Flutters after ablation

[Spj57]

Hello, I had an ablation at the end of July and thankfully I have had no AF episodes since then which has been wonderful. However I do seem to get what feels like fluttering in my chest periodically although my heart rate is not raised high and my Fitbit and Kardia both read NSR. It's a worrying, trembling sort of feeling and I just wondered if this was something that can occur after an ablation? I was previously having paroxysmal episodes every 6 to 10 days. I'd be really grateful if anyone could advise please?

[BobD Volunteer]

Could easily be ectopic (out of -place) beats which are quite common post ablation.

[KiwiBlake]

I had a touch up ablation 16th July (10 weeks ago). I'm getting the occassional funny sensations, skipped beats (e.g 6 normal then a missed beat). Initially I was taking a PIP Flecainide, but last few times I've been brave enough to ride it out, and thankfully after a couple of minutes they have resolved themselves without needing to pop a pill. I'm finding the slow deep breathing is helping me. Mine have been coming on approx weekly, always when I'm feeling a bit buggered after a long day at work. I'm putting it down to my heart just giving me a little reminder to take it easy, and not over do things.

[Spj57 in reply to KiwiBlake]

Thank you, that's good to know. I do seem to get these on an evening when I'm tired. Maybe I'm still doing too much even though it seems so much less than I used to do 🤔

[Jalia in reply to KiwiBlake]

I've experienced exactly the same in similar scenarios, showing up as ectopics on my Kardia mobile.

[lawspear]

I had odd sensations for 12 months or so most days post ablation but then they fizzled out and very rarely anything now.

[Sixtychick]

I suffered with ectopics for a lot of months after my ablation a year ago. They gradually got less and I don’t get very many now. I took an ECG on my EMay monitor and showed them to the Dr, when I went for my follow-up appointment and he said they were nothing to worry about and everyone gets them.

[Bismark]

I had the same happen to me after my ablation. The flutter/skipped beats made me feel as if the ablation wasn't a success. My heart specialist said that I was getting stressed by these episodes and to try and relax and they would probably go away. I did wear a holter monitor for 24hrs and it did show that my heart did flutter or miss beats for a short period and around 5 to 10 times in the 24hr period which the specialist said was of no great concern to him. The only thing he did was to keep me on my blood thinners which I'm happy to do.

I did start taking less notice of the flutters and I removed as much stress from my life as possible and I'm finding that I'm having a hard time noticing any flutters/or missed beats and I'm pretty sure they are nowhere near as frequent now. Stress is a killer with heart problems and its easy to say don't stress about your episodes but you have to try and live with them and reduce any other things that may stress you.

To sum up I'm happy with the results of the ablation and I'm off the Flecainide and Digoxin which I was on for around 15 years.