So I had PFA two weeks ago, and tbh when I woke from anesthesia I felt like I had raging bronchitis but put it down to dry air or breathing equipment. (in fact it caused me to ask my hubby to get ice cream, and he was confused because I never eat ice cream! but as I was the last of the day, and didn't get food until 7.30 pm, there was sadly nowhere to buy ice cream so I had two tubs of cold fruit). My chest pain hurt until day 7 and then it vanished. In fact last Saturday(10 days after the procedure) i managed to not think about my ablation at all. And then on Sunday I did a slow short run outside in the cold air and my chest pain came back (it is to the right and also in the back and causes me to have a strange feeling like my heart isn't in tune with my oxygen demands, maybe skipping a beat or two if I have any kind of exertion, or something else weird is happening). So I have now been prescribed colchicine. Does any one know how long this will take to clear, or will it get worse? Kind of worried, because of course I feel it more at night and my mind goes all over the place wondering if I have something stuck in my lung or if I am going to have some cardiac event because of it. It feels like I did when I was recovering from pneumonia, but way past the active phase...
colchicine and post ablation chest pain - Atrial Fibrillati...
colchicine and post ablation chest pain
Reading up on the drug as recommended here in UK thre are no suggestions regarding it's use in your case so sorry that is out of our knowledge. In UK this drug is for gout.
What do they use instead? It is used for gout here, it says nothing about other uses on the information that came with it. But people must have post ablation inflammation in the pleural cavities in the UK and maybe they can give feedback on their experiences 🤷🏼♀️…
Colchicine is prescribed to reduce inflammation in the UK. I was prescribed it following my mini maze for that very reason. It is reknowned for causing diarrhoea. It is quite widely used by cardithoracic surgeons. I can only assume that is the reason it was prescribed for iamfuzzyduck.
Yes, to reduce inflammation of the pleuritic cavities or something like that..
Yes that makes sense
Colchicine is used, off label, as first line treatment for pericarditis, in the UK.
Sounds like post procedural pericarditis. I had it and my EP nurse said it was fairly common. Three weeks of colchicine did the trick with me. Meanwhile, take it easy and let your body be the guide in terms of what you do. In almost all cases it will go away.
Jim
Thank you, I will just have to wait it out then :(. I have two weeks worth of meds. Kind of concerned as I am supposed to go to my daughters’s graduation in Colorado in a couple of weeks and the air is so dry there and the altitude always makea my heart go ditzy…
Two weeks is a normal course and hopefully if you take it easy, that is all you will need. If necessary, they may repeat the course. I lasted one week into my second course and then got some stomach pains (common dide effect) and stopped. The pericarditis eventually resolved slowly but completely. Again, just take things easy.
As to high altitudes, I sympathize as I also do not do well. Since so close to your ablation with pericarditis on top of it , you might take that into consideration if you're still in decision-making mode.
Jim
Thank you, any kind of cardio does seem to aggravate it, it is so annoying!! I have already cancelled three trips this year, I am determined not to cancel a fourth! I have cabin fever!
And congratulations regarding your daughter's upcoming graduation!
Thank you! It's not been an easy 2024 for her (or actually the past four years) because she ended up in ER twice this year after two accidents (one car where my son had a med induced seizure while behind the wheel, and one going splat on the pavement while running full speed) so two concussions and multiple spinal X-rays, so she can't wait to hand in her last assignment! I didn't think she'd finish! All is more or less good now, kinda...
Wow! That can't have been easy for you either! I hope you and your family good health going forward.
Thank you! My children are walking disasters actually but I am used to it...
I know what that feels like and I have not yet gotten used to it.
Lol!!😂
I'm curious as to what PFA stands for? Sorry I know nothing about colchicine but have heard it mentioned on this forum. Looks like others here know of it too.
Hope you soon feel better.
Jean
PFA is short for Pulse Field Ablation. Many in the US have gotten it in trial, but it recently has come out of trial. It has been available at selected centers in Europe and the UK before that..
The first generation PFA shows results and side effects similar to Cryo and RFA, but with shorter procedure times .
However, I just read a trial report about a second generation PFA that showed 100% success. Not yet available out of trial, but Wow!
Jim
Thank you!
Thank you Jim as soon as you said what PFA stood for I thought 'of course'. That new trial report for a second generation PFA sounds interesting. We'll all be queueing for it!
Jean
It does sound exciting! The advances in RF and Cryo seem to have reached an end, but are just beginning with PFA.
Currently PFA is mostly used just on the pulmonary veins*, which is all that is needed in 90% plus cases for Paroxysmal afib. However, as a technology advances, it may be able to be used everywhere.
* if it's necessary to ablate outside of the pulmonary veins, the electrophysiologist will use RF as a complementary treatment during the same procedure.
Jim
I had PF in three areas so I think it has advanced...pulmomary vein, the posterior wall(? or is it anterior?) and a very small part of the LAA-all in all 74 pulses, unless that is all in the same area. I am kind of annoyed I didn't opt for the trial I was invited to partake in, but they had to list all possible things that could go wrong, and they weren't allowed to say it had any advantage over the other systems, so I panicked and declined!!
Natale has a great reputation, but he tends to ablate more areas than other EP's. So it just could be his style, and not the fact that your situation was "advanced." Easy enough to find out just ask him.
Are you sure he didn't use RF in some of the other areas outside of the pulmonary veins? I know that he uses both modalities during the same procedure when necessary.
Jim
No it wasn’t advanced at all. I meant the equipment is advanced enough to treat those areas. He said very straightforward. Notes say 74 pulses in those three areas. No mention of RFA.
That's good to hear. As of now, PFA is still more of a blunt instrument than RFA, but apparently it was fine in those areas. But in some areas, were more precision is necessary , For example, the Z line in a flutter ablation, RF is used for now.
Jim
That explains why my heart feels lobotomized then!
Think i saw a recent article by Dr Peter Mccullough maybe his substack on colcichine in reducing inflammation due to jabs. It was in a protocol of ? To assist in removing the inflammation causing spike protein. Sori cant be more specific but def dr mccullough the cardiologist.
Yes, that's right, something to do with that protein!!
Hi
After recovering from an operation, the nurse cough several times and I did.
It cleared and I was off for a walk.
Move and cough to clear airways.
cheri JOY. 75. (NZ)
I felt like a fire breathing dragon when I came around!
Hi
Used to normalise blood as he thinks you have too uric acid in blood e.g gout but mainly it reduces inflammation.
cheri JOY
I had a RF/Cryo ablation last year.
I too had some chest issues but it was more to do with shortness of breath. I ended up back in the hospital, I was prescribed Colchicine for a month and it did the trick.
It’s a medication used to treat Gout but it works really well for inflammation of the heart, WSJ article on it last year, and how wonderful a drug it is for the heart
Good luck, give it time , I know in my case I focused so much on the procedure that I did not give a thought to post ablation, it took a while to quieten down.
I told my EP I am a very impatient patient !!
Good luck
Thank you, I guess I was expecting to bounce back and as you say, I didn’t give post ablation much thought!
Did they tell you you had pericarditis a potential side effect of ablations? If so, you may be on it for a few months.
No. They said inflammation in some part of the pleura (?) cavities, an inflammatory response like the swelling of a sprained ankle, but it can occur anywhere in the chest? I think the meds are working so hopefully it will clear in a week or two!
I had it prescribed after my ablation. It helped me. Took it about a month
I think the problem was I was told to take ibuprofen for a couple of days and I have just realized that was giving me a run of ectopics. I think this gout med is helping , phew !!! Felt really wiped yesterday…
I got post procedure Pericarditis in December. It was absolutely terrible. The colchicine is the only thing that helped at all! I have had to be on it for five months, but should be tapering soon, unless I end up having another ablation. Hang in there. It will get better, but it was no fun without the colchicine!
Sorry that happened to you. I don’t know if mine is just inflammation or if it’s pericarditis, the NP called it inflammation. I hope you don’t get it again with a further ablation. Good luck!
Post Ablation
18 days post ablation! 
Passions (none-AF post)
Post ablation concerns
