bradycardia after ablation

[mickey32501]

im 31..was diagnosed w innapproiate sinus tachycardia...had an ablation in march 2010..surgery lasted 9 hrs and had 45 burns to my heart..doc said could of burned more but feels he got my heart to a good number..140 from 180...had series of issues after surgery alot of discomfort and lots of meds..had a series of heart still racing but now things have turned for me..last month i noticed that my heart would speed up but then my heart would become really slow almost stopping..had a few episodes of blacking out..told electro p..dr. and im currently on another 30 day holiter monitor i swear through all this i should buy stock in these things..lol..hate wearing them..doc is conserned that they may of damaged the hearts natural pace maker and not all the time r ablations sucessful..he is thinking that its real possiable that a pace maker is needed...my heart rate during normal activity grocery shoping dishes laundry the whole thing is between 41 and 56 bpm..when its at 41 i feel as if im going to pass out and its very scary especially w the kids in the car..im scared..is it possiable that a pace maker is needed is there other options to stop the bradycardia...

[Poobah88]

Thanks for posting Mickey. I had an ablation done in 2019 by Dr. Natale in Texas. I'm not sure what RFs are cindy mentioned, but Natale burned my heart with catheter diodes I believe. Weather the burns are my heat or by freezing (cryo) I can't see how one would be better than another.
Anyway, it did take several months before I felt normal after the ablation, so hopefully things will get better for you. I was going into afib before my ablation and now I haven't really gone into afib since. I do have many PVC's/PAC's (misbeats) that bug me. I've gone off all medication (propaphenone/Xarelto) and my heart seems to work better when I don't take a blood thinner. It also seems to work better when I don't take fish oil, caffeine, and other stuff. I always try and trouble shoot myself and see what I can do/eat or not eat, and exercise, to help the problem.
If I ever have a lot of PVCs I just take a propaphenone and wait it out for a day and it goes away. But I think having covid messes with it too. Anyway, lately I've been having major pauses (misses heart beat) and going into bradycardia which is scary! I agree, I wish I knew where that Dr. Mel Scheinmann works at, because I live in Northern California now. But what I was wondering was, and this is how I found this string, do ablation cause bradycardia? I can't take propaphenone because it makes the bradycardia work and so now I made an appointment with a new doctor here to see if there's a beta blocker or medication I can take to stop the PVC or pauses that would make my bradycardia worse. And if another ablation can cure the bradycardia.  But it sounds like that withh just make it worse, which sucks because now I just have to live with this??! A pacemaker sounds good right now. I mean, I don't know the draws backs of them - please tell me someone if you have one. Would I still me !ble to run and be normal with one? Anyway, I hope things get better for you mickey. I will pray for you.

[mickey32501]

i went to another cardiologist my origional doc..there is a differeny doc at the clinic who did the surgery this doc is an electro p but he does not do ablations he actually sent me to this guy..so now im back here to the origional doc..he wants to c what the heart monitor says but since wearing it my hr has been between 41 to 56 beats per min and thats with everyday activity karate for kids vacation bible school u name it im a one woman band so i dnt have time to feel like crap like this..grrr..its wierd when i feel like my heart is pounding and its racing that is actually when its the lowest..down to 41 bpm my chest gets tight im short of breath u name it...its like my heart is trying to beat harder but just cant i know that sounds dumb but it feels like that..i did call this morning and i dont know if i can go through this for 30 days i brought it to his attention for a reason im uncomfortale and terrified ..all i need is to have my kids in the car and black out...i know lance hr is really low and he is fine as most athleates and i do take alot of comfort in that i so do..but wen you go from 180 190 to 41 um i definatly feel it and im lucky if i can move.its wierd u know none of this ask for any of this and i listened to them as the ablation was the best option for me and i feel like im grabbing straws...ya they were real hesitant on doin alot with me cause of my age..i mean really my sister is28 and on the heart transplant list right now she currently has an icd/pacemaker yes this is all in the family on my dads side actually..but im thinking to the docs dont bark do's and don'ts about age to me you know..fix the problem that you all created....grrrrr..im currently waiting for him to return my call and will go from there..its funny cause i know if they as docs felt half the way i do they would find an answer for themselves....

[cindy707]

Hi Mickey i am glad you posted back..i think you were the first thing i thought of when i woke up this morning....a couple of things...i live out of the west coast in California and have no idea what hospital are like etc. on your end of the U.S, however i do know that the Cleveland Clinic is one of the best hospitals in the U.S, from what i understand and is a teaching hospital as well.  Now onto what to do..this is seriously not something to mess with or try homeopathic meds, supplements, etc. in your case. To help put your mind at ease try to remember that Lance Armstrongs resting heart rate is in the upper 30's on a daily basis and we know he is fine...alot of people who are athletes have extremely low pulses and survive just fine so don't panic here.  Your pulse being in the 60's range is not alarming at all altho the 40's range is low obviously low for you but actually for pro athletes is a norm.  Trust me its always better to have a little lower pulse than one in the 300's where mine had gone before my ablation.  The main thing to do now is to seek medical attention as quickly as you can if you are having the symtoms that you are....if you were my daughter or little sister i would tell you to make an appt. w. a different heart doc and let them evaluate what it is that they are seeing what is happening.  The will easily have access to all of your medical records from the procedure once you sign the consent form to get your medical records.   I wish i did live in your area to toss a couple of names at you but in this case what i would do is try to make a call today to the two docs that invented the procedure (ablation) since they are the top dogs in the world and ask their office for a referral in your city..they are Dr. Natale out of the Texas area and Dr. Mel Scheinmann out of northern california i have heard that their offices are wonderful at referring patients in most cities to their students (not students now but from years ago who are in practice).  These two have trained top doctors from all corners of the earth and it doesn't get any better than these two.  I do know some of the community members contacted their offices and got the referrals and actually a couple of members travelled to see them and it went well. At this point Mickey it really isn't up to you now it is up to a doctor to determine what the best course of action is for you.This isn't fair to your kids, you or your family that this has happened and as far as it being basically undone i do not have a clue in honesty if there is another way for a doc to go w. you because only they know your history and what they will see when the EP study was done except what i do know is you deserve to get your life back and not be so scared all of the time about this.  Just keep it in the back of your mind that many many people have low pulse rates and are just fine but only as i said a doc can advise you on this.  As far as you being too young for an ablation and have kids that are 9 years old is another excuse..we read all of the time on this site of people that are in their late teens and many many in their early 20's having it done..to me this doc is trying to CYA it ...their excuses are not acceptable to me...if they screwed up they screwed up...i am not saying the doc did but there is a red flag on every single corner of this.  Get proactive Mickey...take control of your life back and do something about this today if you can...you need to see another doc and get re evaluated and for gosh sakes don't let this same doc put something as permanent as a pacemaker into your chest until you have explored all other options open to you....seriously think about this...get another opinion and call one of those two docs i mentioned for the second opinion referral...you and your family will be glad you did....Godspeed Mickey and good luck to you my friend.........DO NOT SELF TREAT ON THIS...leave it to a good doc that knows their stuff and check them out first and be sure that they have done at least 1500 ablations before seeing them...its your own insurance.....

[mickey32501]

wow...im thankful  for your kind and honest words..im scared truly i neva have been through anything like this before..my surgery was march 16th at the cleveland clinic in ohio..i had been dealing with the innapproiate sinus tachycardia for 2 yeaars prior and finally my hr was getting so high they said lets do the ablation..yes 45 burns and what gets me as im coming out of surgery he had said to my husband that he could of burned me more but we will c where this goes for now..after all he got me to 145 from 180 so there was improvment..ended up with paracardidas after surgery but with 45 burns and this being the first ablation of course my body was going to swell.. late may i notified my doc that my heart rate feels extreamly slow like its literally stoping..he of course was alarmed right away..he like i said put a monitor which im currently wearing..my hr goes frm 41 to 56 im lucky my pr gets to 60..im almost lethargic..literally and im truly scared. i can do the stairs even and my heart rate actyally goes lower with any activity..i hav 3 children ranging from9 to 5 and they just dont get why i had a surgery that was to fix all this or at least help and alls i hav the energy to do is lay down my hr is to low i cant function..blacking out only for seconds but its enough to scare all of us..i so agree w u im writing on here cause i have no clue what to do..i did what i was told to do..i did it and now things arent so good..he like i said earlier that he hates to do them in people as young as me and im just wanting to know i guess is there something that can be done to get my heart rate back up i just hate that i have to eat this sandwhich im so exhausted..

[cindy707]

Wow that was a first for me...i have never heard of a doc "burning" the afflicted area 45 times especially since burning has pretty much become antiquated in ablations.  Most docs do cryo or RF's because of the high incidence of scarring that burning causes to the heart after the procedure thus causing scar tissue to build up and impeding the electrical passageways so i am surprised that they chose that method but to each doc his/her own. I honestly think 45 is super extreme here.  However it is normal for up to 6 months to have runs of rapid heart rate because the heart is trying to go back to the normal passageway not the one that was wrong so it does take time.  I know that after my ablation it took about 4 months before the runs stopped and then another two for the random ones to go away which was pretty text book i was told.  The statement that was made to you that "they may have damaged the pacemaker of the heart or the sinus node as it is called means that they got too close to it and no doubt inadvertantly hit it which most definately can cause what you are now going thru..they basically shorted it out.  That doctor cannot justify it by saying that not all ablations are successful because most are when they are performed correctly.  This one is a biggie mickey because they themselves may very well have done damage to your heart and that just isn't right.  I would seriously consider going to another doctor for a second opinion hopefully one in the next county that will not know your doc personally and find out what they heck they did to you especially if you have never had bradycardia before...a pacemaker is some pretty serious stuff my friend...do not leap here...get proactive and do your own research because you actually do have some control over your own life here and i would be darned if i would even consider going back to the same doc that caused the damage...never in a million years my friend and i would seriously be looking for retribution for this one...i am so sorry that this has happened to you and i hate reading stories like yours but there is something that you can do about it...take back control of your life Mickey and question absolutely everything and don;t let anyone touch your heart unless they have done at least 1500 procedures that are exactly or close to yours with no losses...good luck to you mickey........