PROBLEMS AFTER CARDIAC ABLATION - Part 1 of 2

Hi ShannonL,

Thanks for your reply and sorry to hear you're still suffering. It's so frustrating that the cardiologists aren't taking this problem seriously and just fobbing us off. My EP nurse had called me earlier to see how I was and she's going to talk to the cardiologist again so I'll see what they come back with next time. In the meantime I'm off to buy some fish oil tablets!! Just being able to have a walk would be great right now so I will give it try.

Thanks again and I will let you know if the hospital come back with anything helpful as it may help you too. Best wishes

Thanks! Hopefully the pain/tightness will go away with time after we fully heal!

Hi!

I am from Brazil and I was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia. I was assintomatic for 29 years and then I started to feel dizzy. I did all the exams, my heart is normal, except for the tachycardia, so the doctors call the tachycardia idiopatic. According to the exams it is an idiopathic right ventricular outflow tract tachycardia.

As I had asma when I was a child, the doctors did´t recommend betablockers, so the ablation was the option for me. I just did the ablation in 29 of february this year and the procedure was ok, withouth complications. I did with the best doctor in Brazil and with the tridimensional method, cartho. They say it is really good to find the right spot for ablation.

The symptoms of dizzyness went away, but the problem is that every night I wake up with a tachycardia that lasts about 30 seconds. I am going to do a holter tomorrow and it is my first exam after the procedure.

I am frustated and sad because I thought the procedure was succesfull. I am afraid of the results, I am afraid of doing it again. Sometimes I hope it is all in my mind and that the test will be ok. I read an article about post ablation syndrome, that some patients feel symptons, because the were so used to feel it, but in the end there is no cause. I hope that it is what is happening to me.

I wish luck and a healthy life for all.

My 16 year old had an ablation on the posterior area of the heart for an accessory pathway. Prior to the ablationn his rate would go up to 270-300, with some mild discomfort. He could cough them out. Due to the rate and the wide QRS complex, he was told no exercise until the ablation done. (beta blockers not an option due to asthma). Ablation was successful supposedly; however, he is day 10 and feels worse than he ever had with the arrhythmia or with his worse asthma attack. He has chest pain with any movement, he walks up our tiny flight if stairs and his heart rate goes to 140; he can't tolerate carrying his backpack around school, if he jogs to a nearby corner, he gets clammy, nauseated, bad chest pain and lightheaded. His resting heart rate used to be 69, now it's 100-110. We were told this was a "minor procedure" and he would be off restrictions and back to normal in 48 hours. They have said it "could be from anesthesia, a virus, anxiety.." first, has had anesthesia without issues before, plus it should be well out of his system; he isn't sick; he wasn't anxious when the heart rate was 270+ nor and doesn't get anxious with even bad asthma attacks. He feels like crap and has zero tolerance for activity and it is since the ablation; prior to that he played basketball without an issue and now he gets pain, short of breath and his heart races walking 50 feet. What is the problem with all these electrophysiologists that they seem unable to take responsibility for post op issues? He is supposed to be playing baseball and he can't even walk from class to class with ease. Wishing we would have never had it done.

Post Edited (Motherof16yearold) : 4/13/2012 10:28:00 PM (GMT-6)

A note for all to ponder. I had my heart ablation Dec. 2011, when I woke up after the procedure I could hardely breath and my heart was hurting.  They decided to keep me an extra day for observation and test.  During the procedure the doctor said I had fresh blood in my mouth and had an ENT check down my throat and sinius system, said they couldn't find any thing. The also gave me a swollow test everything ok. It was extreamly difficult to breath and had pain in the middle of my chest for the next couple of weeks. shortness of breath and chest pain still continues today.  went to my primary care Doctor, told him the story. He listened to my heart and lungs advised me to get an appt with my cardologist asap. While listening to my right lung he stated he didn't hear any thing could be liquid in my lung or collapsed lung. sent me for chest exray. The next day I was called and advised I needed a cat scan. Cat scan revealed "Patchy areas of air space disease are seen in right lower lobe, which was found to be collasped, with elevation of  the right hemidiaphragm consistant with ateletasis without obvious cause". My primary doctor advised me that before my abalation I had PVC'S but now I have PAC's my heart either skips every third beat or it is so low it be only picked up on EKG. I was advised to discuss this with with lung Doctor, carciologest and my EC. I do suspect my EC may have caused these adverse conditions. Ialso have severe fatigue and can't last more than a copule if minutes before I have to rest.  I do hope this answers some of your questions.

Post Edited (AMMO) : 4/16/2012 1:56:05 PM (GMT-6)

I've read the other postings relating to problems experienced after having catheter ablations and it seems the problems are many and varied. I just had an ablation done 2 weeks ago in San Diego for an A-fib problem and the surgeon said that all went well and I should be back exercising mildly after 2 weeks. In reality I'm not even close to being able to exercise after 2 weeks as I've been experiencing low blood pressure, weakness and an inability to even walk 100 ft without having to stop. I'm thinking it might be a side effect of the coumadin but everyone tells me that coumadin doesn't produce these kinds of side effects. Reading everyone elses problems which seems to be similar (or worse) in nature I'm now thinking that my symptoms are fairly normal. My question to my fellow ablation patients is "how long does it take before you feel like you're back to normal and can say that your A-Fib has been cured? My surgeon told me that the success rate is 85-90% for A-Fib sufferers. I appreciate any comments you may have.

I also have a non-stop cough when I stand up or walk (it goes away completely when I'm lying down) which started after the ablation. Very strange.

Kitbedit -  just wanted to respond to your email and let you know that you shouldn't be afraid about the ablation procedure.  It's now been 3 weeks since my ablation and I'm feeling almost normal now.  The biggest problems I experienced had little to do with the actual procedure but rather with very low blood pressure so I was weak and unsteady; having to stay in bed all the time.  Once they straightened out my blood pressure problem with fluids and salt, I started to feel pretty good.  Now I'm back in the gym doing light exercise and feeling stronger every day. 

I just want to let you know that I have had no pain whatsoever in my chest.  Aside from my blood pressure the other problems were the soreness in my groin and the coughing and irritation in my windpipe due to the breathing tube during surgery.  I did have one episode of atrial fibrillation in the past 3 weeks which went away after taking flecanide. 

The doc says I won't know for sure if the A-fib has been cured for about 3 months but at least I'm feeling pretty good now.

I know everyone's situation is different regarding A-fib but I just want to reassure you that the procedure itself is low risk and high success.  I wish you all the best and a speedy recovery.

 

Hi,

To al those that may be stressing out reading these messages... please note that people that have no further problems post ablation may not post in forums.

A good - very experienced doctor is important for success.

Looking back I should have done the ablation years earlier - I let myself suffer the tyranny of SVT out of ablation fear.

Best of luck in whatever you decide to do!

Sorry that I cant answer the above questions.. I am 49 and had SVT for 24 years. At first the cardiologist said it was a mitral valve prolapse. For 20 years I was against the idea of have anything ablated, burned, severed or destroyed in my heart. I would have random episodes of up to 300 beats per minute.. sometimes while I slept, twice while at retreats, once on the fourth of july etc.. often when I was relaxing.

Over the years if my husband was with me and he calmly prayed for me it would stop. Once I had my grand daughter put her hand on my heart and mine on hers and just the connection with her regular heart beat regulated mine. After many years I found that if I could lay down and completely relax with a very deep breath in then held for several seconds then slowly breathing out and holding it for a long period i could stop them.

If people around me were impatient, loud, frantic or hyper I could not make them go away and would end up in an ambulance and emergency room getting adenesine (which I do not know how to spell) or an electric shock to stop my heart. That was frightening. The most recent tach events made me black out and I went to ER. That is when I made an appointment with my cardiologist.

I was scheduled to have a very large fibroid tumor removed from my uterus one week after my cardiology appointment. I had also put that surgery off for years even though I had continuous very heavy bleeding. At my cardiology appt. I was told that I should have the ablation because if I had svt during the tumor removal it could create an emergency scene that they may not deal with well. I saw my gyno. doc later that day and she agreed. The anesthesiologist for the uterine surgery had reservations about me having the ablation and then 4 days later having the uterine surgery. I felt that I was being brave to just say yes.. lets do this. These appointments were on Monday July 9th and I got scheduled for the ablation on the 12th and my uterine procedure was scheduled for the 16th of July.

I couldn't believe I was doing it. I remember being most concerned about the catheter insertion site and the large mass in my uterus between it and the femoral vein to my heart. I was concerned about being shaved down there in a weird shy sort of way and asked if I could go in in advance and have a professional wax. They said no. The nurse nicked me while shaving the area :( and the male nurse started to walk in to the room during that..

I felt a burning sensation in the IV when they pushed in the pain killing agent in the main procedure room. I said I was concerned about the large mass in my uterus being in the way.. they said it could be a problem. The next thing I remember was coming too and seeing the large white machines and lights in the room.. and being checked on and told that the procedure went well. They gave me a drug that made me forget everything.

In the recovery room an nurse pushed very hard into the insertion site in my groin area and moved her hand around there.. I could understand pressure but not the movement.. When it was time to try to get up hours later she did the same thing and made my incision site open up and bleed all over. I had to lay back down for a long time.

My heart felt fine. No pain or fluttering whatsoever. I took it easy and went to my grandmothers for rest that night. The next day I couldn't wait for the 24 hours to be up so I could shower. I was very concerned about having a bowel movement because I was cautioned not to strain to do that.. I became constipated. I wasn't given any drugs or medications.

In the shower I nearly passed out because the gauze the nurse had stuffed into my wound to stop it from bleeding, hard started to heal into the wound. I was trying to cut it away.. and the pulling really made me almost sick... I layed in front of a fan after the ordeal to dry the area... My mother got pissed off at me for delaying dinner to 7pm for this. Wow.. what a great help she was :(

The next day I was walking about and had some leg pain that may have been unrelated, front left shin.. I also had some pretty extreme lower back pain which made me think that I had struggled to get free and stressed during the procedure which I of course cant remember.

That night, Saturday I went to close a window and there was a sharp snap across my abdomen like a large rubber band snapping inside.. it shocked me and felt stingy and painful. The same thing happened again when I went to pick up a shirt off the floor. I then layed down. At 5:30 am I felt a pain in the groin area.. but it was on my left side and the incision was on the right. At 7:30 am Sunday I woke with a feeling of impending doom and a sharp pain in my left chest area behind my breast. I said to myself "There is a blood clot entering my lung" It may have been an angel or God but I heard it. I looked up Blood clot in lung symptoms on google, I tried to find my heart doctor number, but I began to panic and called 911.. I had no one with me so the firefighters crawled through my window.

My heart, lungs, blood pressure and all looked good and one attendant acted as if I was coo coo. The older one was serious and they got me into an ambulance. At the hospital all devices said i was doing well. They monitored my heart, pressure, listened to my lungs and I sounded fine. They brought in someone to check for clots in my calves with gel and ultrasound. It was extremely painful at the back of my calf but showed nothing in the imaging. The tech guy threw a towel at me and said " You clean it up if it hurts so bad" I hurt my chest to bend down and do that and I had no place to throw the gooey messy papers.. I told the doc when he came in that I felt that a clot was passing up my body to my lung and he said I wouldn't be able to feel that. He did a CT scan just to be safe. It was now near noon and he came in sheepishly and said "I am sorry to say, you were right, you have two blood clots in your lungs and you wont be having uterine surgery in the morning and possibly not for 6 months until this is resolved.

I felt that an angel had saved my life. I felt that if I had blown the sharp pain off as a pinched nerve or something that in sedation the next day during uterine surgery I would have possibly died from the pulmonary embolism. I also was happy that I wouldn't be drinking the bowel cleansing formula and fasting any longer for a surgery I was dreading.

The gave me a shot of Heperin ? to thin my blood and I began to take coumadin and was admitted to the hospital. The shots in my stomach were very painful. Even though I had an IV they would take my blood multiple times a day through different veins. Each shot in my stomach left huge bruises and lumps. The insertion point for the catheter was healing well but I had huge bruises there. And the bleeding from the uterine tumor that had magically stopped a month or two before.. came back.. I was in the hospital until Wednesday. The doctors didn't think the ablation surgery and the embolism were related which I thought was odd since materials that I had read said that blood clots were a potential risk.

I will see a lung specialist this Thursday August 2nd. My primary doc had no explanation, no care, no glad you made it comment.. she just took notes read notes read the finger prick test and told me how much coumadin to take and left without saying goodbye..

I called the heart doc and they are not planning to see me until October. I am having a burning pain in my stomach where the rubberband snap sting was.. I am wondering if the femoral vein can be torn while making a journey across a large tumor in the uterus. I have no one to ask these questions to. I have a lot of fatigue, depression and a sense of not feeling well. I feel kind of dead.. and no Joie de vivre.. My heart feels pretty good. Some fluttering here and there.. My lung feels compromised and I still feel the sharp pain now and then.. I wanted to feel alive and well and have this tumor gone.. to lose weight and feel free to climb mountains and stuff.. I can barely walk down the steps or sidewalk.. But is early in the game. I just wish I could see a doctor who was caring and understanding and would help me to understand all that has happened and give me tips on how to best recover and be well. The vegetables I was all excited about eating for good health before the surgery turn out to be filled with vitamin k which messes with coumadin absorption.. Wow.. I just feel lost.. Hope my story helped some of you.. If you have any advise for me, I would love it!! Thanks <3

 am suppose to go see a rythum doc this month on the 31st. My cardio doc wants to me to have this oblation....i was scared before i read these and now im even more scared. I have CAD and heart diease. Im 44 both were inherited from my mother. I have three stents. And my heart skips arounds so badly at times and does what i call a flip flop. Has taken me to my knees to the point of almost passing out. All stress test and ecko's show great plumbing. The wiring is what is not to hot.....1,2,3 and 4 procedures done at a time??!!! NO WAY??!!!   My cardio doc say the oblation is a cure for this skippying feeling and what not. Has anyone has success with this procedure being done in STL area by the MERCY hosptial???!!! Or anyone for that matter had success??

Whitenight

I am sorry you have had a bad experience(?) it only helped you for 14 years. Oh my, well not to be argumentative, but maybe it's a different area misfiring this time.. I have Sick Sinus Syndrome and chronic a-fib. I have been on medication and had a cardioversion that worked for 5 months.. I am now in a-fib again and I am scheduled to see an electrophysiologist on the 27th of this month to discuss having an ablation done. I am 63 years old and I have had heart problems for less than 1 year/ I had a pacemaker installed in Nov 2011 and the cardioversion was done in march 2012. I have a healthy heart it is not diseased or blocked in any way.. just the electrical system is shorting out.. I will be happy if I have the ablation and it works well for 14 years then I will have another and if it works for 14 years I will consider going to meet my maker... there is always a chance that a procedure will cease to work, other times it is not the procedure that stopped working but another part of your heart is malfunctioning.. wait to pass judgment until you see the results of your monitor...
kindest regards to all
kyheart

Hi everyone, I am new to this site as a member, but have been reading many of the posts for awhile. I have to say that the idea of having an ablation scares me to death, given many of the comments about healing difficulties and repeat procedures.

Here is my story: I have had PVCs for over 30 years. They were bothersome and scary to me but never really life altering. They were somewhat attenuated by beta blockers, but really improved about 20 years ago when I had thyroid surgery for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Since that time, I have been taking levothyroxine and my lab values are always within normal range. about 3 years ago, I was discovered  to have moderate to severe aortic insufficiency, and have had serial echocardiograms that have showed little change. about 5 to 6 months ago, the palpitations increased with a vengeance. I have always ignored them fairly successfully, but I began to have unexplained falls. which is very dangerous for me as I have 2 artificial knees. I have also had some periods of altered consciousness - feeling muzzy headed - hard to explain, and some minor chest pains. I went to my cardiologist and he said the EKG showed PVCs but no big deal. We tried a trial of atenolol, but it made me feel worse and more lightheaded so we quit that one. After I fell again, I pushed him for some additional evaluation. He did a Lexiscan stress test which revealed little: baseline EKG with sinus rhythm with PVCs with increased PVCs during test and recovery. Some couplets. No other specific findings.  An echo done immediatelt after the stress test showed mild L atrial and L ventricular dilatation, moderate aortic regurgitation, mild to moderate tricuspid regurg, mild pulmonic regurg, but the technical quality was only fair.  Later, we did a 24 hour Holter which showed that I was having >19,000 PVC s day, average 820/hour. The majority were single PVSc but thyere were 146 paired and 1075 trigemy The majority of these were ventricular ectopies, with only a few supraventricular ectopies - about 1/hr with only 1 run of 4 beats. A fill-in doc who provided me the results said it was nothing to worry about because I have had a history of PVCs (note to this cardiologist: maybe I had had them before but never to this extent)! My regular cardiologist is now sending me to an electrophysiologist for an ablation. I havent seen him yet, but I am worried about whether this will help or make the worse.  A couple of questions:  My isolated systolic blood pressure is ofyen high with a wide margin between systolic and disatolic (like 150/57).could this be caused by the arrythmias? Are the dizzy spells related? My cardiologist isnt so sure that the falls/dizziness are related.  Any thoughts or advice on ablation?  Thanks so much in advance.

hello again,

well, i'm sorry for everyone who has a heart rhythm problem. i know how difficult it is. my problem is VT. my first ablation was august 16 2012 which didn't work or else they just missed an area. so i just had my second ablation yesterday! i certainly hope this one works. i am still on my verapamil for 2 more weeks until my heart heals so please pray for me that this one was successful!