What downside have you experienced after an ablation?

I have been taking fleccanide for several years for my a fib. It works well except one night when I drank more alcohol than usual. The a fib came back & lasted about 8 hours, then went away again.

My husband had ablation in 2023 when he was 79. He unfortunately had lots of after effects such as gastro-intestinal issues. He can't eat one bite beyond being satiated or he gets sick. He's out of rhythm most of the time despite having had 6 aversions and taking amiodarone along with other heart meds like metoprolol. Our next door neighbor has the same issue but he's had 3 ablations. Last checkup they told my husband he had been out of rhythm continuously for over 6 months. He spontaneously goes back in rhythm like last Sunday and feels great but usually for only a few hours. Monday morning he was feeling bad again. He sometimes sleeps 18 hours a day. the docs say he sleeps so much because it's like he's running constantly because of the Afib. He's scheduled for a "super" ablation 4-3 and I hope and pray it helps. These procedures are miracles for many people but can also disappoint. Everyone is different so results can't be predicted.

Here's hoping it works. I'm glad they want to deal with him aggressively because you don't want his heart to become so remodeled that the ablation becomes all but a waste of time. A heart that spends a long time, months, in ectopy has a tendency to develop fibrosis and collagen deposits in the 'substrate', which makes it more inefficient and it has to work harder.
Again, I hope it works!

For most AF patients, the initial presentation is called 'paroxysmal', meaning it comes and goes on its own, often for no obvious reason. If it stops on its own and your heart returns to NSR (Normal Sinus Rhythm), then your AF is 'self-limiting', also formally called 'paroxysmal.'

I had a PF ablation on Feb 20. No pain. No tiredness. I felt the same as before I had it done. I had the general. I've had AFIB for years. In 2024 I had 59 episodes, each lasting 20+ hours. After the ablation I've had three episodes lasting 10 minutes. The doctors said it could take three months to adjust and I could still have "transient" episodes. Ten minutes has been a lot better. 72M. Work done at Mayo Rochester.

Opposite out of breath very little effort and high heart beat

The general advice given to me and to all patients is that an arrhythmia rate higher than 100 BPM for more than 24 hours is a time to consider seeking urgent help. Most go to the local ER because you don't need an appointment and you'll be triaged to be seen earlier than other patients, except for those in real duress with bleeding.

Thanks. He has a long story starting with repeated falls from meds he was taking for restless legs. This culminated with his having a brain bleed and spending 7 weeks in the hospital. He came home from the rehab hospital looking like the Michelin Man so was back in for heart failure. He came home and within 2 weeks was back in with emergency hernia surgery. It goes on from there but I won't continue. It is such a horrible experience to go to the ER that he now says he would rather die than go. It is always full and you will likely end up in the hallway or even in one end of the waiting room and wait hours for any help. When he had to use the bathroom, an attendant handed me a urinal for him to use. I guess it's this way in ERs almost everywhere. He developed the Afib after the brain bleed but I don't know if there is a connection. Since we have no family other than cousins who live 200 miles away it all falls to me and I'm getting tired.

I also get out of breath with little activity and have my pluse going from 50 BPM to 125+ BPM. All this with having 6, yes 6, ablations in 27 days at 2 different hospitals.

😮 !!