im a powerlifter and am back doing what I love But by choice not to the level I was at before.. A successful ablation will not affect your running. Go back to running but maybe not to running marathons.

My advice: Get the ablation ONLY from one of the best electrophysiologists. This is not a time to go to WalMart. Give yourself a few months (3-4) to recover. Switch to 5Ks. Build back up gradually. Marathons are bad for someone with a history (and family history) of afib. Slogging along for hours is bad. You can get your high from a fast 5K. petey

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, but it's what we got. I'm 37 y.o. now, diagnosed two years ago. I was a pretty active, amateur cyclist and have had to give it up. Like you, I now walk for 4 miles for my daily exercise. What I miss most is eating tons of food! I am sorting through whom will do my ablation -- my case is a bit complicated due to a femoral vein anomaly. Agree with Petey. Shop around for a very good electrophysiologist that is sympathetic to your age. I believe we young a-fibbers benefit greatly from more conservative lesion sets around the pulmonary vein. They can always burn more one day, but you can't burn less. With that said, you are responding to Flecainide??? If so, could you find a lower dose with fewer side effects. If flecainide worked for me, I'd ride that wave until it stopped working, and by that time, 5, 10 years from now, maybe a-fib ablations will be better personalized to each patients pathological atrial activities. Be well and I hope you get back to a gallop that works for you. Sean

I'm not as young as you but I am really active. I swim a mile three times a week and bike anywhere from 30m-40 miles twice a week. I was getting short of breath and rapid heart rate which would take few hours to settle down. Had an angina attack caused by blockages and the Afib. I now have three stents and am on anticoagulants. I decided to go the meds route first rather than the ablation. Am on Tikosyn. I have noticed that my stamina is not what it once was. I've cut down to 3/4 of a mile swim 3 times a week and no more than 2 hours on the bike at one time. My ep advised me to do things in moderation and I can continue to do the things I was doing before. He also told me this condition (I also have PAF)is going to get worse over time. My situation is similar but not the same as yours. Some days I've got it ,some days I don't. I was very frustrated at first but now I'm excepting it is what it is. I keep trying. The days I succeed are a good day for me . The days I don't ,well, there is always tomorrow . Do what your body lets you do but don't give up. Adapt!!!

^ what pacyetep said :)

Sorry, I cant sugar coated for you. If you truly have an injection fraction of 40% and have been passing out, you better shut down the running for a while, maybe forever.

I live my life with afib but I still havent found an activity worth dying for.

Thanks everyone for your replies as this really helps me get a better grasp as to what to expect.

Petey, thanks for the insight, as it makes me feel better about all the jumping I have done from doctor to doctor in order to find an EP that I'm comfortable with. I do have a really good EP as I have talked to three thus far and I feel that he is the best candidate to meet my needs. My father has had three ablations due to Afib, and he agrees. Plus, my EP has a wealth of experience, and I know two people personally that he was able to take care of in one shot, one of these being a teenage athlete that I coached. He's the head of cardiovascular surgery at Beaumont hospital here in Michigan and he founded the Atrial Fibrillation clinic at the same hospital. I'm confident that he's going to do good work, and he's confident that he can lead me to a high probability of a curative approach based on my age and being that it is paroxysmal Afib. I have no signs of heart damage based on my cardiac MRI, which he said bodes well for the procedure. They are going to do an EP study, and take most likely take a conservative approach to isolate the pulmonary veins.

As far as the endurance activities, I cannot live being sedentary. I've come to terms with the possibility of cutting back on my intensity, but I plan to run, even if it is lighter and shorter, building up slowly of course. No I don't want to die from this activity, nor do I think I will. Afib won't kill me, but it is necessary to manage and treat the disease so it doesn't lead to anything more severe that could (ie: stroke and heart attack risk).

The passing out has never occurred while running, and most episodes occur while at rest believe it or not (sleeping, lying down, sitting). Running actually tends to get me back in NSR, and my heart does pump more efficiently when exercising based on my stress test. My ejection fraction was estimated at 55-60% while running, 40% while resting. All my issues typically occur when the heart is resting, and the EP said that there's a good chance of the EF going up post ablation.

SeanOpositive...to answer your question, the Flecanide does seem to tame it, but the doc agrees that it is most likely only going to be a short term fix, because I have gone into Afib a couple of times while on it. As far as dosing goes, I was on the lowest dose possible to start with moderate success, but still was receiving side effects (lightheadness, fatigued, GI issues). I've never tolerated meds well, so this could attribute to it, but my weeks are like a roller coaster. Good days and bad days. Unfortunately, this is my only option for meds due to how low my blood pressure is, and my resting heart rate will sometimes be in the mid 40's. Beta blockers would be a no go as most doctors I have talked to believe that I would not tolerate them well, and the Flec is at least keeping me in NSR most of the day now. SeanOpostitive...keep me posted on what you decide on doing. You ever check out the Cleveland Clinic? Heard they are fantastic when it comes to ablations. I had an appointment scheduled until I found my current EP. I feel comfortable with him so I cancelled the appointment due to the more convenient location. Best of luck!!!

Overall, I'm taking it day by day, and I'm just wondering if there's people out there who have had success with physical activities post ablation? Like paulH1 said...I'm learning to adapt. Sounds to me that quality of life does improve, however, normal physical activities may have to be reduced for some time afterwards?

I'll just repeat what most are saying here...cool it on the running. There are various studies that show a strong connection to endurance athletes and afib. I used to be a hardcore runner (never marathons though) and my dad has afib too. Today I only JOG a mile or two per day (Mon. - Fri. only).

You can still be MODERATELY active without being sedentary.

Given the fact that you have afib at such a young age, I would definitely throttle back on the endurance stuff. You'll likely respond very well to the ablation but if you start running marathons again I'd put money down that you'll be in line for another ablation sooner than later and will have more difficulties keeping afib at bay as you age.

Again, I'm not saying you should quit running or become sedentary. Just have a moderate approach to your activities moving forward.

Travis

First let me say time to to get real and cut back on the marathons. Recent studies have shown endurance traiining iflames and damages the heart and long term health and longevity is no better than a couch potato. I was a gym rat and heavy weight lifter got afib, stroked out and got abalted by the BEST. He told me after close to 9000 abaltions the most damage he's seen is in weight lifters and endurance runners so he told me stop the insanity.

Flec dampens heart rate during exercise

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/clc.4960180307/pdf

McHale

Never cancel an ablation for convenience....most find that out the hard way.........

McHale

Sean,
Burning less than more is not always more and good advice. Do you want to keep going back with 2, 3 4 ablations all the while your heart is remodeling? I had the set mindset and waited too long while my heart remodeled and the didease progressed outside the pulmonary veins into the posterior and anterior walls and coronary sinus.....all areas I got ablated in 20 months ago If you wait to too long eventually you'll need a LAA isolation to stop the persistent or permanent afib and that will probably mean a lifetime on blood thinners due to reduced velocity in your emptying capacity from your appendage. Just some food for thought.....

McHale

Overall, I plan on cooling it on the running due to being uneasy about needing a second ablation. If the Afib comes back post ablation, I think I would consider my running days to be done, and just do some lighter activities. Regardless, I still plan on taking it day by day post ablation. My doc said three weeks before any strenuous exercise, and for me I'm going to start by just walking. I probably won't run until I'm off the flecainide, which will be 3 months post ablation. Even then, I won't push until the 6th month mark until fully healed. Regardless, running is a huge part of my life, I do this for a living, and will not give it up just yet. If I can get part of it back, I'll be more than happy. If running makes things worse, then I'll hAve to find Another hobby.

As for the endurance activities, yes there is a lot of research out there that says endurance athletes are more susceptible to getting Afib, but not a whole lot about the success of ablations in endurance athletes post ablation when doing PVI. There are several European studies on the matter, and this one in particular shows there is no difference between non endurance athletes and endurance athletes in success rates post ablation. The key is having no heart damage, afib needs to paroxysmal, and no remodeling of the upper chambers. I fit into all these categories.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/EuroPRevent/25971

My ablation is scheduled March 23rd...and I plan on going through with it. Thanks for all the Advice everyone!

Good luck with your ablation and remember to just take it easy for a while after and gradually work your self up so you have plenty of time for your heart to heal.