Hope you don't need another ablation either. Good luck with the new monitor.

Todd

Hope everything works out okay. The monitor looks really cool.

I have been afib free for 3.5 months since my ablation and so ep wants to do a 7 day monitor to check for silent afib and to determine future anticoagulation strategy.. I just picked up my zio patch today.

opsyn

I hope everything works out. this device is very interesting. Wow!

Sorry to hear about the attacks Paul! Isnt that the same monitor that Yoga posted about a while back? It sounds very interesting.

I hope it was just your heart hiccupping and you wont need another ablation either.

Take care,
atp

Good luck Paul and Opsyn. Sounds like your EPs are on the stick.

Sorry, I can't stop thinking about the tattoos... maybe he needs Celox.


petey

Oh no Paul! Sorry the afib monster is hanging out again! I feel your pain, I had about 12 hours of afib last Sat nite and I am just about 8 months post ablation, I had the medtronics monitor put in two weeks ago, it is pretty cool, transmits every night at midnight, I do not have to do a thing, Mine is the size of a couple of Tylenol end to end, barely noticeable. It also came with a portable transmitter I can take with me to send something if I am away as long as there is a cell phone tower around. Go back to doc next week for evaluation. I had to go to hospital to have it put in, soon they will be doing it in the doc offices I hear

Reveal link is really a cool gadget. I had one installed in April right after Medicare approval. Unfortunately my body seems very to be hostile to technology, I rejected the implant. After 4 weeks it just popped out. (Gross) And no a-fib to record during the whole time. Afterwards two episodes. Another try, no luck and the implant had to be removed. There was no infection but the little wound just did not close, and I cannot blame my doctor. I was able to record two episodes and now we have some information about what is going on. I still recommend the gadget and am sure that you will have a better luck and will benefit from it. Onwards, Marya

Today I had the implant of the Reveal LINQ heart monitor. The procedure was a little more involved than I expected. I thought it would be done in the doctors office. No No, it was done as outpatient surgery. They shaved my chest (again), and inserted an IV line. While the actual insertion and testing only takes 5-10 minutes, I was still there for3 hrs. I have two staples, a steri strip, and some kind on pressure bandage. I did bleed a lot...Coumadin. Oh well, at least it didn't hurt much. I can remove the pressure bandage in 24 hours, and can take a shower in 48 hrs. No upper body exercise in the gym for a week, but I can resume lower body tomorrow. How much exercise to you think I will do if I can't shower? I go back in a week for wound follow-up and staple removal.

I still think this is a really cool device. Hope it doesn't find anything and the two recent episodes were just anomalies. The unit in my chest can hold a lot of data, so I don't need to take the base unit (the unit that talks to the cell system) with me to Europe. The chest unit unit will send everything when it sees the base again. I still need to notify the hospital, since they will be curious if they don't receive data.

In a few weeks I'll ask the hospital for an itemized bill. I wonder how much this puppy costs. Medicare is wonderful.

Thanks for sharing information about this heart monitor.
Really hope it shows that you don't need another ablation.

Yes, Medicare is great for these kind of procedures---one less thing to stress about.
D.

Hi Paul,

Sorry about your episodes and I hope you will be okay from here on. Also, the Reveal sounds good. But, why not the good old fashion monitor with the wires? Don't like wire? LOL

Also, I like to add that now after 8 months from my ablation, I seems to go to mild afib after a few hours if I eat my good old triggers, which was one reason that I just dragged my feet for ablation. Any way, I am very careful about what I eat. I know for fact anything with omega 3 fatty acid and/or greens would cause afib for me after a few hours (not right away). So, I just avoid them like before the ablation.

In addition, as soon as my heart rate goes up and I think I am going to go to afib, I take 25 mg of Atenolol. That usually calms my heart down within 20 minutes or so.

Also, my cholesterol shut up (218, LDL125) when I was on Sotalol. So, I stopped the Sotalol and just started taking the Atenolol whenever and if my heart rate goes up. So far, it has been working. High cholesterol is the Sotalol's side effect in some people according to the FDA. I will let my EP know about all this in September when I see him. I am sure he will NOT be interested since I will NOT be asking for another ablation yet :-)

I am wondering if your episodes can be correlated to a certain food that you ate. I know the doctors do NOT believe in the relationship between foods and afib. But, I am the living proof for that. Just think about that. May be you can find a food trigger for your episodes too.

Good luck and I wish you well. Thanks for the post.

Scott

Scott: The first of the two episodes was the day after I had a large drink of Jamison's Irish Whiskey. The first alcohol I've had in over six months. So, that could have done it. The second one two weeks latter, I don't think there was a specific trigger. Thankfully they both lasted only 3 hours and neither was the I gotta lay down type, nor was I short of breath. I hope that's the end of it .. we'll see.

Glad you got the loop recorder! Went to my EP for follow up yesterday and he was very happy with it, gave him everything he needed to see what has been going on so far-, Put me on Sotalol to help with the pacs and afib, back in three months to see how it goes, he said I may need a touch up......... or it can sometimes take a year for the heart to heal up

Good luck! NSR to you!

Paul, glad to hear the device procedure went well. Nice to have that monitoring. Wondering if you had aflutter episodes versus Afib episodes. I found that when I had the post ablation episodes, they were aflutter, not afib and I too did not get winded - a possible sign of aflutter since the heart beats rapidly but in a coordinating manner during aflutter. That would be a good thing I think since I understand that aflutter ablations after afib ablations happen a lot and they are easier and faster than the former. Hang in their bud! You will get through it!.

Sorry to hear that Paul, hope it will settle down again. This makes me think twice about ablation. I have a consultation for ablation, scheduled in 4 weeks in London. All the best to you.
Gotfie

Gotfie:
Even though I may be having some minor episodes now nearly 5 months post ablation, I'm still so much better than I was before. Before the ablation I was having 4-6 episodes per week each lasting several hours, some were so bad I could barely walk up a flight of stairs (this is from a guy who spent 3 hrs /day 3x /week for the last 40 years. So, I would say: consider that even if the monster is not completely gone, you might feel a whole lot better, I do!