Tachycardia following Ablation

I had an ablation in 2014 my heart it was 150-170 what up at resting are sleeping now my heart rate goes to 130 to 140 I'm on medicine my sometimes ablation works sometimes it doesn't. It doesn't sound like your ablation is that bad at 60 or 90 that is normal heart rate tachycardia is 100 and over a hundred beats and or more. Hope it gets better you can ask your EP doctor to put you on medicine if you don't think it's working ❤️❤️😁😁

My resting heart rate sometimes goes down to 30 or 25 I now have a pacemaker and my heart rate will go up to 149 or before I go a hundred and fifty to a nerd and Sydney sometimes it'll go over 200 before my ablation. I was 27 at the time 36 now I hope it gets better for you.

Hello Beebo,

I am so sorry to hear that your ablation is causing some problems. Hopefully, since you are in the blanking period right now it will go away.

I had my second heart ablation last May and the very same night I went into Tachycardia lasting about 6 hours. I saw my EP the next day and he was not concerned. He said that it was normal to have this happen and since my heart rate was about 99 to 105 and steady, he left me alone. It resolved.

Since that event, I have had many tachycardia events, all in the low range of 99 to 105. I never know when it is going to happen and it is quite unnerving. When my heart decides to slow down to my normal 60 to 65, it will pause and that is scary. It does this to reset itself. My EP wanted to wait until my blanking period was over (3 months) to change or add medicine. It continued. I had two trips by ambulance to the hospital and three hospital stays. My doctor was more concerned with the pauses than the tachycardia. During my last episode in October, I was having several pauses in a row to reset my heart. My poor heart is so confused. I was put in the hospital and loaded with Dofetilide 125, the lowest dose. I also take Propranolol ER instead of Metoporol becasue it takes away the headache that is a side effect of Dofetilide. I also take Eliquis.

Beebo, you must be in an abnormal rhythm (atrial flutter/atrial tachycardia/atrial fibrillation}. Nobody should be cardioverting a sinus rhythm in the 90's. It is normal to have moderately elevated HR after ablation while the healing takes place. After 3 months you should be at baseline. And in sinus rhythm, if ablation was successful. If it wasn't, another ablation may be helpful. Not unusual for that to happen, even though nobody looks forward to that.

I don't want to put a damper on you but my EP doctor says if you're young that a little pause does not matter and since I'm in my thirties they said a little paused and not matter because I was young I had to pacemaker cuz I was pausing up to for a second when I was walking around and up to five seconds when I was sleeping finally they decided to put in a pacemaker I still have I have third degree block that's why they put in a pacemaker but my heart still goes sometimes very fast would 18 to over 50 PVCs and 13 0 to 140 pve at night they put me on coroner and Metropol as needed I'm frustrated but they just look at me dumb. 🤪racing. They have recorded. I'm at the University up here where I live so the best of the best where I live so far.

Hi.....I had a similar situation after my ablation last February 2023. My heart rate was low 90's for at least a few months and had several a fib episodes for several months. My EP said the scaring of the inside of the heart from the procedure was causing the higher heart rate and a fib. After 4 months, all subsided and back to normal.

Beebo...I am continuing this becasue I ran out of room. I made the decision to get a second opinion and because I live in Jacksonville and am lucky to have a Mayo here, I am starting the process next week to see if something is being missed or their opinion of what is going on.

I pray that your tachycardia resolves in the blanking window and your Afib is corrected.

I might add that I do not have Afib anymore, just this type of tachycardia and pausing.

Blessings to you and yours,
CeCe55

Yes, it is exceedingly common to have both tachycardia and even short runs of AF during the blanking period. In fact, the latest science suggests that if one has some short runs of AF early in the blanking period, it is a much better sign than being AF-free for several weeks and then to start having some AF show up late in the blanking period. Bottom line, though, is that each heart gets to say how it feels about what was done to it. Each heart starts an ablation with a different history and a different condition, not to mention valve condition, enlargement of the atrium, state of heart failure if that is part of the history, and so on. We're all unique when we lie back on the gurney. Similarly, unless the ablation has missed something, we'll all experience something unique during our recovery. Some people report that they had elevated HR for many months, but over time it began to slow and now they're normally at 70 BPM.

The heart has been roughly handled. It will be cranky. It might have been cranky for some time if you had been having a lot of PACs or AF in the weeks prior to the surgery.

One other common fact is that people who have otherwise successful ablations will break into flutter. Their AF will go away, which is great, but suddenly their heart rate soars to 180 plus. This will be flutter, and it can sometimes, not often, be corrected by a cardioversion at the ER, or the EP will want to go in again and correct what he knows to be missing from the first effort at ablation. Flutter is often easier to fix than the initial AF that started the whole ball of wax.

Finally, don't be too dismayed if your first ablation doesn't work. The failure rate across the global medical community is about 25%. It's a tricky procedure, and remember that each heart has its own history and unique expression of AF, which the EP has to figure out while he/she's in there poking around. The great news is that a second ablation enjoys a predicted 80% success rate, which, when added to the 75% success rate of the first effort, makes for a pretty salutary outcome for anyone who finds that their first ablation didn't quite work.

My flutter is what started my A-fib. After fixing my flutter the EP says the good news is you flutter is gone the bad news is you have A-fib in your future.
So a few years later A-fib became a problem and then I had an ablation in 2019.
The past 6 months I have had 6 episodes a F-fib lasting a couple of days each and then self converting. Then this past Jan I had a full month alternating PACs, PVCs and SVTs that was not fun. For couple of weeks my burden seemed to be rather high but I could still carefully get some exercise in even if skippy was acting up. Then it started to improve esp. at night time I could get down to my normal baseline resting HR of 48. Yes 48 my whole life. In the meantime I got an appointment for Feb 13 which at that time was a month off. So last night I wake up to use the bathroom and I am back in A-fib without all the PVCs, PACs and SVTs. Just good old A-fib that wipes me out and I cannot do a thing. So I will see them Tuesday and will have to drive home just how bad things have been. So I am beating away a 84 BPM and I hate it. I noticed on their new website (large university medical center) they now claim a 90% A-fib success rate on the 1st attempt. I am glad I changed my oil last week and got a little firewood cut cause right now I am weak. Just turned 76.