Arrhythmias after Ablation

[josie490]

Hello Everyone,

I had an ablation done 6 months ago and did not have a single episode of palpitations, syncope etc until last week.  For those of you who have had an ablation done and had a recurrance of arrhythmias, how long after the ablation did you first realize it had come back?

I was told by my EP doctor that you would usually know within 3 months, but mine was after 6 -- anyone with similiar stories?

Hope to hear from you,

Josie

[katchen]

I had 3 Ablations....my Arrythmias came back after each ablation                 the 1. and 2. time it took about 3 month before they came back................... the 3.time about 1 and a half years.

[Momto3]

Great news that you registered.  I'll send you a message so you can see how it works : )

I have not had a chance to check out the MND site, but I am amazed and impressed at your great attitude!!  

I still have occasional PVCs, but nothing like in the past.  I can go days/weeks at a time without any (at least that I know of).  Oh, my kids are all grown and the hardest part of the job is done : )  No grandkids, at least not yet.

N.M. is such a beautiful part of the country!  Of course, Wisconsin has so many beautiful lakes!!  It's just those cold winters...brrr

A foci is an irritable spot somewhere in the heart that causes our hearts to misfire.  When the doctors ablate, they burn the foci and hopefully, stop the area from throwing the weird beats.

Have a nice weekend
connie

[krue]

I registered. Do you still have some Pvc's now. I"m 59 and am on disability because of MND, can't imagine having kids to deal with and work must be maddening [I mean the working]. I have one grandchild and another on the way anytime now, but don't see him very often. [Wis.] and I live in N.M. What does foci mean, I'm more of an expert on the MND site. Am very fortunate to be an extremely slow progressing one, three yrs in and am completely mobile still only a few like me in the whole country.Some people are gone in 9 mo's! Well enough of that this is a heart site.Went all day with only a hundred or so Pvc's. Think I will try for another ablation in couple months at the Heart Institute in Albuq. Later

[Momto3]

Hi Krue,

I received your private message, but figured I'd respond here since you are not registered.  If you register, I'll be able to chat back and forth and not just rely on hitting "reply."  

I'm so sorry to hear that your second ablation made your PVCs worse.  Was the ablation just this month?  If so, your heart may still be recovering from being poked and prodded with the catheters.  After my procedures, there was some irritability and I definitely had a higher heartrate.  My rate would jump quickly and would be resting in the 80's and 90's.  That was weird, but all the post-ablation symptoms were gone by about 6 months (at the most).  

I had 2 predominant foci, and I believe I had 12 burns to each site.  They burn the area in a line so they are more likely to hit the exact spot.  I was/am multifocal, but the two main foci were successfully ablated. I think mine were relatively easy to locate because I was pretty much in constant arrythmia.  I also know my doctor elected to ablate very conservatively and I knew it might take more than one procedure.

Please do not take your medication dosage into your own hands.  You want to stay healthy and hopefully, the PVCs will settle down on their own.  I'll get over to the MN board, but it might not be for a few days....holiday gatherings will keep me to minimal postings for a few days.

Happy Holiday!
connie

[krue]

My second ablation has actually made my pvc's worse somewhat am very discouraged to say the least because I would get days and days with only a few [ablation done March 5].He only got 3 [ one he missed]  found15 spots in R.Ventricular.I am encouraged now by readind your post. I asked him why he only got three and he said they where very weak, but I had the flu the week before and maybe I'm thinking they just appeared weak and why not just get the suckers [as many as would be safe while in there!] .He was supposed to be one of the best in the state.I get Pvc"s so frequent now in the evenings that if I stand up and read they slow down or go away, but if I sit and recline at all they go wild, ridiculous. How many spots did you have or others who read this and I guess it can be safe to do three or four this encourages me a lot, but I might get a new ep doctor! He said Pvc's are real hard to get firing sometimes, but he did find them all so I can't figure out why he did not get more and to end up worse and pvc's more sensitive to firing off is discouraging. Plus they where firing at night! After four nights of no sleep I actually put half dozen toprol to my mouth several times, but couldn't do it. My pvc's have never been over couple thousand to few hundred a day [before ablation] no big deal for some of you, but  when you have Motor Neuron Disease like I do it is one to many things for the mind to deal with, Go to the MND site if you think you might think otherwise. Give me some feedback people.

[mariop]

Yes, I have been PVC free, with no medication at all.  Holter monitor showed over 28,000 extra ticks in Sept 2007.  Beginning of Feb 2008 Holter showed 1 PVC for 24 hour period.

[upbeat633]

whoops, that last post was for you, are you pvc free now.

But I guess I'd like to now if Josie has had any more episodes too. :-)

[upbeat633]

are you pvc free now?

[mariop]

I've had 4 ablations.  Last one on 11-30-2007, which appears to be successful.  My PVCs showed up usually within 3-4 weeks.  Currently my Doc said to wait about 4-5 months before I declare victory.  Sometimes, as the heart heals from the burns, the pathways get reconnected.  Unfortunately there's no direct way to check on this.

The difficulty with me was that the firing spot was located almost on the center wall of the heart.  Thus not enough firing power was getting to it.  But with numerous burns, the heart wall becomes thinner, and therefore with the next ablation the doctor can get closer to it.  Hopefully I will not need it.  I also hope  that it is just a random incident for you.

[Momto3]

Hi Josie,

My 2nd ablation was scheduled 3 months after the first.  While I was thrilled with the improvement (20,000+ PVCs/day to 6,000/day), the doctor wanter further improvement.  The first ablation targeted RVOT VT and the second was for LVOT VT.  As I recall, my doctor said it could take several months, so it's possible that 6 months would still be considered in the healing phase.  But, it seems more likely that there is another foci or the ablation didn't hit the offending foci.

I do have occasional PVCs, but only a few days/month. I have days/weeks now where I don't feel any ectopic beats.  I had seen my EP for years and only after the ablations has she listened to my heart and heard NO ectopics..WOOHOO!!  I do have occasional "activity" but I have been to the doctor probably 8 times since the procedures and 90% of the time, NO PVCs!!  It was like a miracle for me.  I had arrythmias for at least 25 years, and I am amazed at how different this feels.  I definitely notice the PVCs I get now more than when I was in constant bigeminy...weird.

Hope your doctor is able to get to the bottom of what's going on.  Keep us posted.

Connie

[upbeat633]

Thanks for your information. I am near that range of pvcs/day, but don't have your same symptoms.

I have had on recent occassion a resting heart rate just above 100bpm. This is something new for me. It lasts for a couple of hours until I decide to take a beta-blocker, of which I have many. I have several beta-blockers because my doctor is always trying a new one in the hopes this one will work for the pvcs. But they don't seem to help the pvc frequency, and they drop my blood pressure too low. However, on an as-needed-basis, the beta-blocker breaks the VT cycle.

I hope your episode was a singular event. Have you asked your EP his/her opinion on it? I know that Momto3, Connie, a member of this forum has had an ablation but continues to have occassional episodes of pvcs. Maybe she will post a comment, or you can search through some posts. I am glad you've had 6 months of relief, and wish you much much more.

[josie490]

Hello,

I had an ablation after a year of frequent episodes (about 3 times a week).  I had a lot of PVC's (over 30,000 in 24 hours) and this created episodes of VT which resulted in palpitations, severe weakness, near fainting and fainting.  During the EP study they also found that I had AV nodal re-entry tachycardia.  After the ablation (until last week) I was symptom free and episode free.  I did have one episode last week which i was not expecting since the ablation was done 6 months ago.  Regardless, I have no regrets having the ablation.  My overall health and well being is much improved!

[upbeat633]

Hi, just wondering why you had the ablation? Was it high frequency palpitations? Were you fainting as a result? Could you please tell me what is the frequency of your palpitations then and now? Are you fainting again after the ablation?

I have high frequency pvcs and nothing seems to work to reduce them. Ablation has been in the back of my mind recently. I hear a lot of success with reduction of symptoms, but not really a cure.  I hear that pvcs and palps can continue and some people have to get ablation more than once, even three times.