Svt

Thank you for your response. Getting older is not for sissies as we have found. My biggest concern is that it is so difficult to get to a really knowledgeable diagnostician these days. Most specialists do not want to hear about any complaints that are not in their realm of specialty. My intuition says that is not the way our bodies work. A prescription for one part may not be good for another part. I have a feeling we will all be shuffled off to AI docs soon as no human can keep up with everything. I just want to be able to be here with my family as long as I can do so without being a burden. So I am trying to educate myself enough to be able to get answers from some of these specialists by asking lucid questions. In doing so, I find that there are questions they should have been asking me, again our bodies organs are "connected". A what came first the chicken or the egg discussion comes up in most of my research. My blood work and liver markers do not show a reason for having the CT scan show cirrhosis but my liver is scarred and cystic. And I do not drink. If or how that is connected to my AFib or what causes it, is still a mystery to me. The only connection I can fathom is the chemo/radiation I had nearly 25 years ago for NHLymphoma. And no one could tell me why I had that. So pumping more "drugs" for heart issues and gastric issues is not an ideal plan in my mind. This chat site has been very informative and at least it let's me know I am not the only one with these issues. And you are so right, I read responses and even those with different problems face similar symptoms. I appreciate the learning experiences.

Also, I go for a second cardio version next week. They say I am always in AFib. Then they will discuss an ablation and they did bring that up before but again, not my first choice without more information. Now I wonder why they rushed to do the pacemaker and now I still have AFib. My symptoms have not changed except for the gastric issues. I have had the palpitations, etc. all my life and in my childhood. The fatigue is what sent me to the cardiologist in the first place. But maybe the fatigue was due to something else, as after chemo and radiation, a lot changed. Maybe it was my liver complaining but no real obvious issues in bloodwork. That is why I am being cautious, because I do not like going under anesthesia or being in the hospital for anything. I always seem to "lose a part" in those places. Don't have any left to lose that I don't need.

Thank you for your response. Getting older is not for sissies as we have found. My biggest concern is that it is so difficult to get to a really knowledgeable diagnostician these days. Most specialists do not want to hear about any complaints that are not in their realm of specialty. My intuition says that is not the way our bodies work. A prescription for one part may not be good for another part. I have a feeling we will all be shuffled off to AI docs soon as no human can keep up with everything. I just want to be able to be here with my family as long as I can do so without being a burden. So I am trying to educate myself enough to be able to get answers from some of these specialists by asking lucid questions. In doing so, I find that there are questions they should have been asking me, again our bodies organs are "connected". A what came first the chicken or the egg discussion comes up in most of my research. My blood work and liver markers do not show a reason for having the CT scan show cirrhosis but my liver is scarred and cystic. And I do not drink. If or how that is connected to my AFib or what causes it, is still a mystery to me. The only connection I can fathom is the chemo/radiation I had nearly 25 years ago for NHLymphoma. And no one could tell me why I had that. So pumping more "drugs" for heart issues and gastric issues is not an ideal plan in my mind. This chat site has been very informative and at least it let's me know I am not the only one with these issues. And you are so right, I read responses and even those with different problems face similar symptoms. I appreciate the learning experiences.

Just going by what you say your EP said about you, you are in at least long-standing persistent AF, but you may have gone on further into permanent AF. Each successive stage of AF is more difficult to treat because it usually means all six walls of the atrium are affected by rogue firing cells. In early AF, paroxysmal, only the area around the pulmonary veins is affected, and ablating that area is relatively straightforward, and the quickest of all the procedures. It has the highest rates of success.
I don't think anyone is particularly tickled that they need their heart 'burned' in order to be rid of the discomforts of AF. However, the procedure is now widely accepted as the 'gold standard of care' for AF patients. The reason is what I just explained earlier: getting it early is simple, effective, and gives long term relief. It gives long term relief from the sometimes horrible symptoms, but it also gives long term relief from the dangers associated with more advanced stages of AF (atrial enlargement, mitral valve prolapse, deposition of collagen and its resultant fibrosis in the underlying substrate, and possibly heart failure).
Try to learn as much as you can about ablation. Your goal is to be so enlightened that you literally can't wait for it to happen. That is where I was after reading a lot of research and watching several excellent YouTube videos (go to YouTube and search for 'AFib Education Center' and watch Dr. Lee's videos. They're quite good). I was so happy when my cardiologist asked me, after a hospital visit for AF, if he had ever mentioned being referred to an electrophysiologist to me. I replied that no, he had not, but that I was very happy he was mentioning it now. He didn't raise an eyebrow or ask me why, but he knew me well enough that I was soaking up everything he threw at me and I was able to discuss my case knowledgeably by then...so he must have put two and two together an understood that I knew what he was offering. You need to be there as well...educated, reassured, confident, and very, very eager to get this AF under control!
I have had two ablations. Why two? Because the failure rate for index ablations (first attempts) is 25%. This is because the lesions generated during that first go did not completely seal off the source of the extra beats, which are almost 100% certain to be around the mouths of the four pulmonary veins at the back wall of the left atrium. Chalk up this failure rate to conservatism. The EPs are loath to cause more damage than is absolutely necessary, and the cauterizing does damage to tissue. They want to spare the phrenic nerve and the soft tissue of the esophagus, both of which pass right behind the left atrium's posterior wall. They burn less, and if they fail to close it off, they'll offer to do it again. Happened to me, and I'm now 30 months free of AF.
Try to find security and reassurance. Get a really good, top notch, EP, get in line, and hope for the best. Learn all you can about the procedure, remind yourself that it's just day surgery, just like a colonoscopy or a laparoscopic procedure like an appendectomy. Most patients are discharged by supper time and your friend/relative drives you home.

@gloaming A week ago I had a second ablation for SVT but my symptoms came roaring back after the third day. Does it take awhile for symptoms to settle down? I think I prefer ablation to flecainide so how do I find "a really good, top notch EP?"

@dugroad It's till early, so don't panic just yet. Wait a couple of weeks and see how it goes. If you find you're still fairly actively in SVT a month out, then chances are good the ablation is incomplete or cannot satisfactorily stop your arrhythmia because of some condition unbeknownst to us and to the EP. Note that my experience is only with AF, not SVT, and perhaps the typical history for the two after ablations is markedly different for the majority of patients. Consult your cardiologist soon if things don't settle down. Note also, and this is just for AF, it can take several months for the heart to decide to play nice and those people may go on to die years later without ever having another bout of AF. We're all different.

Also, you might do quite a bit better on amiodarone for a month. This is not as draconian as it sounds. Sometimes the heart needs a kick in the butt, to be beaten into submission if you will. Amiodarone does that almost all the time. Then, well before you have an adverse reaction to it, you'll wean off it over a week or two and then your heart should be good. Again, see your EP or cardiologist.
https://biologyinsights.com/what-to-expect-during-the-blanking-period-after-ablation/
Finally, about finding a great EP: I am in Canada, so I only know of two in the USA with stellar reputations: Dr. Andrea Natale at the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute in Austin, and Dr. Pasquale Santangeli at Cleveland Clinic.