Concerns After Heart Ablation

Posted by jscotten @jscotten, Oct 13, 2022

All,
I am new here, so I apologize in advance if I am posting in the incorrect place.

I am looking for answers / advice, I am 29yrs old, male, active w/ moderately healthy diet, and mostly healthy other than what I am inquiring about. Father is type 1 diabetic.

I had Heart Ablation surgery 2 years ago after what I was told was a benign arrhythmia got unbearable to live with (regardless of the medication that was tried). after requesting other options, a specialist requested another halter monitor where it was discovered my heart was "under 40% load, and had been for months" so I moved forward with the ablation.

Post surgery my heart beat felt proper again, but other issues started to arise. for the last two years I constantly feel dehydrated regardless of my water / electrolytes intake, if I have small amounts of sugar, caffeine, or alcohol( 1 wine / beer), I feel the return of my abnormal heart rhythm, along with head aches, and the overall feeling of a severe hang over.

I have had basic blood work done by my doctor multiple time, and all results are "within normal range" and I monitor my blood sugar again within normal range). EKGs show normal rhythm by the time I get to one.

I have no issues cutting all the triggering foods / beverages out of my normal diet, but the feeling of dehydration / dry mouth never stops. I am Looking for possible next steps / suggestions, as I feel like something is being missed.

thank you in advance for any answers.

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Hi jscotton welcome to connect. We are paient based and try to help others with our experience in various fields. I am someone who went thru many ablations due to a condition called Vintricular Tachycardia or VT for short. So like you the reasons we have heart ablations is the electrical pathways in our hearts will sometimes start growing in directions that hinder a normal rhythm. You mentioned 40% and I believe your refering to injection Factor. It's the ability for the volume of blood that get pumped during each beat and a completely healthy heart particularly for a young person is between 60-70, as we age it can get lower as at 60 I was told 50s is the normal range. When it drops below 30% it considered in the low Range and it's given the name CHF or Congested Heart failure which sounds worse than it is. When my problems first started it got as low as 5% and I was given a pacemaker plus medications to help get it stronger. It did help and got back up to the 45- 50 range. So I can see your doctors concern at 40% is low for someone your age.
Now my first question is who are you seeing that suggested the ablation? As there are many different specialists in the heart arrhythmia area and CHF . You have your basic cardiologist who I call the plumber of the field They handle the physical aspects of the heart and even if your having electrical problems most of us have a regular one also. They handle things like the valves, blood flow and general health of the heart.
Now when they discover an electrical problem which is why they do ablations its usually handled by a EP Cardiologist and ep stands for electro physiologist and even they dived into 2 groups of those who specialize in AFib and one like I had that handle VT type problems.
And there are others but these are the ones I'm familiar with besides my heart got pretty sick and I had to get a transplant.
Now I know a long answer to probally a short question. Have you been seen by an EP Cardiologist? They may be additional help with your problem. With medication it's amazing what could be done to raise your % and make you feel better. ChF is very common and I know they have some newer drugs to help with that area. Your not in the danger zone based on what you mentioned about the 40% so treatment may not be necessary yet. I personally went from normal to 5 % in a very short time due to a flu virus that enlarged my heart so I was never in the range you are when diagnosed.
The fact that you've already had 2 ablations tho seems like there is another issue you haven't mentioned yet. Typically ablations are done due to arrhythmias where you have an abnormal heart rhythm. Has anyone mentioned pacemaker? So if I can help further please ask away and let me
Know as to what doctors you are seeing as maybe the EP Cardiologist cod help further.
Blessings

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