Arrhythmia has increased to 40% after first ablation- 2nd or 3rd Ablation?? Have you had to have 2nd, 3rd Ablation? Bacause of the changes?

[Frank225]

Hi,

I will try to make it short but not always possible so I will ask the question first then please read the rest if you are interested.

-- Can new trigger points develop after an ablation for arrhythmia?

I am male 73 yrs. old I have been diagnosed with benign ventricular ectopics in 2015

I was put on 2.5 mg Bisoprolol for good number of years. It reduced my heart rate, specially at nights it went down as low as 40-42 bpm. But it did not reduced the ectopic frequency. Finally it was decided to go for the ablation route because they could not increase the dosage of Bisoprolol due to low bpm. At that time the ectopic

Burden was around 10% most of the time but every 2-3 weeks it vent up to around 20-28 % sometimes it was just for a few hours sometimes it was for 5-6 days.

I have had the ablation November 2021 it was very good for about 5 weeks. I didn't notice any there may have been some but would have been rare.

Then it started again I was put on 40mg Sotalol twice daily. Burden increased to around 30% Increased the Sotalol to 3 times daily then to 4 times daily but did not make any difference. Now the burden is around 40% permanently 24/7.

After the ablation I had been told that some of the trigger points were to close to the AV node, my heart stopped when they tried to ablate one of them, so as it stands a second ablation procedure is out of the question, there is no point.

Because at first, ablation seemed very successful makes me think something has changed. So I can't help wandering if this very high rate of ectopics caused by the new trigger points rather than the old ones that could not be ablated. If that is the case new trigger points location may be suitable for ablation. Openning the possiblity for a second ablation.

-- My question is, has anybody have a similar experience or heard new rigger points developing after ablation?

All your contributions will be greatly appreciated

Thank you

[BeeBee79]

I’ve had 3 ablations and was always told for 3 months afterwards is a blanking period where sometimes the symptoms can worsen during this time. I was also told that ablations can trigger new arrhythmias eg now I have ectopic beats that I didn’t have before at about 10%. I also had a cardiac arrest a few weeks after my last ablation - I’m 43.

I feel like I hear of people having ablations and no further issues but for me, it opened Pandoras Box

[Frank225 in reply to BeeBee79]

Hi, thanks for your reply,

I am sorry ablation did not only work for you, but caused further complications. It is true it seems to work very well for some people. I read your story about the cardiac arrest too, that is quite scary, you were lucky and your husbands actions saved your life. Do you know why you had the 2nd and 3rd ablations? Was it because they had not managed to get all the trigger points or the new ones had developed?

[BeeBee79 in reply to Frank225]

Thank you

The second ablation got the parts they missed first time in the pulmonary veins and the third ablation was in the lower chamber for atrial flutter which was a new arrhythmia . I still have AFib now although not as frequent and they are “watching and waiting” as they think it may be linked to hormones. They put me on Flecanide twice which sent me into a tailspin both times and I have a suspicion it may have caused Long QT syndrome causing my cardiac arrest as my QT intervals were prolonged when I was in Crete after it happened.

The heart is very tricky and my cardiologist calls mine “mischievous”. I really hope yours settles down soon for you without a need for more interventions

[Frank225 in reply to BeeBee79]

Thank you.

Yes certainly sounds  “mischievous” 🙂

I really appreciate the information. I wish you well and I hope things improve for you.

[BeeBee79]

Thank you! And you too ❤️👌

[Dadtoalad23 in reply to BeeBee79]

Hi … I’m new to afib sadly and have been spiralling about all sorts. What anticoagulants are you using ? Terrifying to hear of your journey so far I’m 46 and this has really flipped my life and anxiety to a very very high level.

[BeeBee79 in reply to Dadtoalad23]

Hi,

I’m so sorry - would never want to increase your anxiety at all. Afib is very common and what happened to me is very rare and I’m told, not connected to Afib so I hope that reassured you somewhat.

I’m currently on Apixaban anticoagulants .

Try not to worry - I know Afib is quite triggering for anxiety as I thought my symptoms were anxiety before I found out what it was. Are you having an treatment for Afib?

[Dadtoalad23 in reply to BeeBee79]

please don’t think it was who flipped me into anxiety ! It was my diagnosis. I’m already a very health anxious person and I always dreaded the day i would be told something is wrong with me. I’m very new to this and I appreciate everyone’s honest answers and council. I’m having a private cardiac MRI in a couple of weeks. The diagnosis just sent me into a spin of thinking I’m going to die. I have a ten year old son and it’s terrifying thinking I could leave him without a dad.

This is being compounded by a friend of mines recent diagnosis of having dilated cardiomyopathy and we used to discuss about some GPS blowing off our symptoms as anxiety. Well he got the bad news and he was very fit and active he passed his stress test and ecg was all good. The cardiologist said I can’t really see much to be worried about. My friend said would that mean Im clear to run a marathon the cardio said well with your chest pain symptoms and palpitations we can only rule out heart diseases with an mri. And that’s when he got the bad news. So I’m my mind I’m waiting for the bad news. It’s might be worse than him and it might be better. If I’m just dealing with Afib maybe I’ll cope better. I don’t know really. Very down.

[BeeBee79 in reply to Dadtoalad23]

I’m so sorry to hear about your friend and your health anxiety. It’s something I never had prior to this and it’s so worrying too especially having young children. I have a 10yr old and a 17yr old too and it upsets me daily that I almost wasn’t here for them.

I hope the MRI comes back clear for you - I’m betting it will as Afib is usually an electrical issue. Once you’ve established that, Afib can be easily treated with beta blockers or for more severe case, a cardioversion. There are so many success stories regarding Afib and the varying treatments that hopefully you will be on the road to feeling better 🙏