2nd ablation concerns

[ritch]

Hi

Around 3 weeks ago I had my second RF ablation in an effort to cure irregular heartbeats I had been getting, I was diagnosed with Ventricular Tackycardia around 2 years ago.  I was around 23 at the time and didn't fancy the idea of taking meds for the rest of my life.

After having my fist ablation I was told it was a success and apart from episodes of missed beats I was ok for about 10 months before the irregular beats came back.  They became more frequent, it impaired my life because I was always aware that I could not do anything strenuous without it triggering.  So in a way the first ablation made things worse but I was willing to give it another go.

This time they are about 80% certain they have blasted the area that was causing the problem, apparently it was and an excitable area in the Ventricle wall rather than a pathway.  The past couple of weeks I have been a bit anxious and have had a few missed beats but I put that down to post ablation symptoms, but the last couple of days I have had a lot of missed beats.  I get then more severely in the mornings and evenings or after I have eaten, my heart seems to beat quite hard around these times then missed beats occur.

I am really anxious about this because my worst nightmare is the irregular beats coming back, its effected my life for most of the year so I can just imagine it being triggered again.  I did a bit of exercise before these episodes and wonder if I made it worse, should I leave strenuous work for a few more weeks or isn't that a factor?

Thanks for any advice or help, this is a great board.

[CCF-M.D.-RCJ]

Ritch,

Thanks for the post.

I certainly understand your trepidation about the recurrence of the palpitations.  But you should try to keep hope alive for the success of this most recent ablation.

For ablation procedures we perform here at the CCF, we typically tell patients to expect a possible increase in frequency of arrthymias for the first 2-3 months.  The reason for this is multifactorial, but includes possible nerve damage at the ablation site, increased inflammation associated with the healing process, and perhaps changes in autonomic tone.  So having increased palpitations soon after an ablation should not be unexpected.

It might be useful to do 2 things at this point.  One, contact your doctor and tell him/her that you are having these symptoms.  He/She has certainly dealt with this before, and should have some guidance.  Second, an event monitor should tell you what is causing your new symptoms.  Perhaps your new symptoms are from PACs, or something else relatively benign.

In the meantime, I might hold off on vigorous exercise until you have spoken with your doctor.  You certainly have not done any permanent damage by the exercise you recently performed.

Good luck, and thanks for your positive feedback.

[ritch]

Thank you very much for the replies and advice.  I am trying to stay positive but I was getting these extra beats all last night, it didnt trigger an irregular beat but was a bit distressing because I thought it would.  Its strange that in the day I only get a few.

I wonder if its something to do with the position when laying down.  Anyway, I will have to see my GP and ask some advice, is there any medication that might help a situation like this?

thank you
Ritch