Afib ablation

Posted by elizabeth1941 @elizabeth1941, Feb 22, 2019

Hello I am 78 years old and will be having an afib ablation in the next week or two. Can anyone tell me what to expect in the weeks and months after the ablation. Will I feel a lot of discomfort? Will I be limited to what activities I can do?.I have plans to travel to the west high altitude location less than three months after ablation. Is this safe to do?

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sal70 | @sal70 | Feb 23, 2019

You will be able to do anything. Since my ablation I have had no problems with afib. It has been seven months, I’ve been able to go off the meds, and have a link implanted in my chest to monitor the a fib. Don’t be afraid, it’s a really good thing

rubywitch67 | @rubywitch67 | Feb 23, 2019

In reply to @sal70 "You will be able to do anything. Since my ablation I have had no problems with..." + (show)

I'm a 67 year old woman and will be having an ablation soon. The surgeon I met with never mentioned implanting a "link." I don't even know what that is? Should I discuss this with him prior to the procedure? I DO worry about going off blood thinners in case my ablation doesn't hold. I am usually very symptomatic and know when I'm in AFIB, but while wearing an event monitor for 72 hours, I apparently had an episode that lasted 6 hours and I was totally unaware of it. HELP! (PLEASE)

balsaro | @balsaro | Feb 23, 2019

I had cryoablation two months ago and am able to do any physical exercise without a-fib occurring. It was considered an outpatient procedure but was required to spend the first night in the hospital. I feel much better and stronger!

sal70 | @sal70 | Feb 23, 2019

In reply to @rubywitch67 "I'm a 67 year old woman and will be having an ablation soon. The surgeon I..." + (show)

The link device went in 6 months after I had the ablation. I was allowed to go off Xareto because I had only one minor Afib incident during the six months following the ablation. They implanted the link to track any afib that might occur, should it be a silent or realized episode. The link is a safeguard as I hated the side effects I had from Xarelto.

rubywitch67 | @rubywitch67 | Feb 24, 2019

In reply to @sal70 "The link device went in 6 months after I had the ablation. I was allowed to..." + (show)

Hi Sal70...…..so the link is something they place ONLY if you have another AFIB episode after an ablation? What is the plan if this device records MORE episodes? I'm sorry if that sounds negative, I'm just very frightened. I am on Xarelto, as you were, and I'm wondering what your side effects were. I hope your ablation is a total success! Thanks so much for your time.

sal70 | @sal70 | Feb 24, 2019

In reply to @rubywitch67 "Hi Sal70...…..so the link is something they place ONLY if you have another AFIB episode after..." + (show)

Hi Rubywitch67,
I had to have 6 mo on Xarelto after ablation. I was having muscle aches, was very tired and headaches. I asked my doc about side effects and these were common. I tried other blood thinners but had same issues . Because I had only 1 afib incident after ablation and couldn’t tolerate side effects of meds, he allowed me off meds and put in the “link”. If I have an episode that I am unaware of, the link alerts my doc and they contact me. If I am aware of a “realized” episode, I call doc or go to ER if it doesn’t stop. The link went in to monitor me after I went off blood thinners. I think they use it for folks who cannot tolerate meds very well. Ablation was a good thing for me. Few episodes and feel so much better. Be brave!

elizabeth1941 | @elizabeth1941 | Feb 24, 2019

In reply to @sal70 "Hi Rubywitch67, I had to have 6 mo on Xarelto after ablation. I was having muscle..." + (show)

Hello I am soon going to have an ablation. I was wondering how long did the procedure take?

balsaro | @balsaro | Feb 24, 2019

In reply to @elizabeth1941 "Hello I am soon going to have an ablation. I was wondering how long did the..." + (show)

I was told it would take three to six hours depending on how much they had to cauterize. I was under for six hours, cryoablation, and told I had erroneous signals coming from all pulmonary viens, so the had to correct all. I feel much better since.

elizabeth1941 | @elizabeth1941 | Feb 24, 2019

In reply to @balsaro "I was told it would take three to six hours depending on how much they had..." + (show)

Thank you