has anyone had an ablation?

the sa i need an ablation and i wannna know has anyone dome it ?? is it painful did it work how long did it take and r u glad u did it or sorry??iam schelded for it on the 20 th ia about 12 days???? what do i do scared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they said if i can ttake the medication and dnt do the procedure i will have heart failure in 1 year!! iam only 55

[Anne919]

My father had an ablation done in 2006 for atrial fib.  He is so glad he had it done.  He has been in regular rhythm since then and no more meds.  He said he didn't feel anything and was alert.  He stayed over night and we took him home the next day.  It really was a blessing.  Try not to be scared.   I know it's easier said than done.  I suffer from anxiety and get scared just going for a regular check up but it really did help my dad.

[cindy707]

Whoa Patty a little nervous are you?  Yes i had an ablation and my 4 year anniversary will be on Oct. 5th.  I love Anne919's post because she pretty much simplified it.  So one thing at a time
1.  I had my ablation done for atrial fibrillation, SVT's, PVC's and a couple of other dittys and its been almost 4 years ago.
2.  Just to let you know we are the same age.  Was it painful?  For me no because i chose to have them put me into what is called a twighlight state with Versed an amnesia medicine that they put in my I.V. so that i would be awake and not remember a thing...and i seriously didn't remember a thing for even a couple of days after.  So as far as pain went no way...the worst was having to put cold ice packs on my sore groin area a couple of days later because i was hurting just a little not much but i consider myself to be a baby with pain of any type.
3.  Yes mine worked for the PVC's 100%, the atrial fib 95% and the SVT 100%.  The main thing is to ask the doc if you are in the 70% or higher range for success with the ablation and if they say yes go for it.
4. As far as how long it takes it ranges with people anywhere from 45 minutes to 10 hours so who knows.  For myself it took about 5 hours but my heart decided to give the doc a run for his money and trust me it had absolutely nothing to do with the ablation my heart just decided to ask the doc how much he really did know and tossed it all at him LOL and obviously i am still here so he passed the test and earned the big bucks he made from doing the ablation. On an average he told me that most ablations people are in and out within a couple of hours.  The ablation itself is very fast the long part is when the doc has to sit on the stool for about an hour and watch a large screen plasma T,V, and map out the normal electrical activity of the heart before he sets off the  abnormal electrical activity to zap it and fix the little spots.
5. Am i glad i did it...seriously i got my whole life handed back to me on a golden platter and like one of the posters said on another question/answer post..you never know how bad it was until its gone.  I do alot more now then i ever did even before the ablation.  If my doc said i had to go back tomorrow and do it again i would ask what time and i would be there.  I don't wish anyone having to live with any heart issues when an ablation is a cure not a treatment.
6. All i can say Patty is if your docs feel this is the answer why would you hesitate.  We were all scared until we got to the after part and like i always say an ablation is a heck of alot easier than a root canal ever was.  Its a no brainer and the chances of someone dying during the procedure are so remote its unbelievable.  
In closing...i can hardly wait for your post after you have it done Patty....because i know what you will say because we all have said it......like that country western song "What Was I Thinkin" or why was i so scared.  We are here for you and will be every day until the procedure for you...you can post, message members, there is no such thing as a dumb questions...just the questions we don't ask........

[candi65]

Hi Patty. Had my ablation past April,5 months out now and am sincerely glad I had it done. It was for Afib and pvcs. Still getting a few Pvcs but am still in the healing process and would do it again if needed. We are here for you.

[MollieRose]

Hi Patty, I had my ablation done 8-24-10 and I would do it all over again. I was having episodes of SVT that caused syncope (fainting) and of course, were just generally uncomfortable to bear. I haven't had a single episode of SVT and no fainting since the ablation :) I would definitely do it over again if I had to, I didn't even have to stay overnight, it was all outpatient. I had a few bumps along the way (had to take some antibiotics because my catheter site got infected) but it's not a common occurrence. I'm here if you have any questions about the procedure.

[chicky2001]

Patty, sweetheart, relax.  I just had an ablation Friday.  I was so scared I thought I would curl up and die
.
Not only did I have two places in my heart ablated, I also had a pacemaker put in.  When I was laying on the table in the cath lab I looked around at all the strange equipment.  I also talked with the great team working on me.  I just had a feeling of contentment wash over me and went with the flow.  I asked a lot of questions about the equipment and found it more than interesting.

Believe me they know you are scared and they will calm your nerves and baby you.   It's cold in a cath lab and they cover you with warmed up blankets.  It is a very welcome feeling.   Also once the sedation starts flowing time flies by and you feel good.  Love the sedation.  lol

God bless sweetie and you will be just fine.  I have been in a cath lab three times.  Once for a cadio cath, once for an EP study, and now this.  It was actually an enjoyable experience if you can believe that.  

[Mom2four85]

I'm curious why they think within a year you'll have heart failure if you don't have an ablation done?  What type and frequency of arrythmia's are you having that make them think heart failure is inevitable?

It's a very rare thing that you hear it will cause it...do they mean pvc induced cardiomyopathy? Even with that, with ablation and the right care some can reverse it.  I've only read or heard 1 person not reversing the CM.

[Mom2four85]

Patty, I read your other thread and am even more curious now.  I see you have 3,000 and I would question any dr who said I would have heart failure in a year at this amount.  Maybe you have other things going on? Are you symptomatic or have structural heart problems?

There are some of us who have 20,000 - 50,000 pvc's live with them and cope; some of us do not take meds or have surgery.  I was told much the same thing as you, but I suffered roughly 50,000 pvc's which did turn into CM, even then I got 2 other opinions and researched before I ever let them touch my heart.

There is much debate on what's considered "frequent" pvc's and what requires meds or surgery.  Typically dr's medicate anything between 6,000 - 8,000 pvc's daily and will look at surgery when you're around 15% of pvc's in a 24 hour total heartbeats.

Here's just one thread and the answer from a doctor here; but they answer tons of these questions monthly with basically the same answers - it deals with VT but it's the same thing with pvc's:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Heart-Disease/Idiopathic-Ventricular-Tachycardia-Ablation/show/1327314

"If your heart function is normal...The only thing worth assessing is the number of PVC's in a 24 hour period.  If it's greater than 15% of all the heart beats than there is a small risk of developing a PVC induced cardiomyopathy."

"We typically don't ablate PVC's unless they are symptomatic or if they are very numerous (great than 15%).  The VT isn't ablated unless it's sustained or very symptomatic with episodes of passing out or nearly passing out.  Sometimes it's difficult to induce the Vt in the lab but becasue the PVCs typically look like the VT we sometimes go after them" ...

[cindy707]

I just wanted to say that that was a super informative post...great job i didn't even know that 16% was the guideline...thank you.....

[jae4]

Hi Patty,
I had an Ablation and a pacemaker put in on June 8, 2010.  No pain for either.  Stayed overnight in the hospital.  I guess my heart is still healing because I have had more A-fib since then, than I've had in the last 9 years.  They took me off my meds, but then started me back 4 weeks post-op (Metoprolo ER).  I'm hoping it's a matter of time before my A-fib gets back under control with the meds.  Good luck to you.

[Mom2four85]

I ask WAY too many questions and then questions to the answers I'm given and WHY lol my doctors hate me hehehe

No way I was going to let some dr mess with my heart if it wasn't truely necessary and for a dr to say I was going into HF was unbelieveable.  It took 3 cardiologists & 2 ep's for me to be satisfied that I needed surgery and yes heart failure.  

There is a ton of info about ablation and meds - I was really shocked to find how many doctors disagree on appropriate care. I'm now on Cards #5 and EP# 3; and the thing I find is - they ALL disagree with each other about care; causes etc., so here I am again researching and asking my million questions.

This should be on the sticky up top of this forum; with links to all the doctors answers - because I think it's the most common question, or it seems to be. (maybe one day MH will listen to us posters :P)

[southerngirly]

Hello

I had an ablation for SVT last week 09/08/10 all seems to be going well right now, I've had some mild chest pain and mild heart palpatations which I am told is normal. I have no idea how many burns they did but I did expirence a few things while going through it. I was pretty much totally out however, I woke up in the middle of it and felt the catheters moving around in my child with some pain, I asked if this was normal and the nurse said yes, immediately they knocked me back out, then after it was over I was wakened by the nurse hurting me by pushing so hard on the area where the cath was at that I had to scream at her and tell her to stop!, on top of that I have a small burn near the cath area and when they removed it they left it laying on my groin area and I was snapped out of my sleep by feeling this burning pain which I had to scream out and I raised up trying to slap it off,  I remember saying OH MY GOD! other than that all was ok LOL.

[southerngirly]

Mispelling on Chest there, how I ended up with child, guess my typing *****! LOL

[LindaTX]

Hi, glad you're doing well and I was wondering what kind of catheter ablation you had and where you had it done?

[southerngirly]

Hey,

what I had was a Cardiac Ablation for the heart where they go in the groin areas with cathetors to locate the problem area, once they find the area that is malfunctioning they then burned the tissue in that area to stop the SVT, so far so good its been almost a month now, I go back for a check up in a few days, I had it done in Montgomery AL.

Kelly