Hi BobD kindly sent me the link for the post ablation fact sheet but I can't find it now.
My concern is I developed a headache with flickering lights like looking through a kaleidoscope. Happened yesterday post ablation but paracetamol doesn't seem to have worked.
I am really concerned as the flickering disappears and then reoccurs.
I am worried about a stroke
This is a migraine aura caused by the transeptal puncture and no problem . Should fade after a couple of weeks. I will add the link below shortly.
As Bob has said they are aura migraines. I had them after an ablation.
Thanks Jean, keeps going and coming back since yesterday. X
Yes, that's typical.
Don't sit and fret about anything though. You've had a procedure done to your heart - the thing that keeps us alive, not your big toe. Any worries ask your GP or call an AF nurse if you have been given one You can always call the hospital where you had the procedure and ask if you can speak to your EP's AF nurse, or even call the ward where you were after your ablation. Any medical person not used to dealing with people after an ablation may not know the answer.
We can tell you they're common but we are not medically trained.
Let us know how you progress please.
Come on other forum members here. Did you have these visual auras after your ablation(s)? Please let Karendeena know in this post if you did.
Jean
Thanks again Jean! Yes it would be interesting to hear other feedback.Glenfield has a team of arrythmia nurses and I have their details so I can call them anytime 😊
Another senior nurse (may be a junior doctor) has just been to me and did say this can happen after ablation.
Wish the headache would go. The aura comes and goes within 10 - 20 mins x
It sounds like you're still in hospital?
Hey Jean, echo ok, no fluid around the heart so I can go home! They keep you overnight in Glenfield and their monitoring is excellent.
Professor Ng been to see me to say it went as planned but he noticed another arrythmia 'flutter' so he has done two for the price of one! Left and right side of the heart apparently.
Pleased he's done this as there is a lady came in this morning who had her ablation in November but they didn't spot the flutter so she's back today for another Ablation
I guess that’s why it was 3 hours then. Mine was just under 2 hours. Sounds like a good thorough job done.
Home to do nothing now !!!
My first ablation took 3 hours under sedation, second ablation took 6 hours and that was under sedation too. My third with GA took 5hrs and I felt really well afterwards, then went into tachycardia the next day and had to stay in hospital for an extra day until it went back into normal sinus rhythm. We're all so different aren't we!
Jean
Hi Jean, was that Cryo followed by RF?
I’ve read that Cryo is a quicker procedure without mapping and some need a follow up with RF and mapping to pinpoint the area where the rogue pulses are generated. I was told if I need a follow up it will be RF under GA.
We certainly are all different but we take much reassurance from others experiences on here.
No all three of my ablations were RF.
Pleased to hear you've been given the ok to go home. I always came home the following day after an ablation, apart from my last one (3rd) where tachycardia kicked off before I could go home and I was kept in hospital an extra day and only discharged when my heart rate went back to normal.
I had migraines in my youth. They started with flashing lights and the progressed to a one sided headache and vomiting. I hadn't had one for twenty years, but had an aura the day after my rf ablation. I had heard about this effect on this forum, so was prepared. I was concerned that it would be a full migraine but it disappeared after 15 minutes. I have had a few of these a year since then, never progressing to headache. The only problem is that I have to pull over if driving until normal vision returns.
Yes, I had that off and on for quite a long time. Came on in supermarket and affected my vision so I couldn’t see where I was going but sat down by pharmacy for a bit then fine except for a slight headache.
Thanks, keeps coming and going but a headache always follows behind my eyes mainly
As I said this is quite normal and should fade once the puncture fully heals in a couple of weeks. Maybe less. Sad so few doctors understand this. It took a lot of asking back along when we wrote the fact sheet.
Thanks Bob, the arrythmia nurses at Glenfield also told me that there has been quite a few studies on this but they still don't understand why the transeptal puncture causes it! Any ideas of your own? Just a thought
By the way Bob, the Prof told me I got 2 for the price of one as they discovered flutter at the same time so did both!
Not uncommon. Since the catheter already passes throught the right atrium it makes sense to do flutter on the way out if it is found.
Pleased they did to be honest. There was a lady admitted yesterday who had her ablation in November last year and apparently they didn't pick it up so she was back in to get it done, she said she had been having a constant heart rate of over 150bpm all the time so it was done under emergency
I had it for a few hours the following day and that’s all, I was expecting it as per the information sheet. Like everything AF it’s different for everyone and some don’t get it at all.
Ablation resources link heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
Best wishes
Thank you
I’ve had this after the first two of my ablations, like Bob said could be the transeptal puncture, or an after effect of anesthetic. I did have aura after my third ablation for pvcs, but nowhere near as kaleidoscopic 🤣 you’re not having a stroke, they will settle.
Thank you
Hello Karendeena, good to hear your ablation has been done and you’re on the road to recovery now. I had three visual migraines following my ablation. The first three days after the procedure. Very striking display of zigzag lines and rainbow colours. Try not to worry I believe not unusual at all. Regards
Hi Nan1, thanks, it's very disturbing. The zigzag lights flicker and then the aura gets bigger, then the headache follows. Started later the day I had the ablation and continued yesterday on an off. Feel a bit headachey. Hoping today won't be as bad
They're horrible aren't they, I had black, yellow and white zag zags dancing up and down, filled by a vice like headache for many hours. Occular migraine! Just connected to the ablation procedure and will stop happening as you heal. Xx
Thank you, yes, awful, that's how my head feels when the flickering, flashing zigzag lines come, like my head is in a vice, crushing. Behind my eyes feels achy too 😔
So glad to hear that it all went well. Take it easy now, give yourself time to really heal. I read and reread the information sheets and they took away a lot of niggling worries.
Thanks, will do
These migraines have been with me for years. The duration is roughly 20 mins after which I can carry on as normal.
I was not surprised when I had one or two following my ablation.
The headache is not a part of my normal migraine so did require paracetamol for a coyple of days before it settled.
Xx Moy
the visual aura often occurs after ablations, I suffer with cluster migraines anyway. The lights in hospitals and supermarkets can trigger them as well as the procedure, if you catch them early enough before the headache starts you can often nip them in the bud. I find 4head usful. Try to rest up when you get home
Thanks, I did think the lights affected it in hospital, but I opened my eyes in the night and the little circle of flickering lights started then got bigger the the headache came. Took paracetamol and eventually fell asleep. Still feel a bit headachey this morning but think my anxiety has kicked in and I am waiting for them now
Often after a migraine you feel a bit discombobulated for a while. Try to control your anxiety, I know it’s not easy but use every trick you know.Anxiety and stress are great bedfellows for migraines and AF. After my hybrid minimaze I used to chant in my head, happy healthy heart, to relax and try to get to sleep, silly I know but it felt helpful and like a positive affirmation.
Hi, I had these after all 3 of my ablations. Followed same pattern, came on the day after and settled after about 3 different occasions lasting a couple of minutes each time. I was sent to A and E after the first one and was tested for a stroke.My EP said to do the same if it happened again because although they know these auras happen they do also worry about stroke risk following ablation. As mine were exactly the same pattern as the first time I didn't do that but I would have had the duration or frequency intensified significantly or if I had any other worrying features.
Hope this helps.
Called the arrythmia nurse this morning and she said it isn't uncommon and not to worry. I do concern myself of stroke though
I had visual aura after my ablation. I was warned to expect it as a possible side effect. Only occurred the day after the operation and never returned.
hello, I have my name down at Glenfield hospital for an Ablate and Pace. I have had the pacemaker for four years, after I was having episodes of passing out after AF. The last time it happened while I was in Glenfield with a bad episode, so they wouldn't. let me go home till they had given me one. I am very worried about having the procedure, so would love to know how it felt, and if it was painful..xx Elaine.
Hi quiltergran , I assume your ablation will be a slightly different procedure to ablate your AV node rather than the pulmonary vein isolation ablation Karendeena has had.
Here is a link to the AFA treatments page where you can read up heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...
Hope this is helpful, best wishes
Hi there Elaine, Glenfield is the best, top hospital for care and some of the finest consultants. Unfortunately, the waiting list is very long. I waited 16 months. I just had the ablation, I think pace and ablate is different but happy to share my experience
Yes it's quite common ,I had the eyes to the point where I couldn't actually see and headaches . Luckily they disappeared after a couple of weeks . Another thing on departure from hospital they don't tell you about . Bobs link to the fact sheet certainly helped me
Hi Soundmike, it's awful, I thought I had got away with it today but I went to work under a desk lamp and the dreaded circle of flickering lights appeared and gradually got wider like a kaleidoscope. They disappeared after about 15 minutes and then the headache. Finally went away after eating.I am a worrier and now waiting for these to happen instead of the afib episodes. I think I am getting paranoid. Two days post ablation.
Thanks for your reassurance 😊
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