Welcome ! :) I think you will find some good info hear and some great people to share experiences with. Good luck with your June 4th ablation! I had 2 ablations. You can expect to be alittle fatigued within your first week after ablation. I tired easily for about the first week post ablation. Also, for a few days after, there is some mild chest pain, especially when leaning forward. I had a very sore throat afterward, but when I had my second ablation, I made sure I had some throat lozenges on hand :) Hope this helps. There are alot of people on here that have had ablations and am sure will share their experience with you :) Take care, Carrie

Thank you Carrie for your reply. I will make sure I have something for my throat. Were you awake for your 2 ablations? My EP told me I will be asleep. Also immediately after surgery how did you feel having to lye still for 4 to 6 hrs? I'm not sure how I am going to handle it.

DeTalentedOne - I was asleep for both of them. It was tough lying there for the 4 to 6 hours because you have to lie flat and it felt so good when I was allowed to sit up and get up and around a bit. It wasnt too bad though :)

I think everyone has individual experiences, so what we had, you might not even experience. I had my ablation about 1 month ago. I experienced bad chest pains due to pericarditis and also vagal nerve injury which affected my GI. But from posting here, it seems most do not have the vagal nerve probs.

So, I think in general, Carrie is right about the fatigue. I was awake during the procedure, so didn't have the sore throat at all (from the intubation)

I had to lie still for 20 hrs total from the procedure and the time afterwards. If you have general, I'm told that most of the time afterwards you are asleep. Joan had a great suggestion to bring an ipod or something with books on tape to help you to lull back to sleep during this time.

Good luck!

You can pick up some great tips from everyone on this forum!!

I had major back pain from laying still flat on my back for about the 10 hours or so the entire ablation procedure took. They gave me something for that and I was OK.

Fatigue was a problem for a week or so, part of that was the Metotoprolol they had me on. I had no chest pain or discomfort whatsoever. With all that said, I had my ablation Dec 5 2011 and I'm not afib free. I'm paroxsysmal afibber and very symptomatic. I may elect to have another ablation. The jury is still out!

Best of luck to you, we all have unique gigs with our afib. What works for one may not for another.

I wish you the best with your ablations. I hope you can find some answers to your question to sooth your mind and make the surgery go through without a hitch. I have found much comfort in the assistance, information, opinions, and kind words which I have gotten from the other members of this forum.and I hope you can find the same..................

Hi De...and ALL,
One year ago I had a 'cryo-ablation'. It took about 3 hrs. The first 48 hrs I was VERY sore! I could hardly breathe. Two weeks later I went into A-fib and was cardio-verted. One year later I am A-fib Free. I dehydrated a few times and experienced skipped beats. Caffene and alcohol give me skipped beats....SO...I keep hydrated, NO caffene and No alcohol! I am still on Multaq and Pradaxa. Wanting to get off these meds...anyone know about being on them this long?

De.....Good Luck w/your ablation. I hope it is successful!

CrazyMary: I can only speak for Pradaxa... the latest protocol on anticoagulants is that you stay on them after ablation according to your CHA2DS2VaSC score to be "safe" as silent afib may be possible from time to time. They didn't know this before. For some reason they don't understand, even if afibbers have afib bouts after ablation, many/most/all of them tend to be silent (asymptomatic). petey

Good luck with your upcoming ablation. I have had a RF ablation and a cryoablation. The recovery was much easier for me after the cryoablation. The hardest part with either of them for me, was the laying flat for 6 hours after the procedure. I have bulging discs in my lower back that can cause pain from day to day, so laying flat that long was uncomfortable.The ipod is a great suggestion to have while laying flat. The throat lozenges are definitely a good idea. I had a very sore throat after the first ablation. I came prepared the 2nd time, and had no sore throat at all. Every case is individual, but if you work, try to get at least a week off. I only had 5 days off after my first ablation and work was very challenging to say the least. I think I could have handled work after a couple of days after the cryoabaltion but took almost 2 weeks off based on my prior experience. Expect some chest discomfort, fatigue, sore throat, bruising at the sites, and possible backache. Other people on this site have experienced some complications. Although not expected, they are possible. Make sure that you do your research. Ask your EP how many procedures he has done, what his success rate is, and what type of complications he has encountered and how he has handled them. Be your own advocate! Once again, good luck! Janet

I have no advice for you - as I've not been through an ablation - yet - but am possibly facing one this summer so I'll be very interested in what you have to say about it.....please keep us posted!

DeT,

RN52 makes a good point. Are you having cryo or RF ablation. It really does affect your recovery time.

I had an ablation in 2009. The recovery wasn't bad. I was in the hospital overnight, this is common. It was hard to 'be still" for 12 hrs (to have opening wound heal) but after that was OK. I was tired for 2-3 days, but not terrible. I had no complications and no pain.

I did have to take Luvenox for a few days, which you have to inject yourself and was icky to me (check if you have to do this). I had some bruising for a while, too, but nothing bad. I did get a rash a month later and went back to ER in a panic. They said it was "jock itch", and it went away.

Everyone is different. I was fine, just tired for a few days.

Good luck.

DeTalentedOne: So what are you talented at? Been meaning to ask you.

Also, have you ever bee tested for things like thyroid problems. You look a little young for afib.

:-)

petey

@Heart, I will find out tomorrow what type of surgery I am having.
@ Petey, I am a costume designer and seamstress. I have realized I am young to have this. I do have a nodule on my tyhroid. All of my test came back normal. They never told me how or why it happened. About 2 years prior I was having SVT episodes they were telling me were panic attacks. All I know is I had to change my life drastically. I look forward to going back to my life of working out, not being so tired all the time, not planning my day around heart medication, having a good night sleep and no more emergency rooms!

I just googled this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21516666



Recenti Prog Med. 2011 Jan;102(1):17-9.
[Atrial fibrillation and thyroid nodules].
[Article in Italian]
Bindi M, Moruzzo D, Rosada J, Romanelli AM, Castiglioni M.
SourceUO Medicina Generale IV, Azienda Ospedaliera Pisana, Pisa. bimassi@alice.it

Abstract
Our previous papers reported an association between atrial fibrillation and supracentimeter thyroid nodules. Recently we noticed that the number of patients admitted to our ward presenting this relationship, was higher than average data relating to whole world's population. In this study we tried to prove the existence of this association in a selected group of inpatients aged between 71 and 80. This to rule-out any age-related confounding factor. We enrolled one hundred inpatients, aged between 71-80. Each patient underwent TSH, FT3, FT4 determination, ECG and thyroid ultrasound examination. 55 males and 45 females: 25 with atrial fibrillation (group A) and 75 without atrial fibrillation (group B). In group A, 80% had supracentimeter thyroid nodules, whereas in group B, only the 6.7% showed supracentimeter thyroid nodules. The rate of supracentimeter thyroid nodules in inpatients without atrial fibrillation (group B) was in line with that found in many studies about whole world's population (4-10%). On the contrary, subjects with atrial fibrillation (group A) showed a rate of supracentimeter thyroid nodules significantly higher (p < 0.001). These findings confirm our previous studies even in more age homogeneous peoples. Moreover, they suggest a link between atrial fibrillation and thyroid nodules. Cytokines and growth factors (IGF-1, EGF, FGF) might act like a connection between nodule goitre and atrial fibrillation.