Cardiac Ablation - side effects

[sj73]

Help!  My mom had cardiac ablation on Monday - was told it was a text book procedure - everything went well.  Her blood pressure has been good and her hart rate has been in the 70s no spikes in heart rate since procedure.  However, after 6 hours of resting in the hospital - she started to get burning pain in her chest and back.  Pain so severe she was given vicodin and three shots of morphine.  Today, is Wednesday - The pain is gone but she seems like she is on her death bed.  She was released from the hospital this morning but she has no appetite- can't get her to eat much - and she is beyond fatiqued.  I am extremely frustrated.  Any thoughts???


This discussion is related to PROBLEMS AFTER CARDIAC ABLATION.

[lankaman1]

I have WPW since birth and I am 51 years old. I played every sport and never let WPW hold me back. My episodes would just occur randomly at anytime without warning. Whenever I had a bad episode-random irregular arrythmia, I was useless,  just laid in bed for hours or days. I had the cardiac ablation procedure done in 1997 at Long Island Jewish Hospital and was in the OR for about 6 hours. Even though I was given anesthsia I could feel the burning in my heart during the procedure. My initial side affects were drowsiness and some discomfort in my groin area.  The doctor said that becasue I was very active helped me recover fast. Anyway I was almost 100% cured of WPW for over 15 years. I would have an occasional flutter but I could ride my bike for 3hrs, play basketball for over 3 hours and not have any episodes. The procedure did change my life for those 15 years. Fast forward to 2012 I have stepped up my exorcise routine and workout for an hour twice a day. I have started having arrythmia attacks again, mostly shot bursts - seconds in nature. A few have lasted over 30 minutes and those are the ones that concern me. These current episodes are different that what I had prior to abalation. My pre-abalation episodes were debilitaiting and very irregular - fast, slow, slow, fast, and lasted for long durations. So I am going back to the cardioligists and find out what has changed. I will keep you'll posted. But please do your homework and try and find the best dr. even if you have to travel out of state.
Kev

[Godworthy]

Thank you for your help. Really appreciate your spending time replying. I am very new to this community, just joined and am really looking for some answers and also people like-minded and 'soul mates' so to speak, sharing with me their problems.
I need to consider another ablation soon by this month perhaps as my arrhythmia is getting more frequent. This will be my 4th ablation and I am worried about the post ablation risks. I have an implanted ICD due to history of VT and a chain of ops that I don't know where to begin...In any case, thank you again for your assistance to allay my fears. I am taking a few more days to write down my concerns before I see my EP again with questions that I will ask before I take the plunge to do the ablation. It is for a rare problem, Junctional ectopic tachycardia. Any other thing that you might want to add is welcome. Many thanks.

[Smiley2000]

Hi there,

This is what you can expect from ablation:

You will get a sedative and will sleep through the procedure and when you wake up you will remember nothing of the procedure.  The procedure can take up to 5 hours, but it will feel like seconds to you.  Minimal pain and a bit of pressure in groin area (both sides) and you will not be able to sit up or walk for upto 6 hours.  You will stay for the night and be discharged in the morning.  If you take bloodthinners, you will need more observation post-op.  At your age I would suspect that you might have high bloodpressure and they will have to make sure that your vitals are normal before discharging you.  The groin area is normally a bit bruised but not very painful.  After about 7 days later you will not even know you had the procedure done.

There are risks with this procedure that they can burn of your normal electrical pathway and then you'll need a pacemaker.  Some people also develop Pericarditis post-op, but that is not as bad as it sounds as the treatment for that is Asprin and it normally goes away after about 24hrs.

I can remember waking up with this perfect, soft heart beat and never had SVT attacks again.  Definitely worth it!

Wishing you a very good outcome and speedy recovery.

[llisa1242]

I had a cardiac ablation 2 weeks ago.  I was aware the whole time.  I felt when they stopped my heart and involuntarily moaned, as it felt like dying.  The main pain for me, though, was that the doctor kept leaning on my bad leg the whole procedure. I had done physical therapy for 7 weeks to strengthen the muscles around my right knee after a dislocation (it is a replacement, and the doc was trying to avoid re-replacing it).  It was in good shape until the cardiologist leaned on it for over 3 hours.  I tried to ask him to get off it, but each time I tried to speak, they gave me more drugs, so I was incoherent.  But anyway, I felt pretty good the next day after the procedure.  Went to my nieces wedding 10 days after the procedure, and while I didn't dance, I felt up to visiting with relatives I seldom see and enjoying watching others dance. But now, 17 days after the procedure, I am exhausted, somewhat dizzy, and I do feel skipped beats fairly frequently.  He put me on half the dose of beta blocker I was previously on.  Don't know if that has anything to do with the way I feel or not.  It just seems weird that I feel worse now than even the day after the procedure.  Anybody else get worse instead of better?

[Godworthy]

It's good to have read your positive post regarding your ablation results. I had 3 so far and am going to do my 4th soon. Each one is due to different arrhythmia different areas. I am really afraid of the apparent side effects that one might face post ablation esp. when one gets on with age. I am 60 and have had 3 ablations in a space of 12 yrs and an ICD for 8 yrs.
Wonder if you could give any advice or suggestion as to how I should face this next challenge....I am at a dilemma.

[Smiley2000]

.Hi there,

I had SVT attacks and had successful Cardiac Ablation in 2007.  The cause of PSVT is normally an extra AV node and with ablation the Electrophysiologist does some Mapping, find the abnormal area and ablate or destroy it!

There are risks of failure or errors that can slip in, just make sure that you get it done by an Electrophysiologist and not a normal Cardiologist.  The Electro-doc specializes in the electrical pathways of the heart and the normal Cardio can do "plumbing and valves".

I have been SVT free since that day!  life is good :)

[doucin]

I am so sad to hear of all the problems from the ablations that some of you have. I have had SVT since I was 8 yrs old. I am now 55. I have learned to just live with it even though the doctor I went to wanted me to do the ablation.  He is the expert for this in my town but I know there are risks and I feel he's trying to make money off of me.  My sister also has SVT and wants to have the ablation even thought she's only had it 3 times.(same doctor)  I went to a doctor presentation on palpatations and this doctor said that ablation should only be done if SVT interupts you daily life and medicine doesn't work because once the electrical part is burned off, it can't be replaced.  Then it may have to be done again with more being burned off.  I feel I have made the right decision to hold off esp after reading this blog.  God help all of you heal.