I suffer from occasional AF and have low blood pressure and shortage of breath most of the time. I had a Flutter Ablation a couple of years ago which helped but as I still get AF I am now awaiting a AF Ablation. I take Dabigatran (during day)and Flecainide (at night).
My question is will the AF ablation help with the shortage of breath I get. Has anyone else had experience of this?
It might but that depends on why you have SOB. I suffer yet no longer have AF and so far have had pulmonary diffusion tests, sleep apnoea tests,etc none of which have been thought the cause. An echocardiogram showed pulmonary hypertension but ten months down the line I'm still wating for CT angiogram to investigate that.
Many thanks for your response
Ditto what BobD said.
It may, but didn’t make much difference to me, if anything made it worse BUT I have other contributory conditions so difficult to say what causes which symptom. I saw a recent post about advice being given that after ablation avoid walking up inclines. I think there may be a few forum members who hike may find that restrictive, to say the least.
I'm a hiker, and can't for the life of me figure out why I have trouble walking up hills. Stairs are usually fine, so why are inclines not? I try to convince myself it's the lasting effects of Covid (2020), but maybe not...
It may well do. What medication are you on? I got no shortness of breath from AF but did from Bisoprolol, and any other beta blockers, calcium channel blockers they tried me on in the first year - including a mix of two or more of them
Interesting. My principal problem is sob but that predated the AF by a couple weeks. Now the asthma team say its AF, the cardio team say its asthma. But its unlike any asthma symptoms I've ever had (lifelong) and for sure beta blockers dont help. Waiting ablation b4 deciding next step, but none of the medics want to step out of their own narrow field, or at least so it seems to me.
Fluid overload is what causes my shortness of breath, swollen ankles/ legs etc., so I take a diuretic tablet for this, whether or not an ablation will help you is questionable.
Hello, I suffered sob, I had an ablation a year ago, 6 months after that I was taken off bisoprolol and flecainide, it was at this point my sob improved. I still get short of breath on occasion, especially hills and stairs, but much improved to how I was.
Thats interesting I am wondered if the flecainide I take at night is making things worst I ued to just take it as a pill-in-the- pocket when getting AF
Please don't change your regime because of my experience. Diane
I was also given two tips which both help.Walk up hills with a straight back, rather than leaning.
And
Take much shorter steps.
Try taking extra vitamin B1 and B12 and see if that helps with your shortness of breath
My afib returned last November & I was prescribed amiodarone, which put me back in rhythm but also made me breathless going up hills. (Which are hard to avoid where we live). Then I had an ablation in a research trial which re-did the first ablation plus ablating the outside of my heart as well. For a few days I felt brilliant, all breathlessness gone! But as I felt so well I believe I probably did too much too soon, because I developed a flutter, & the breathlessness is now worse than it was - plus the prescribed Bisoprolol exacerbating it. So yes, I found that although the afib & the flutter both cause real breathlessness for me - as soon as my heart’s in rhythm it disappears. So I really hope it does for you too!
I think it might, but I feel the need to breathe more deeply more when my LBBB kicks in than when my AF does, so we all vary!
Steve
I was incapacitated with SoB but my ablations have put that to rest. However, I still have some shortness of breath, especially when leaning over. and no matter how hard I exercise up hills (to please my EP!) it doesn't seem to improve. My EF is fine on my echos. I hoped to have some improvement by now but maybe I'm in that camp where I'm stuck with it like others of you. This discussion was helpful for me. I wish I knew what causes it. I'm on Eliquis and Perinopril (BP med).
Many thanks for your response
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