Ablation question

[Sue143]

Hello again. I'm 38, good health. I've had palps. for almost 7 yrs. In July I had a-fib for the first time. It was stopped by a Cardizem drip and I haven't had a-fib since. I had another echo, blood work and Holter monitor. Blood work and echo normal. The Holter shows PAC's and atrial tach. My Dr. thinks the atrial tach. is what triggered the a-fib. I had been taking beta-blockers but they increased my palps and caused my BP to drop too low. so they stopped them.
He sent me to an EP dr. and he said I would be a good candidate for an ablation. He said I could take anti-arrhythmia meds but he didn't recommend them because they may not work and they have a lot of side effects. He said if the PAC's were coming from the same  arrhythmia then they would be gone too if I got the ablation. But he said if my heart was quiet the day of the ablation, then they wouldn't be able to find anything.
He said this won't kill me and I can live with it, but he worries that over time everything will get worse and they'll have a hard time keeping me out of a-fib.
I feel like I have no other options but an ablation. He told me all the risks and I have 2 small children so I don't want to take any risks I don't need to. Are there any other options for me? Is it really possible to get rid of the PAC's? I've read how everyone else still has palps after an ablation.
He told me not rush and think about it and call him if I want to schedule. Is there anything else left for me?

Thanks, Sue

[glassheart46]

I just had an ablation for atrial tachycardia and frequent pac's.  My atrial tachycardia would come on only once in a while like youself but my pac's were very frequent and prior to the ablation they were 24/7.  My ablation was a success.  The ep doc got them all as they were very active as it sounds like yours are.  It was not near as scary as I thought it would be and I was only in for 2 hours.  I decided on the ablation because I did not want mine to turn into a-fib which is a much more dangerous arrhythmia.  I hope this helps you decide.  If you wish to email me my address is:
    ***@****

Take care!

[Scared in Ky]

I am scheduled for an ablation the tenth of Novemeber.  I had a holter monitor that revealed bigeminy and pvc and a non sustained run of vtach.  I had a heart cath it came back good.  I however do have mitral valve prolapse its moderate to severe with no to mild reg.  I have been on sotalol which made me bradycardic.  I am now on Tambocor it seems to help some but my heart rate sometimes goes up to 153.  I feel so bad I pretty much stay in bed all the time.  I am scared to do the ablation and I am scared not to.  Is there any other medicine that might help.  Maybe I am just overly anxious....I am on xanax and my sister passed away back in May.  She was only 33 and they say she died from a seizure.

[BJo]

Hi Alice,  My husband had successful RF ablation for A-flutter about 4 years ago at a well-known teaching hospital in the east.  At that time he had both A-flutter & A-fib.  The head EP told him up front, "I can cure your A-flutter but not your A-fib."  According to our local cardio, there is now a possible cure for his paroxysmal A-fib.  Would you mind to contact me & let me know about (what I assume) was your pulmonary vein isolation ablation that you had done at CC.  My email addy is: ***@****.
Thanks Alice,
Betty Jo

[arthur]

The risks have gone down from about 2-3% complication rate a few years ago, to 0.1% (according to the post above).  If true, I doubt the risk can get any lower...so the question is whether you can put up with the irritation of occassional afib, or if in fact, the afib poses an additional risk by becomming permanent and leading to a greater likelihood of clot formation and stroke.

I understand that chronic afib is much more difficult to cure via ablation than paroxyzmal afib (PAF), because of gradual physiological changes (remodeling) that occur in the cardiac tissue.  The possibility of a cure remains, however, it's not as high a success rate as for PAF.

Some EPs insist on a preliminary procedure which establishes the protocol necessary to induce the arrhythmia.  In this way, on the day of the actual ablation procedure, the EP has a better chance of inducing the arrhythmia for ablation.  Without this preliminary step, you simply take the chance that it won't show up when you're all wired up, which could be disappointing.

-Arthur

[Sue143]

Thank you so much for your insight. You are always so helpful. Right now I am in agreement with you. Unless it gets so unbearable to live with I'm willing to just live with it for now. They said the risks are 1 in 1000 of a possible serious complication. I would like it to be better than that if there's no guarantee that it will work in the first place.

Thanks again, Sue

[Sue143]

Hi Alice, I'd love to chat with you. My email is ***@****.
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks, Sue