EP Study - How does it feel...?

[saba_adexec]

Hi All

I'm a 40 year old female, had one incident of unexplained syncope. After a lot of back and forth, the verdict is now an EP study. I do hear and read a lot about this procedure... however, so far I did not manage to get answers to some of my most important questions:

1.) Pacing
It seems I'd have to expect things like "atrial-, ventricular pacing etc." I know what it technically means but what do I have to expect? How does it feel? Anybody able to share his/her experience?

2.) Drug Testing
Something that really worries me is the drugs they'll infuse during an EP study... again anybody who can tell the story? How does it feel? which drugs are administered and for how long? Are there any risks associated with these drugs?

Thanks a million for your input - I'm really jittery about this... :-/

Saba

[ireneo]

I've had 3 EP studies and ablations. I wish I could tell you more about it but because of the happy drugs they gave me, I don't remember much.

They do check the electrical activity in the heart. In my case they wanted to trigger my arrhythmias so they could see where the errant signals began. I believe they used some medication to do that. I vaguely remember during the first ablation feeling my heart race. But it was no different, no worse than what I've experienced all my life.

I was given Versed to relax me and it has an amnesiac effect so after the ablations, most memories of what happened faded away within 24 hours. They also gave me fentanyl for any discomfort from the ablation part. All I felt when they first started the Versed was a floating feeling and I don't remember much after that.

Overall the medications were closely monitored and recovery was quick. I was eating and walking down the hallway several hours after the procedure. I couldn't drive but I was aware and responsive.

[saba_adexec]

Many thanks for your input... actually they told me that they wont give me any sedation as this may suppress the arrhythmia they want to reproduce.

The drugs I was mentioning are to speed up / slow down the heart rate (and god knows what else...)...

SInce I will be fully awake and present during the procedure I still wonder what to expect... :-(