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Post Ablation Recovery – Need Help!!
I had my ablation last Wednesday, March 20th, and was discharged home on the 21st.. Apparently all went well. That day, the 21st, AND the following day, aside from being exhausted and sore, I did not experience a single AFIB episode! You ALL know what a joyous feeling THAT is! I began to foolishly hope that I was going to be one of the very lucky ones I have read about on these sites who say after their ablation, they felt like a million bucks, didn't have a single issue with their recovery and were back at work in 3 days. Who ARE these amazing people? After 3 days I was still trying to climb out of the fog from the general anesthetic! (Actually, there was a bit of a mishap there. Turned out I was extremely intolerant of this particular anesthetic and had a very nasty and frightening "resurfacing" from it. And please note that it was an INTOLERANCE......NOT AN ALLERGIC REACTION. The difference really CAN be life and death) Sorry, I see I am going into far more detail than I intended, I do apologize. My question, my concern, MY FEAR, is that on Saturday, 3 days post op, I woke up feeling what I can only describe as a sort of "vibrating/buzzing" feeling in my chest. It felt nothing like the pounding, chaotic beats that were MY AFIB experience. This sensation lasted consistently, with a few short pauses, from Saturday to now....Tuesday, the 26th. About 30 minutes ago it just stopped and so far, has not returned. I hope it stays gone as it was becoming not only annoying but frightening. Has anybody out there had this same or similar feeling? Does anybody know what It could have been? I'm trying VERY hard to be logical and think that it's just part of the healing process.....perhaps nerves calming down? Perhaps the inflammation was pushing on "something?) How's that for a highly medical term? "SOMETHING" LOL Any stories, experiences, odd sensations would really help me out. I don't see my EP for another 3 weeks, and while they did give me paperwork about what to expect, for those of us with some anxiety issues, the details are pretty skimpy. I am also trying very hard NOT to call the doctors offices and be one of "those" people. I realize to them, this procedure is basically no big deal, but for me, it has been SO much more than I thought. (Well, my bubble just burst.....I have just had some more episodes of things going on in my chest) Should I expect this to be as bad the entire 3 months before they tell me if the ablation worked or not. Right this minute, I'm feeling like I made a huge mistake having this procedure......maybe I should have tried harder to tolerate the antiarrhythmics? Thanks for listening. Being alone and scared is not fun.
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Hello Ruby Witch, Don't you think you should go to the doctor and get that buzzing and 'things going on in your chest' checked out? Just to be sure it's normal? Good think the ablation is behind you and you can look forward to feeling well now. Good luck@
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3 ReactionsHi im not sure if this my help but i had ventricular tachcardia not afib yours is more the upper heart where mine was the lower heart. But i have been thru many ablations and i was always told that the ablation alone will bring on arrythmyias but usually only for a few days and the ones i got usually weren't the bad ones that i needed the ablation for. Also at least i believe that worry doesn't help i think it helped bring them on. So after seeing a counselor she taught me some tricks to try and basically tell yourself they are not real. But i know with my drs if i was really concerned it did not bother them to address my concerns. I even had a portal that i could text message them and they would answer any questions i had within a day or so. I hope that helps
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2 ReactionsI was miserable for a full 4-5 months following my ablation (irregular heartbeat, rapid heartbeat, "strange" sensations, etc.) It finally calmed down on its own and I've been fine ever since. Don't panic and don't give up.
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4 ReactionsHello AFRobin…Like you, I most definitely thought I needed to speak with my doctor or his PA regarding these symptoms, and I did. It took most of the day for them to get back to me and by then I was pretty panicked, but they assured me that ALL the symptoms I was feeling, including the buzzing/vibrating stuff, was normal. Maybe not extremely common, but nothing to be concerned about. The doctor said it was most likely very small nerves that had been irritated, inflamed or even damaged during the process and it was all part of the healing. He said these feelings would probably only last a couple of days, and he was right. On the third day, they stopped and have not returned. I am now one month post-ablation and have VERY minimal symptoms that feel more like muscle spams than AFIB for which I am incredibly grateful. My recovery seems to be going well and I am trying to be as optimistic as I can.
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1 ReactionHi danab……….wow! Your type of arrhythmia is pretty scary but it sounds like they've got a good handle on it. Your words meant a lot to me because you are so calm and I really need to learn how to do that. That I have panic disorder makes it harder, but when you can still reach out to other people who are afraid, you give me courage. Thank you so much and I hope your heart is soon 100% better!
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1 ReactionHi aparr…….did you have an ablation? If you did, can you tell me what your blanking period was like.....symptom wise? I am just now one month post ablation and can feel my heart and chest (and yes....throat) starting to calm down. I would just like some idea of what to expect from the next 2 months until the "verdict" comes in? Thanks so much for writing!
Yes I did. I had episodes of afib and episodes of rapid heartbeat off and on (mostly on) for months. I honestly thought it was worse than before the ablation. But it eventually settled down to a normal rhythm and reasonable rating heart rate.
I'm sorry your recovery went on so long and I sure hope mine doesn't! What did your doctor say about the length of your recovery? Did he talk about putting you on antiarrhythmics during that time? Was there any talk about a second ablation in time? At my one month post ablation, the PA now has me wearing an event monitor for a week, which I will send back this Monday. He also talked quite a bit about Sotalol and THAT totally freaked me out!!!! I'm only one month post ablation, had 4 or 5 fairly minor episodes of AFIB during those first 4 weeks which were nothing compared to before...….and now I'm wearing a monitor and will run away before I ever take Sotalol. He never listened to my heart nor did he check my groin sites. I lost quite a bit of trust in him that day. I feel like I'm being pushed to recovery way too fast!!!! Unless there WAS something really wrong, I wanted to be told that things were going forward fine, to just relax and take it easy and he'd see me in another month. Now I'm wondering if I should get another opinion! If this monitor shows anything, he'll probably suggest I have a heart transplant. I'm trying to be funny, but I'm not finding this PA very funny at all.
@rubywitch67 hi ruby, actually my story did get worse and i dont want to frighten you but the arrythmias did get worse and just last year i got a heart transplant. But understand i wanted to realize that ablations do work but in my case the heart was just to damaged and i personally know a Afib person who is still doing very well. I personally have never heard of someone having to have to get a heart transplant with afib. I just wanted you to nor worry about the healing process. But i will mention that during my darkest time about 3 years ago my faith in Jesus got me thru along with the prayers of my church family and friends. So thate is my story condensed version my full bio is on my personal page i can post it here if you like.
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1 ReactionFantastic! All's well that ends well!