DeTalentedOne: I was just wondering about you. I'm glad you got right back to us after your ablation. Ahem! :-)

Maybe you could tell us how long you had afib, type, how rhythm drugs worked, who did the ablation, any other medical conditions, etc.

petey

Hi DeTalentedOne. Glad all went well for you with your ablation. Enjoy.

I had my first episode of afib on October 7, 2011. I am paroxysmal. I was on sotalol 80 mil twice a day for the first 3 months and then they had to increase it to 120ml twice a day. In July 2012 my EP ( Dr. George Monir) told me to stop taking the sotalol all together. He wanted me to go into afib. The first day without it I was feeling weird. I went to the hospital. I started having these internal shakes that weren't registering on the heart monitors. They kept me overnight and then released me. I was still off the sotalol. 2 days later the shakes got so bad I went back to hospital. Apartmentally I was in withdrawl from the sotalol. I was having PVC's and skip beats. They sent me home with cytopram I guest to help with panic. Finally on July 28, the last day of my event monitor I had a big episode. The monitor people called me and told me to call the paramedics becasue my heart rate was in the 200's. I was still in afib when I got to the hospital so they were able to see it while it was going on which was what my doctor wanted before he did the surgery. They released me still in afib but it went away about 2 hrs after I got home. Then one week later I ended up back in the Er becasue my pulse spiked that's when tehy put me to metoporol 50mg. I've been on that ever since. I am prediabetic and have high blood pressure when I have episodes.
I took 3 weeks out of work for my recovery. My EP said I could have gone back in 1 week but I wanted to make sure I was ready to go back to work. I immediatedly felt a difference after surgery. I had energy. I never realized how draining having afib was.

Hi,
I just had a RF/Cryo ablation 5 days ago and have been afib free but experiencing an elevated heart rate (80-112 bpm) Did you experience an increase in hr after your ablation? If so, what was the range and was your EP concerned? I guess I should call my EP and see what he thinks but I've read that this frequentlys happens after this procedure and it's no big deal. Thanks, Tom

Mine was in the 80's alot. My blood pressure was mainly low the day of surgery. My normal resting rate is in teh low 70"s prior to having afib. I think it depends how long it stays above 100 and what you were doing. I had afib with RVR. SO whenever I had an episode my herat rate will elevate. The first few days after surgery I was going in and out of afib at least 4 times a day. It's cause teh heart is angry because of all of teh burning and poking around going on. One week after surgery I went into afib and was in it for 3hrs. Thats when I decided to go to the ER. They kept me for observation and my EP had me wear and event monitor. If you are concerned I would suggest calling EP and asking him to put you on an event monitor. That way you can record what you are feeling.

My EP told me he was having good results with the Thermocool that uped the chances of being cured to about 95%. Crazy thing is my ablation was put off 4 times. Good thing because that particular laser was FDA approved in August 2012. I am part of a research study for it. So I do get some compensation.

DeTalent,

I posted yesterday and somehow it didn't go on.

I, too, was offered the smart touch catheter as a part of a clinical trial back in March. After much consideration, I was chicken and didn't go with it. My doc said the success rate is unknown at the time I was offered it. By the time you had your ablation, they probably had more data.

I get soon it will be the status quo for all RF ablations.

So great you had an excellent outcome.

Tomloy,
I have had a high heart rate since my ablation. It runs anywhere from 96-110 resting. My doc said it might last 18 mos before going back to normal. So far I have not seen it drop much.

Good to hear from you DeTalented One! I had been wondering how you are doing :)

DeTalente
Glad to hear they used the smart touch thermo cool cath
But from understanding that is RF energy not Laser?

McHale,

that is my understanding too, I thought the thermocool uses RF.

I had my ablation with the Thermocool catheter device in December 2011 and haven't had any issues since. I was part of a clinical trial in the Orlando area. This device does use radiofrequency (RF) but in the hands of a skilled EP (which I was blessed to have), it is a exceptional tool. I later asked my EP about the results of the trial and so far 24 of the 25 people who he used it on have had no issues whatever. He said he would not use anything else (at least for now). Best of luck to you.