Afib heart ablation Post Op

[afibsucs]

I am curious to hear how people felt immediately after the catheter ablation and for the week following. I don't know if I should sign up for more time off work or if three days is enough of a recovery period.

[Hidden]

More like 3 weeks!

How old are you, what is the nature of your work?

[afibsucs in reply to Hidden]

Office. Mostly sitting. Sometimes I have to run out to the factory floor for this or that.

[jeanjeannie50 in reply to afibsucs]

I'd give yourself a good 2-3 weeks to recover. I had a desk job and was off for 2.5 weeks after my first ablation. I felt differently after each of my 3 ablations. After the last one I felt well right away. Really there is no way of knowing how quickly you will recover.

Jean

[baba]

Please read :

healthunlocked.com/redirect...

[bar042 in reply to baba]

This Article says 3-4 days. I am 51 and fit and have a mostly desk job. I took a week off for this.

pennmedicine.org/updates/bl....

[MummyLuv]

definitely take longer! Let your heart recover, even if you are sitting you’ll still be dealing with the stress of work.

[Buzby62]

I would say the first two weeks at least you should follow your plan to do nothing much rather than go on how you feel. You may feel ok but if you overdo things that can change quickly. If you plan to clear your diary for at least a couple of weeks then that will help you physically and mentally in my opinion.

Best wishes

[BobD Volunteer]

Whoever thought three days was enough never had an ablation. That is why we wrote the fact sheet you have been sign posted to.

healthunlocked.com/redirect...

[afibsucs in reply to BobD]

Where is the fact sheet?

[BobD Volunteer in reply to afibsucs]

Just added to me above post.

[afibsucs in reply to BobD]

Thank you so much. I see they don't give you a timeline for work. Well I was hoping to not discuss this with my boss but I guess maybe I will have to.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to afibsucs]

You should think in terms of at least two weeks and maybe much longer. We are all different but one thing is for sure and that is doing too much too soon may undo a lot of hard work. Just becasue you don't have a giant zip up your front doesn't make the work done in your heart any less serious.

[CDreamer]

You will not be able to drive for seven days. Climbing more than one set of stairs will be difficult with the groin wound so I can’t see you ‘running’ down to a factory floor for a while. I went back to work, part time, after 10 days and tired easily. I ended up retiring but I was in my sixties. There are some young fit people who I have returned to work after a week or so but I would say they would be unusual and most need time to heal.

[Iamfuzzyduck]

I am a relatively fit 57 year old and I had an ablation 4 weeks ago under a general-I am still not 100 % but I am doing everything I was before, but I'm tired if I do what I normally do and my heart or something has weird moments. I don't think I could have gone back to work in the first two weeks , the doctors have told me it takes 8-12 weeks to heal (I am homebased so I didn't have to go back to work)- but, I do high cardio workouts, walk the dogs etc but not at full speed...

[LaceyLady]

I had ablation end February and would not consider going back to work that soon! I’m currently wearing a monitor for ECG to see how effective the ablation was, had it fitted yesterday. I am assuming this is because I’m paying through insurance as I doubt many are getting this check on the NHS.

I would say at least 3/4 week rest with an active job.

[Carolx]

Good morning,

I had my ablation November 2023.

The procedure was quite traumatic as they didn’t fit the cannula properly and I wasn’t receiving any sedation or pain meds. It lasted 3 hours.

Afterwards I felt ok, just very tired. I was discharged 5 hours after the procedure. I walked to Waterloo Station from St Thomas’ Hospital. Probably not my greatest idea.

As soon as I got home I started having erratic, fast, thumping palpitations.

These lasted 4 weeks. I felt dreadful. I spoke to the hospital, who reassured me this was all normal. I couldn’t sleep, as they were mainly at night and lasting for hours. I was regretting having the surgery.

Then literally on the 4 week mark my heart calmed down completely and has remained so since. I get a few ectopics every now n then, but not the prolonged fast palpitations I was getting pre surgery. 55 years of palpitations and now nothing 😊

It feels amazing. I know I shouldn’t tempt fate as I know they could return out of the blue.

So I had 4 weeks off work in total. That was due to sleep deprivation though, not the actual procedure.

My follow up appointment is the end of July.

I have a loop recorder implant, it will be interesting to see what my cardiologist has to report.

I wish you a speedy recovery and hope it has cured your heart issues

Carol

[wilsond]

3 days is definitely not enough. 2 weeks minimum I'd say. Medics give the impression normal service will be resumed within days....haha.

The Patient leaflets on here are great, Preparing for and arecovrring from an ablation.

You will feel very tired,and can expect some AF episodes as your heart has been interfered with.

NO heavy lifting or anything other than gentle walking.

Best wishes

[Samazeuilh2]

Three days? Some people would take more time off for a cold! I would have thought two weeks at an absolute minimum!

[Karendeena]

I felt rough the day I had it done and suffered aura migraines daily for one week, after that pretty much ok apart from some GI issues. I was advised to stay off work for 1 week but having retired that wasn't a consideration for me.

I am 6 weeks post ablation now but have been cautious through the recovery because I am a person who can't sit still. I did walk every day from the first day post ablation. I have not lifted anything heavy until recently.

My heart has behaved up to now 🤞 with just a few ectopic beats. My heart rate is about 10bpm bpm faster at rest post ablation

[Brizzy50000]

I spent the first 3 days in bed, the next week or so sat in the chair with remote control, then short walks That was 6 years ago and no AF since, so just take it easy

[JoDogBlue]

It does seem to be an individual thing but I'd say you want to give your heart as much chance to heal as you can. The nurse specialist told me they tend underestimate the effects of ablation and the recovery period. I'm coming up for five weeks and only just getting energy back but then I've been back in AF for nearly all that time.

[sponable98]

I have had multiple ablations since 2011, all post retirement so no experience returning to "work" other than my "honey do lists". My recommendations: Absolute minimum possible exertion for first 4-7 days or more to protect your groin wounds and prevent swelling/bruising/bleeding. You will very likely want to do more than you should, just don't do it! (I did after my first couple of ablations and regretted it! Slow learner here apparently) After your catheter wounds have somewhat healed, the next phase is likely more subjective as it involves your heart settling down, I would recommend at least another week, possibly two or more if your heart is feeling strange. That said, I have never regretted having the ablations, though not cured yet, my afib episodes have been much less frequent and more tolerable since the first ablation! Best of luck to you, hope you are in the "cured" ranks soon!

[Madscientist16]

I am an office worker and was in pretty great shape for 52 years old when I had my ablation. I figured one week off was enough. Nope. The second week I could only work half days. By the third week I could do a full day, but was really tired.

[PlanetAl]

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's posted here. I had my catheter ablation for persistent AF 10 days ago (thankfully under general) and have been searching this forum for the last couple of hours to see how long it would be before I can exercise normally. I rang the CCU on Saturday (a week after) to ask about this, after a very wobbly 30 minute round trip to the shops (with a break at a cafe midway) and they referred me to the arrythmia nurses. They're not available. I've been very anxious since the procedure, listening to my heart all the time to check it's not fibrillating again, freaking out a bit when it skips, and quite wobbly when walking outside. After a week of doing virtually nothing (although I live alone and friends and family are suddenly all away on holiday or otherwise engaged, so I have to do some stuff) I called my GP to sign me off for another week. I have a desk job, working from home, but it's very stressful and I couldn't face it. I was terrified before the ablation and cried in meetings a couple of times (thankfully only with friendly colleagues) in the week leading up to it, I couldn't do that again. Luckily my employer is very understanding. My go-to to deal with stress/anxiety is to swim in the sea, but I don't think I can do that yet.

So I'm very grateful for everyone who's said that the week the docs advise isn't long enough, I felt so feeble asking for another week. Also very grateful for the factsheet that baba linked.

Thank you. And to afibsucs, it's been 3 months since you posted, I hope all went well.

[afibsucs in reply to PlanetAl]

Thank you so much. Things did go well. I had 10 days off including the day of surgery. The first 3 days back at work was pretty rough so I maybe could have given myself a little more time. I did climb stairs by day 3 (VERY slowly). Drove by day 5. Just to the gas station to get snacks. Throat & Chest was pretty uncomfortable for the first week. As for immediate results, for some reason my shoulder and neck pain abated. Never thought it was AFIB related but now I wonder. Groin pain was pretty tender for about two weeks. I have some residual nerve pain on inner thigh about the size of a half dollar but it has improved so hopefully it will go away someday. Its been 54 days since surgery. I had mostly intermittent flutters the first two weeks. I have also had a few episodes of AFIB. None have lasted longer than 3-1/2 hours. I guess the change I have noticed is that I don't always feel the AFIB now. I have developed a cough, like a deep tickle and that is how I know my heart has just done something weird. Or if I am super tired in the morning I check my sleep App and it will show my heartrate was in the 140's or 150's while I was asleep. My doctors say this is all normal and should settle down as my heart heals and forms the scar tissue. I heard 3 months before ablation, but the doc says 3-6 months usually but could take up to a year!! So I am still hoping for good results but at least the fear of the surgery part is over for now. I became "aware" while under anesthesia for about 30 seconds to a minute. My vein blew where the medicine was keeping me under and they had to switch to my other arm. So I was aware what was happening and terrified because I couldn't move or let anyone know. But I went right back to sleep when they got the new IV going. Good luck to you all.

[PlanetAl in reply to afibsucs]

Jeez, that's horrific! I'm so sorry. But really good to hear you've come through it relatively OK. Take care.