Ablation

Not unusual at all. About two months ago, I had an AVJ ablation at UCSF. I immediately felt better once the anaesthesia wore off. Congratulations. The ablation was done to make you feel better. It seems it did.

I would say it is not at all unusual to feel great after an ablation. Our church organist, a retired professor and avid outdoorsman, had no idea he had been in AFL (atrial flutter) for a time until his GP told him. They did a rush job on him because of his age and indeterminate time in AFL, but it still took 8 days before he went into the cath lab. He was out hiking two days later.

I have had two ablations. I felt unwell the second day, puffing and struggling to walk at a very sedentary pace outdoors with my wife. I was in the local ICU four days later with a truly horrible looking ECG. My electrophysiologist left me with instructions to have my GP look at me at the seven day mark, but it was on the sixth day that I saw him. He raised an eyebrow and said I was in AF at the moment. He sent me to the hospital where they admitted me. Second ablation, I felt much better right away and was walking normally within two/three days. However, and I add this for important context for AF patients who have an ablation: it is exceedingly common for ablatees to have AF once, twice, five times in the two-to-four weeks following an ablation. It should settle soon and if the ablation has closed off, or sealed the pathway, of the rogue firing signals, you should be good for many months or years later. On my second ablation, I was again in the ICU for runaway and intractable AF. They couldn't help much except to give me a bolus of metoprolol. I was sent home and eventually reverted to NSR inside of maybe three hours. Since then, NO AF! Three years today, Valentine's Day. My point is that you may feel unwell, but end up with years free of AF. You may feel great, but be in hospital inside of a couple of weeks and having to go on amiodarone. Each case is different. My advice is to go slow the first few days, and let your spidey sense tell you when it's okay and you're in the clear. That will lighten your mood and your energy will soon be restored.

Second important point: you SHOULD get a redo if the first ablation fails. My EP reported when he came bedside during my recovery that they were ablating around my third pulmonary vein when my heart suddenly went into NSR and stayed there. Right away he knew they had just zapped that one small gap from the first time and sealed off the path around that pulmonary vein ostium. And here I are three full years later, enjoying life like no time before.

Third important point: if you have apparently intractable AF soon after an ablation, the chances are very good that you'll soon enter NSR, even as much as 12 hours later. If you can't stand it and go to the ER, insist, firmly and politely, that you be cardioverted. My nurse, specializing in heart arrythmia patient care, told me that the ER doctors didn't treat my properly when I went to the ER after the second ablation. An ablated heart is like a new version of your heart and it should be cardioverted if it goes into AF and you are unacceptably symptomatic. I was lucky and mine did convert on its own a few hours after I left the ER. Had they converted me, I would probably have been home a lot sooner.

Thanks for the valuable insights.👍. Still feeling great and hope to go for a nice walk today

I had a successful ablation several years ago. My experience was bouts of afib off and on, almost daily for the first month after my ablation, and by the end of the second month, no more afib. It varies from person to person as your heart heals. As my cardiologist told me, "you are along for the ride."
All the best.

Not in my case. Zero pain or problems. I was shoveling snow the next day (though don't do that). I rate the "trauma" as about the same as having your teeth cleaned.

@aard My experience as well. First 3 yrs after that - no AF. LAst 3 yrs infrequent short Af episodes and lots of ectopic beats.

Reading the comments before i did mine, I thought everyone had a failed ablation. Happy i posted as that clearly is not the norm👏.

@greatestj By no means! I know people who have gone years, sometimes as many as 18 before they needed a touchup. The criterion for a 'successful' ablation is one full year from the date of treatment with no obvious, symptomatic, or detectable arrhythmia. You could be on a gurney, grey, and with full-blown AF the day after your anniversary date and it would still count as a successful ablation. I'm sure many would rather it were closer to two or three years since I see so many posting who say they've just passed their third anniversary and they've begun to experience more ectopy. I would be grateful for three years free of the symptoms, and that is exactly where I am as of two days ago...three years.

Strictly on the basis of probability, and only on that count (because as individuals we are all on separate 'journeys' with our arrhythmia), I get a sense that most ablations have a 'best before' date around three years, or maybe not 'most' but 'many'. Speaking only for myself, with how I felt when in AF, I would have been very happy to learn I was going to have a full year free of it. Three years is a real boon....to me. I expect my heart to encounter AF again in the future, and am prepared for that eventuality...with a little dread. I hope that my EP, or another, will look at my file and agree that they'll ablate another wall or two on my left atrium's inner reaches and see if they can't buy me another three years.

I am 79 so if i get 3 years trouble free would be on top of world🥳

No, it is not unusual. You are supposed to feel better! It's the ones that don't feel good after the ablation that should be worried. I am only surprised to hear you say you never felt it when your heart was racing! I felt it all the time, every episode. My ablation in November was also successful so far. Good luck