Failed ablation
I have had several cardio conversions. Doctor suggested an ablation would help stabilize the rhythm. Went through many tests in preparation for the ablation to pinpoint the exact area in the heart. Ablation failed within one day and I was back in a fib. Anyone have suggestions on what to do next?
Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Heart Rhythm Conditions Support Group.
There is such a thing as 'RVR' which is 'rapid ventricular response'. It isn't good having AF, but when the left ventricle contracts in the same frequency, this can be a slow recipe for disaster. The heart is a muscle, after all, and muscles to need to have periods of low activity/low demand. If you're sleeping, but still in AF, and also in RVR, the left side of your heart is getting no rest, and will eventually lead to heart failure due to enlargement of those vessels' walls.
An AV node destruction stops the rapid ventricular response (RVR), but it does not normally also stop any further AF. AF occurs because of a 'leaked' electrical impulse emitting from one or more places inside the left atrium that causes it so contract chaotically. An ablation is meant to place a 'dam', a circular dam, of many small lesions around the 'focus' or reentrant where this extra beat signal enters the left atrium. Those lesions become scar tissue, over which the electrical impulse cannot pass. No passage, no extra beats. AF stops. That's what ablation is meant to do. There is no ablation, no lesions, when doing an pacemaker implant.
The first few monthes after ablation is called blanking period. It where the heart is reacting basically from the Dr working on it. My husband had that. Happen. His dr may want to adjust meds etc.
so we are hoping that’s all it is the blanking period.
Failed within one day? It can take a while for things to settle down and work. Wait a few weeks before you call it a failure. I had a PF ablation in February and had about five AFib episodes after that, though much shorter (minutes rather that all day). Then, the AFib went away and I've been good since despite enjoying all of my previous "triggers".
I think you’re correct that nothing cures AFIB. I have a pacemaker and am on meds but Doc says I will still have episodes but should not be too bad. Have had pacemaker since May and have had one bad episode of AFIB that lasted for a week off & on, in July. Totally wore me out. Changed my blood thinner and blood pressure meds this week. So I’ll see how that goes. I guess it’s just something we have to learn to live with.
Great comment! And factual. The instructions I took home warned that it is common to experience some short runs of AF during the blanking period. The latest research says that if this happens in the first few weeks, it is a better prognosis than if the first few weeks are AF-free and then the patient begins to get breakout AF in the last three or four weeks before the Holter monitor assessment (usually sought between 10-12 weeks, typically).
https://www.heartrhythmjournal.com/article/S1547-5271(24)00261-3/fulltext
Even so, there is wide variability, and patients need to be.....well.....patient. It may even turn out that after the Holter things improve and that the person will then go on to dozens of months, even years, before having another bout of AF. If ever.
There is currently no cure for AF. There are remedies, but no cure. Once the cardiac substrate is disordered, and once there are cells distributed here and there that take over the beating sequence of the left atrium, that's it...forever. All we can do is try to mess those cells up with anti-arrhythmic drugs, or to ablate the tissue around them, try to zap them individually if that is possible and they are clustered, or to create a dam around them of scar tissue, which is what PFA and RF ablations mostly are about....block their electricity from getting out into the atrial endothelium.
The heart is unstable for up to three months, and you are assuming too soon that the ablation failed.
I think you are an example of how everyone is so different in this A-fib experience. I made all the dietary changes that you mentioned (well, with modifications); drink only 1/2 caf coffee, no alcohol, no sodas, rarely touch chocolate, no desserts, no heavy salty meals, eating lots water to stay hydrated, etc. I had three episodes of A-fib in May. Then in June when we were stranded in France for 30 days due to my husband's accident, I wasn't able to stay dietarily strict due to limited choices--like no decaf available. In spite of all the stress of the situation, and the change in diet, I had not a single erratic rhythm. I am not saying that diet doesn't matter but I don't that is a cure all for many folks. As my electrophysiologist said, identifying
"triggers" are often a crapshoot. I just wish you the best since I appreciate your frustration with this.
My cardiologist said it won't get rid of AF but the Pacemaker will help.
Today I've been quite breathless but I've had a big week last week looking
after my younger sister who's had a pacemaker defibrilator and Synchroniser
installed two weeks ago. Her hubby was away so big sis stepped in. I get
very tired these days. Go for my first Pacemaker check on Monday. Prob know
more then. Early days. I hope you don't have too many episodes take care.
Annette
My comments are not for those who have made dietary changes. But I had severe episodes with only one half cup of coffee. Decaf has some caffeine in it and in the pasty could feel it when drinking one cup. The coffee in the US causes major afib but where I now live, the coffee is pure and with a few sips a day no problem.
My comments are also for those who go to the specialists etc etc and they never even bring up the possibility of being related to caffeine and stimulants. They jump in with their protocols of treatments which as you can read on these posts, often do not work or for only a short time.
I have watched people that had fibromialgia, spelling? and gripe and look for sympathy, and then when the frosted donuts come around, they eat a few. I strongly believe due to my own experiences and watching others that many or most of our health problems are caused by what we throw down the hatch, and many developed after years of abuse, until our bodies scream, STOP, and they run to the doc for a cure of a pill or treatment.
I know people who get SEVERE migraines, but are totally addicted to cups of coffee and sweets and they are more important to them than migraine. It is like a person banging their head with a hammer every day and wanting a cure, when the cure is to put down the hammer. There is a verse in the Bible that reads, there is no curse without a cause. I believe in seeking the cause of the problem and doing what I can to get rid of it.