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Feelings of anxiety post ablation

Posted by teacher2001 @teacher2001, Sep 4 7:52am

I had a catheter ablation last March and have since been monitored by my cardiologist for AFib - and have been told I’m no longer AFib and have stopped my beta blocker but still take my blood thinner. I’m continuing to be monitored with blood tests and a holter. My surgeon will be phoning for a followup appt. I have been having some anxiety first thing every morning which lasts until I’ve had my breakfast, I’ll ask my doctor about this but wondered if anyone on this site has experienced this issue. I’m thinking it’s the palpitations trying to start up but can’t because of the ablation. Any thoughts? If I find out anything from my doctor I will share it with you. Thanks.

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gloaming | @gloaming | Sep 7 1:58pm
In reply to @sjm46 "I don't think you have a "mental" disorder; you have every right to feel anxious and..." + (show)
Profile picture for sjm46 @sjm46

I don't think you have a "mental" disorder; you have every right to feel anxious and I would be depressed too, if I was treated so poorly! I am a retired psych nurse and I can tell you that doctors come in all "grades." There are A+ doctors that listen and discuss things with the patient and C- or D doctors that just preach or rattle off the "statitics" and order a drug. You can "horse them" and find a doc that fits you. My cardiologist told me when I was diagnosed in November of last year that A-fib wasn't going to kill me! Then he ran out of the room to get me an Eliquis tablet! I am beginning to think that the meds are more likely to kill some of us than the actual condition since all I get is another drug every time I see a doctor. I am going to have an ablation at my request before this thing spreads. As for anxiety, I have had plenty of that but it is not my trigger. I'm like you too; my episodes always seem to start at night--and of course, then they tell you it is sleep apnea that is the problem. I don't have that either! I encourage you to keep talking to others and try to stay as positive as possible. You are not "mental" and you will make it through this, but in the beginning this diagnosis is all consuming to people like us who can tell immediately that they are out of rhythm. It does get better, trust me! Good Luck!

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If your sleep-time is when you enter AF, then it is 'Vagal' tone type AF, and not the more common 'adrenergic' kind. My SIL is like that. She begins to fibrillate shortly after her head hits the pillow, whereas mine would calm at that time. It's astounding, personally, how reliably I could count on my heart calming and letting me fall asleep. An hour earlier, not a hope. My heart would only fibrillate during the daytime when my mind was most active and involved.

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foundryrat743 | @foundryrat743 | Sep 7 2:40pm
In reply to @sjm46 "I don't think you have a "mental" disorder; you have every right to feel anxious and..." + (show)
Profile picture for sjm46 @sjm46

I don't think you have a "mental" disorder; you have every right to feel anxious and I would be depressed too, if I was treated so poorly! I am a retired psych nurse and I can tell you that doctors come in all "grades." There are A+ doctors that listen and discuss things with the patient and C- or D doctors that just preach or rattle off the "statitics" and order a drug. You can "horse them" and find a doc that fits you. My cardiologist told me when I was diagnosed in November of last year that A-fib wasn't going to kill me! Then he ran out of the room to get me an Eliquis tablet! I am beginning to think that the meds are more likely to kill some of us than the actual condition since all I get is another drug every time I see a doctor. I am going to have an ablation at my request before this thing spreads. As for anxiety, I have had plenty of that but it is not my trigger. I'm like you too; my episodes always seem to start at night--and of course, then they tell you it is sleep apnea that is the problem. I don't have that either! I encourage you to keep talking to others and try to stay as positive as possible. You are not "mental" and you will make it through this, but in the beginning this diagnosis is all consuming to people like us who can tell immediately that they are out of rhythm. It does get better, trust me! Good Luck!

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You are a blessing to me! I so appreciate your encouraging reply! This morning, on another blog, I was reading a really great ‘good samaritan’ story. A true story that showed pictures, of an elderly man, like me, in the hospital. Passers by, had seen this man, either fall down, or lie down, on the sidewalk by the street, near a restaurant, in a city, here in the USA. They were concerned, and stopped their car. The driver got out, and rushed over to the elderly man, and could see that he was unconscious. So, he checked for a pulse, and could not find one. So, the good samaritan called out to his wife, in the car, to call 911, and tell them to get there pronto, because the elderly man had no pulse. Immediately, the good samaritan performed chest compressions, and gave CPR trained treatment to the elderly gentleman, and his wife checked for a pulse, until the ambulance arrived, with a defibrillator a few minutes later. The good samaritan saved this man’s life. He was revived! It turned out that the elderly man was having an A-Fib attack, and his heart stopped beating regularly, and he had just been released from hospital, where he had 2 previous A-fib attacks where his heart stopped, and they had to use the paddles ( defibrillator ), on him, both times, to get his heart back in sinus rhythm. The good samaritan was recognized for his life saving actions. Seeing this story, and knowing that I have no medicine or blood thinner treatment, of any kind, to protect me from having another A-fib episode, just made me all the more, anxious! So, ironically, years ago, when I was employed as a boss, over many hourly, union employees, in an internationally large manufacturing company, I had an employee, who fainted and I could feel no pulse, so, being trained in CPR, I started chest compressions, and yelled out, to another employee, to call the nurse and have her immediately come out, that I suspected cardiac arrest. The nurse came right away ( we had a medical station in our facility at that time ). She took over, and the ambulance came. I had saved that employees life. Because of the strong union though, he, nor anybody else thanked me for what I did, except the nurse. She was most appreciative! I’m just glad that I had CPR training! My daughter has a college degree in nursing, and my son-in-law is a hospitalist MD, so they can advise me, when I have issues that seem disconcerting, I reckon. Thanks again for your support. You have been the most supportive about A-fib, to me, than anyone else, and I deeply appreciate your words of experienced wisdom!!

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Profile picture for foundryrat743
foundryrat743 | @foundryrat743 | Sep 30 5:20am
In reply to @gloaming "Yikes. You almost certainly do not have a mental disorder, but you......may. The big thing in..." + (show)
Profile picture for gloaming @gloaming

Yikes. You almost certainly do not have a mental disorder, but you......may. The big thing in this new journey is to learn. Read, watch videos about AF and its treatments. Also learn about....YOU! This is another opportunity to find out what you're made of. Also, keep an open mind. If you are willing to learn, and can keep an open mind, you may have to accept that you DO have a mental disorder. It may be 'generalized anxiety disorder', a formal diagnosis in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental illness, probably edition 6 or 7 by now....you can google it).
Again, the way you get through this depends on your personality, and your propensity to put things off, to not want to know, or to be oriented completely opposite: you insist on knowing, learning, and being part of the decision-tree in your treatment. Your power in this is going to be in how you come across to any help you seek from other experts. If you are engaged, inquiring, focused, energetic, and determined to succeed, those experts tend to want to do well for you. But ya gotta listen, too, meaning keeping that open mind, even if you begin to hear things from them that you don't like!!! If you need time to digest what they say, say so! Go away, come back in a couple of weeks having learned more, pondered more, and with a decision about which option they place before you is your preferred one.
You are in what is called the 'paroxysmal' stage. It's early, and much more easily treated than if it is allowed to progress, which it will, to more advanced stages. So, get on top of your new 'friend' now, right away. It might mean medicine, it might mean a catheter ablation. But please do figure this out now while your disordered heart is going to be easiest to manage.

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@gloaming Thanks! I was offended by that assertion! Even a well trained, and educated Physician would, most likely, become quite anxious, if, suddenly, out of the blue, they felt their heart flopping in their chest, seeming in distress, then couldn’t feel a heartbeat, along with pain in the left shoulder, that, along with feeling light headed. The anxiety from that for me, lasted a few days, and then I calmed down somewhat, but, that does not mean that I should be labeled, as having a generalized anxiety disorder, by my new Neurologist!! Oh, by the way, did I tell you that I majored in Psychology, in College!!

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