Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Hi DM,

Can you describe the pain following the procedure? How long did you have afib before you decided on ablation. Were you or are you in afib all of time? How old are you and how is your general health? Sorry for all of these questions, but this will help others in their decision to have ablation done.

ah... I see you are 54... sorry, didn't see your status before.. :)

Before you had the ablation, did your EP tell you that it may take more than one procedure to stop the a-fib? Before my ablation in January 08 for both a-fib and a-flutter I was told by numerous EP's that I might need 1,2 or even 3 procedures. So, I was prepared to have another one if needed.
Sorry about the pain. I had very little pain if that. I was tired after the procedure for a couple of weeks, but all went well.
Good Luck

Thank you jbtwin. I'm going in for ablation soon and didn't like reading about the trouble she had. I'm hoping my procedure ends up like yours. Good Luck.

Thank you for replying to my post. The pain following the procedure was pretty miserable. Someone asked me something about my EP. I didn't have an EP. I was referred by my primary care physician directly to a surgeon who performed my minimally invasive surgery. The surgeon told me about the EP cath lab option, but that the cath lab had more complications, less success rates, etc. than the surgical procedure. After the surgery, I was in ICU for two days and then a regular room for a day before coming home. I was on narcotics for pain management for about a week. Then I weened myself off the pain meds and began to slowly recover. After all of that, I'm still in AFIB feeling pretty much as miserable as I was before the surgery. NOW the surgeon tells my that I may need more procedures. I just can't go through this again. I have four little incision sites in each side of me. I asked the surgeon and he said he used an ablation device from a cardiac company called ATRICURE. For me, it didn't work. The surgeon told me initially that there was a nearly 90% chance of success. I'm obviously in the 10% that didn't work.

I forgot to answer the rest of your questions. My overall general health is good other than the AFIB. I'm a runner, and work out 5-6 days per week. I play golf and tennis, and travel all over the world. I own my own consulting business which can be pretty stressful, but I love every minute of it. The AFIB is pretty much the only thing that has ever slowed me down. It's so unfortunate that the surgery didn't work and I wasn't given all the options. I now think that the EP procedure may have been better, but I wasn't given all the options by my doctors.

I find this very odd. Did they have a name for your procedure? Where did you have it done? If an electrophysiologist (EP) didn't do it, what was the doc's specialty. I had an ablation in Feb. '09 and experienced no pain other than the minor pain at the entry sites for the catheters in my groin. Where did they make the incision sites? I, like so many others on this site, had great success with the ablation and feel better than I have in many years. Coincidentally, I am heading for DC on Thursday.
Jody

Hi DM,
I fell quite sad about your experience, particularly after you did so much research. I have had an ablation by a catheter passed through the groin - performed by an EP. I only had a burn pain in my heart for a day and some problems with intyerference with the femeral nerves (rare but it happened to me, made worse by being on calcium channel blockers which increased the swelling). If I was in your position I would get a referral to an EP and discuss what has happened. I know that only some types of A Fib can be treated with ablation, mine couldn't - the EP could tell from my ECG> I did have my atrial flutter treated successfully though. Please search for the right kind of specialist, every specialist has similar but different knowledge basis. I have not heard of your procedure in Australia ( we are behind on some things such as medications). A condition can always be improved with the right specialist, keep trying you will get an answer in time.

Did you have the mini maze procedure? I was also told about that procedure before I had my ablation. Your primary care doctor should have sent you to an EP(cardio doctor who specializes in rhythm problems).
When I researched the mini maze against the ablation, I decided to have the ablation done.

Also, none of these procedures have a 90% success rate with the first one. Why do some doctors mislead their patients. I was given a 75% success rate with my first ablation, higher with a second, and even higher if a third was needed. I do know people who have had to have 3 ablations, and now are doing fine. Thankfully, I have only needed the one.