It’s much more frequent this year so I don’t know what will transpire.

Steve

[Ppiman]

Here's the Wellue screenshot as I could only attach one image to each post.

Wellue ECG

[Rambler398 in reply to Ppiman]

What is the main reason this is such a good quality image? Or is it fairly standard?

[Ppiman in reply to Rambler398]

It’s just a standard screen shot. I think all will be the same. Or did you mean the ECG trace itself?

I’ll attach an older Kardia screenshot to compare (I now use Apple Watch and Wellue AI).

Kardia ECG trace.

[Rambler398 in reply to Ppiman]

Thank you. I meant the quality of the image. The Wellue trace appears sharper than the Apple traces

[Ppiman in reply to Rambler398]

Yes, I think both Kardia and Apple apply a lot more artificial smoothing to their traces than does Wellue. This can make it hard to see the atrial pulse (the "P"wave, which is the tiny blip before the big spike from the ventricle, the "R" wave); this sets the ventricular beat off in NSR, but is missing in AF.

Steve

[MWIC]

Hi - stressful time - look, what you’re experiencing is fairly common - I had mine in December and had a few weeks of hellishness before it all settled down - 2 x 4 straight days of 160bpm including Xmas day in A&E to bring it down- been about 9 weeks now with no sign of AFib so relax and try to keep positive …early days