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PVC's after ablation
by LovedOneSuffers, Jun 18, 2008 11:45PM
My husband recently went through a cardiac catheter ablation...his 2nd attempt finally produced arrhythmia's in the lab, and the dr was able to ablate 2 locations. Within 2 hours after the completion of his procedure, the PVC's began...and became very frequent. Sometimes as close together as every other beat. This has continued and remained at this frequency and we are now about 31 hours post ablation. His dr prescribed metoprolol XL, which did nothing to help the situation today, so has changed to Rythmol. My husband has the misfortune of being able to feel every flutter, PVC, pause, everything--which we've been told is rare, most people who experience them don't even know they're happening--makes me wonder if many patients have this post-ablation and just do not know it. I've read that some people after ablations do experience palpitations or PVC's or abnormal rhythms that eventually decrease over a few weeks, that sometimes meds are needed then tapered off and all is well....but I've also read that sometimes these things persist despite a "successful" ablation procedure. At this point, we're looking for how common is it to experience this?
What time frame can the PVC's persist? How often is medication needed temporarily then taper? Can they be occurring because of needing to heal after the ablation? Are they only occurring because there is an un-ablated area causing disturbance? Does anyone know a good resource to locate more info on the subject? (Many places I've searched only comment on the wound site and chest discomfort post-op, not the rhythm after affects).
What time frame can the PVC's persist? How often is medication needed temporarily then taper? Can they be occurring because of needing to heal after the ablation? Are they only occurring because there is an un-ablated area causing disturbance? Does anyone know a good resource to locate more info on the subject? (Many places I've searched only comment on the wound site and chest discomfort post-op, not the rhythm after affects).
Post Comment
Harry
Does the cardio think it will settle down? What was the ablation for?
i had a ablation for svt 12mths ago and before that i did not feel any pvcs and while i had the pathway ablated i was left from the night after the ablation with pvcs .i still have them all the time .my cardio thinks i had them before just did not notice them and they started going into runs {svt} i am going for a another study in a few weeks to see if they can ablate again cause i am having runs again.
it can take a while for the heart to settle down and heal after the ablation esp if he was on meds before.i was on a lot of meds before mine and all were stopped straight away and i think it did not help me
i know for me they say the rhythm or electrial side of things is trying to go the route it was going when it went into a svt run and because that area is now blocked partly i get pvcs if that make sence.i find it confusing.i will say after my ablation after a couple of weeks things did settle down and altough i now have the pvcs and sometimes svt run it is not as bad as it was.
give it time
hope that helps
It's now been close to 6 months and I can now honestly say that I have finally started to feel better - been two weeks and that's the longest I've gone without a set-back. I'm now in sinus rhythm more than I'm in arrhythmia. As strange as it sounds, it feels weird to be feeling normal again.
Does your husband have a follow-up appointment with the EP? Maybe it would be a good idea for him to discuss what he should expect post-procedure.
Were you ever on anxiety meds? If so, did they cause any PVC's?
My husband is about 5 weeks post-ablation...he's still taking Rhythmol 225 mg twice daily per EP's instruction. He's supposed to start weaning down to 1, then two weeks later down to 0 to see if it worked. But since he's still having PVC's he's wondering if he should bother? Could it be they will eventually still go away unmedicated?
He had the ablation for NSVT, and MANY pvc's, at times was in bigeminy or however you spell that word...every other beat....
His EP felt confident the 2 places they ablated were the source of his NSVT and PVC's....he kept feeling little half-palp's post-procedure, which sounded like a good thing...as it heals it's relearning a new pathway, and it can still try the old one but be unsuccessful.
They're full PVC's, sometimes many in a day, sometimes none. But there are few days that say 0 on the calendar, so most often they're still there....
Have you experienced this? Has anyone else or does anyone know of anyone else who it took more than a month post-ablation to get the PVC's to go away?
Searching for answers....of course the EP reminds him he has a choice...if he can't live with palps we can medicate (which he's doing now but still having them, so we'd up the dosage back to what he was at BEFORE the ablation), do nothing and he deals with how annoying and disruptive they are, or try the ablation again.
Oh, and they're worse in the heat and while he's walking and talking at the same time...any ideas?
Thanks a million
We absolutely understand your choice to back away from arrhythmia "shop talk". In can be all-consuming for sure...
I have taken anti-anxiety meds and although, they do not suppress the PVCs, they offer a calming effect. It is more of a band-aid than a treatment, so I am/was careful not to rely too much on them. I take 1/2 of a .25mg tablet of Xanax as needed and find it helpful. I no longer have frequent PVCs, but there are times, like when I travel by air, when they may kick up a bit. For those times, I can take the Xanax. In my case, the medication does not cause PVCs.
It is not unusual for the PVCs to take months to settle down. I was told I could take a beta blocker when I needed/wanted post-ablation. Your husband's heart has been irritated by the poking and prodding, and it will take some time for it to heal.
My ablations were also for frequent PVCs, NSVT. Did his doctor mention the possibility of additional procedures? I was multi-focal and I knew it might take more than one procedure. I ended up with 2 ablations and it has made a world of difference. Yep, it's bigeminy (you got it right...) and I can recall being in bigeminy for 6 hours on Christmas Eve (my 2nd procedure was 11/7) and shortly after that they settled down for good. (The first ablation was 8/1)
Is he still having very frequent PVCs? Has he worn a monitor to try and capture the actual frequency?
Yes, I had PVCs for a couple of months post ablation. After the first one, I had daily (frequent) PVCs. After the second, it lasted a couple months. "Sueinns" (posted above) had PVCs for about 6 months. Try not to get discouraged....You might want to check with the doc about a monitor so you can quantify the activity.
Connie
Searching for answers....of course the EP reminds him he has a choice...if he can't live with palps we can medicate (which he's doing now but still having them, so we'd up the dosage back to what he was at BEFORE the ablation), do nothing and he deals with how annoying and disruptive they are, or try the ablation again.
Oh, and they're worse in the heat and while he's walking and talking at the same time...any ideas?
Thanks a million
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