1 month post ablation

[kimh198]

I had an ablation done about 4 weeks ago to correct my WPW. At this point I am still having intermittent chest tightness and shortness of breath/discomfort. Has anyone else experienced this? I followed up with my cardiologist and he said that my heart is swollen from the procedure and these symptoms I have could last up to 3 months post surgery. I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this after an ablation. My doctor saying it is normal helps some, but the surgeon that did the procedure said I would be 100% in 3 days. I ended up being out of work just over a week and really wasn't ready to go back when I did.

Thank you

[kimh198]

Thank you. It makes me feel a little better to hear I am not the only one feeling these symptoms. It really scares me when my chest gets tight. As much as I say I will be good about keeping a dose in me of advil, I am not good about taking it until the tightness hits and then well its too late. When it is tight it is very tight and all I want to do is take a deep breath to get rid of it and I can't... I get very short of breath and then on top of it I get anxious, which doesn't help.

[BobRBob]

I had a PVI ablation done on Aug 31, coming up on 3 weeks ago. The first week or so was pretty rough with runs of a-fib and shortness of breath and fatigue. My EP said I'd be fine after a few days but I think everyone is different. At this point, I have been in NSR for 9 days but I still don't have normal energy. My heart still flips around a bit from time to time and there's a bit of ache in my chest. Nothing too bad. I'm thinking at this point that it's going to be a while before it's back to normal. Also, I've been told to keep taking my Metoprolol and Propafenone for 6 weeks. The Metoprolol makes my heart beat very slowly now and it's not comfortable. Not sure what the Propafenone is doing but I don't like it much. I'll be glad to get off of them but I'm a bit apprehensive of stopping them cold turkey.
So far, I'm happy with the outcome of my ablation but I'm not healed yet.

[tom_h]

Yes, we all seem to have experienced some level of discomfort during recovery.  The fact that they puncture the septum between the atria to get to the left side also increases healing time.  WPW is a form of AVRT.  I had an SVT in this family as well referred to as Circus Movement Tachycardia.  You will feel tightness, breathlessness, and "heartache" for a while.  I found that Advil helped immensely.  Also, expect some arrhythmia for a while; skips, short tachy runs are common.  At 10 months post ablation, I still get some brief runs, and this past summer had nearly 2 weeks of terrible PAC's and PVC's.  They eventually vanished and I've been fine since.  I hope that give you some idea of what to expect.