Scared about Ablation for AFib.

Hi catmom! How long are these episodes of arrhythmia? 5 minutes? And how many are in an average minute? 2 or 3? And how often do they occur? Twice to three times a day? And the pain in your chest; is the pain in one spot or does it 'travel'?

Hi again catmom! You say you feel horrible. Is that psychological (worry) or do you feel faint or weak?

I can't tell you about the arrythmias. I feel them sometimes, like a flutter, that only last a second, then other times I feel like my heart has gone out of rhythm and I check my pulse, but I can't tell. I can go two days without feeling any flutters or feeling my heart is not beating right, and then (like last night) go to bed and can't sleep because my heart is pounding so hard. I walked to the store after lunch (too dizzy to drive but walking is good anyway) and bought a blood pressure monitor because I thought maybe I feel awful because my blood pressure is too low, but no, it was 122/68 and it's a monitor that says when you're heart is out of rhythm, and the pulse part said 69 with no indications of irregularities. So, I'm all confused. I called the doc's office and she can't see me today or tomorrow but they said if I still feel awful on Monday, they'll make a spot for me although she said she doesn't know what she can do for me. I did find a cardiologist though. He's booked 5-6 weeks out. Waiting for a call back on setting an appointment (he requires a referral from my doc).

There are two pains in my chest and neither are there all the time. One is about 4" below my clavicle on the left and feels like a muscle ache. The other is a sharp pain in the middle of my chest to the left that I hardly ever get but when I do it gets my attention because it feels like I'm being poked by a sharp needle right there. And, no, I have not noticed that it travels.

Such a mystery, along with why I got this and why it hit me all of a sudden like a ton of bricks.

I do feel faint and weak but the doc was not concerned. I got the impression that as long as a patient is on blood thinners, they don't worry--your heart can beat its way out of your chest and walk off and the docs wouldn't be concerned because there's no stroke risk.

You are on blood thinners?!! Did you just start them? That seems rather extreme for the condition you describe as intermittent. But I know in the US (I am in Canada) people are very litigious and so doctors are forced to be ULTRA careful because even if there is a .001 % chance that you could have a stroke and the doctor didn't medicate with blood thinners, he could be sued from here to eternity. Here in Canada, you really can't sue for malpractice. It would cost you a fortune and you would get nothing much in return...if you even won.
Whenever my Afib was acting up, I was very well aware of it. My chest would roll and thud and race without letting up until I was put on beta blockers. It was very unpleasant. The Holter monitor (to check your heartbeat which you will probably be put on for 24 hours) malfunctioned because I didn't have 3 normal beats in a row.
If occasional blips and pounding and are interfering with your life...as in not being able to sleep (not even on your left side), and if bearing down as if you are giving birth doesn't stop the pounding, something needs to be done. Not ablation... but maybe a bit of medication. That's all. Don't worry. It does not sound serious or life threatening AT ALL.
And as I said, the cardiologist told me not to worry about pain that does not travel. It is muscular. You are tense after all.
You have such good blood pressure. It is perfect. I wish I had such low BP. Mediated, it is always around 145/90. Too high! I need to diet, lower salt intake and get moving more. Do you take medication to make it so low? I can see where the diastolic number (lower) can maybe make you feel a bit weak and possibly faint.
So, you feel weak and faint in general? Not just when the blips and thumping occur? Are you maybe just tired? Are you almost passing out when you feel faint?
If you saw my cardiologist, I am sure you would fall into the category of the 9 out of 10 that do not require medication for their mild arrhythmia, as he told me.

Hi Linda, Please don't be afraid! I had an ablation about 9 years ago. I put it off for a couple years after my cardiologist suggested it, because I went on the Internet and read a bunch of stuff that scared me to death! I waited until my heart was out of rhythm ALL the time and I felt so lousy I figured I had nothing to lose. I didn't care to live feeling so crappy. So I had the ablation, stayed overnight in the hospital and went home the next day - and it put my heart in rhythm and I felt good almost from the beginning. The first month my heart still went out of rhythm from time to time, but I didn't feel bad. It took a little while to settle in. My doc said that was normal. My medications needed to be adjusted a few days later to less! About a month in the rhythm clicked in like Flynn I was quite overweight at the time, however, and about six months after I told my doctor I felt really good and was glad I had the ablation done but I still didn't have a lot of energy. He told me about Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book, EAT TO LIVE. I went on that way of eating immediately and within 10 months I'd lost 67 pounds and felt absolutely terrific!!! This lasted for 8 plus years. Recently, my AFIB came back. Fortunately, I do not feel bad even so. I havn't seen my ablation doc yet, however, I plan to, and if he says I should have another ablation, I would not hesitate! Not for a minute. Good luck and I hope to hear from you on this forum after your ablation! Please, Linda, do keep in touch with us.

I do not pass out when I feel faint. I just feel somewhat dizzy. But, I re-read the ER report, and they did a lung xray. It said my lungs are hyperinflated. I looked that up and it says that almost always means COP, which is now a catch-all term for chronic bronchitis (which I've suffered from on & off since I was a kid), or asthma, or lung damage from smoking or smoke inhalation. My dad was a smoker, hence my battles with bronchitis. I think sometimes that now I have asthma because sometimes (not all the time) it's hard to breathe, even before I wound up with afib. I had gone to the doctor about a year ago because I was having trouble catching a good breath, but she dismissed it as being from acid reflux. Now I'm wondering if I have COPD. I just talked to my sister-in-law who is a nurse, and she thinks maybe my afib is from my lung problems, not the other way around, because I've had trouble breathing since last summer. I got heavy smoke inhalation four years ago. So that makes sense, because I was thinking there is no way I drank enough to cause heart damage, I don't think so anyway. But, my dizziness is probably from not being able to breathe well.
So, I'm calling the doc tomorrow and making an appointment and will ask her if I can go see a pulmonary specialist as well as a cardiologist. I know there's nothing I can do about COPD, but I would really like to be able to feel better and to function better.
Thanks for helping me through this. It's been pretty hard on me.
To answer your question, I've always had low blood pressure. Before all this started it would get as low as 100/50, seriously. I do get faint sometimes from it, but I bought that monitor and have been checking all day, and before dinner my BP was 144/68. That alone should be a strong indicator that I do not have heart damage, but I don't know.
Well, tomorrow is another day. I hope you have a good rest of your week.

I just took my BP and it's 132/68 and my pulse is 71 with no afib right now.
If tonight I have trouble sleeping because it feels like my heart is pounding hard, I'll get up and take my BP again and see what my pulse is and whether the monitor says I'm having a afib episode. I have felt some flutters today, but the monitor hasn't indicated any afib when I've done the reading.

Hello catmom! Just got home from the hospital after my ablation yesterday. I have quite the story to tell you, but I have now been awake close to 40 hours and I can barely see to write this. I just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten you or your questions and concerns. I see lots of folks are chiming in with some good advice that you should listen to. The decision for MY ablation was a real team effort that included my regular Cardiologist, the Electrophysiologists, which is quite a mouthful, so is commonly shortened to just “EP” or heart-rhythm specialist. I'm sorry if I'm sounding like a pre-med advisor now, but it IS important to know that a cardiologist and an EP differ in degrees of specialization. All EPs are cardiologists who have gone through an extra year or two of training after completing their cardiologist fellowship, and as stated before, all that extra training is only in the field of cardiac arrhythmia surgery.. So you definitely want one of these on your team as opposed to a general surgeon! And last, but not least, and this is just my opinion, but I found out yesterday how incredibly important THIS team member is. My EP also had me meet with the anesthesiologist he always chooses to work with. You are going about this the right way, which is to take it step by step seeing each doctor along that path before a decision is reached.....together. AFIB, if that is even what you have, is a very capricious "ailment." You need to be seen by the right people, led by the right people in the right order, to the right decision for you. I have to say that I am a little concerned that your GP has put you on blood thinners without you mentioning any testing beforehand. Anti-coagulants are serious medication, seldom given to people who have not been definitively diagnosed by specific testing protocols. If you ARE on blood thinners, which might only have been one day since you posted only 23 hours ago. I would urge you to call your doctor and discuss discontinuing them until you have seen and been tested by the cardiologist she is going to refer you to. Once you start thinners, if you DO have an arrhythmia, stopping them cold turkey increases your risk of stroke. Please talk to your doctor again, as soon as possible. See if she is can get you on a Holter or Event Monitor for 72 hours so when she refers you to the cardiologist, he will already have a good idea what is going on. I really have to call it a day.....well, closer to two, actually. If I don't sleep the entire day away tomorrow, I'll write you. Please take care of yourself. Linda

I'm too goofy to be on a computer......that is obvious! My reply was to catmom777, not @afrobin. But now I'm glad I goofed up as I did want to say to catmom777 that you made some excellent points and I hope she heeds your advice. It's good. Linda