scheduled ablation

[cpharr]

well...its officially that time.we had moved so i had to go through all the steps again to finding another EP.i am scheduled for my ablation july 21.i am sooooo scared.he says he is not sure if i have inappropriatte sinus tachycardia-av node-or wpw,but he's ruling out wpw due to it not showing on my ecg's.he thinks i have a combo of ist and avn.we shall see.he says the ist has a 80% success rate...so...here we go.
kind words and lots of prayers please!
also if anyone would like to share their experience that would be great.he said i will come in-do a ct scan on my heart-do the ablation-then i will stay at hospital over night on heart monitor-go home-2 day recovery then i can go about my normal life.

[heather490]

My name is Heather. I just found out today that I need to have an ablation done on my right side. This is the cause of all of my palpitations. I am very scared. I am very scared. I am only 31 years old. I take a beta-blocker called toporol xl and alot of it. Matter of fact I take 200 mg a day. Finally, I got tired of the palpitations and went and seen a good cardiologist. Here is my questions please everyone with experience tell me. First, are there meds that are usual that ppl take afterward the procedure. Second, is there anything that I need to be persistent about? Such as monitoring, meds, on and on. Also, I am so scared I can barely relax.

[chumley87]

The doc set me up for a PVI ablation for Afib today as well. I have mixed feelings about it.  I have paroxsymal afib and feel just fine most of the time but when it hits it usually makes me very tired.  My symptoms don't seem to be as bad as most here but it's still not something I want to live with forever and fear of kicking off an episode does effect what I will or won't do.  I just took my first dose of coumadin in prep for the ablation.  I'm really not looking forward to the next several months on anticoagulants.  I too would love to hear some success stories.  

[mabebesc]

Hi,
I had a successful ablation Aug.08 for AVNRT. All I can say is I know how scared you are because I was so scared before my procedure.  I honestly have to say that It really wasn't bad at all!   I was brought down @8am to The Ep lab and was back in my room @10:30   I went home the same day.I felt no pain at all. When they ablated the extra pathway, it felt like a mild burning.  All in all, if I had to do it over again, I'd
do it a heartbeat  (no pun intended!!!) Please feel free to ask me any questions.  Good luck!
Betty

[Jerry_NJ]

Remember too, not all ablations are the same in risk or difficulty.  An ablation for AFib is (I understand) done in the left atrium chamber, which is the most difficult to get to and work in. Twinbee must have had such an ablation.

My point is if your work is in the right side of the heart, as I think is the case for PVC, WPW, and some other procedures, you've got the easier one to go through.

[smconorm]

I am scheduled for an Ablation July 9th.  I am concerned also since I have never been admitted to a hospital and I hate needles!.  Even though this is somewhat elective in my case I decided to go forward with this based on the following:
  -The condition will get worse over time and all medication will fail eventually

[twinbee]

I had my ablation done in January 08 for a-fib and a-fluuter. Here is my experience,(remember everyone is different).
Went into hospital on a Tuesday morning, was immediately hooked up to a heparin IV as soon as I got to my room, had a heart CT done, then had a TEE done. The next morning, Wednesday, I had the ablation done. It took almost 8 hours. I was asleep 90% of the time. After the ablation I had to lay flat on my back for another 6 hours. At around 10pm I was able to sit up. The first thing I did was get up and walk to the bathroom. I had no real pain  or bleeding in my groin area. I did have alittle pain in my chest whenever I took a deep breath in, but this went away in a day or two. The only thing that really bothered me was my back. It hurt soo bad from having to lay flat for soo long. The nurses did give me some meds for my back pain, and it did go away in a day or two also. I was released from the hospital Friday night with a 30 day heart monitor. (I had to stay in hospital until my coumadin levels were ok). When I was released I felt so good that I went shopping. My limitations were not to pick anything up that was too heavy, and limit my stair use for a week. Also no strenous excercise for the first month. If I worked I was able to return to a desk job the next week. My recovery went very well. As of today I am still in NSR and off all meds. I do pray that you will have the same outcome as me. Good Luck with your ablation. Wishing you well, and wishing you enough...

[Jerry_NJ]

I am sure everything will go all right, and a 80% chance of success are good odds.  We'd all like 100% but the heart's electrical system is very complex.

The good thing about an ablation is it can "fix" the problem, that is you will not need to take medications the rest of your life, and better yet the ablation can fix rhythm problems that medication don't.