WPW Ablated, now have exericse induced AFIB?

[Jingo229]

Just over a year ago I was diagnosed with WPW after several years
of having episodes of rapid irregular heart beats. The WPW was
successfully Ablated and I thought all of my worries of heart arrhythmia
were over.
Now it seems that whenever I exercise when tired, or I try to push just
a little with any activity, I get dizzy, slightly short of breath and my heart
rate does not slow down as it should when activity is stopped. There are
even times when this doesn't start until 1/2 hour or an hour after exercising
and then last for about an hour.
Recently I took my BP and HR when having one of these attacks and my
BP was 90/60 with a HR of 115 (my normal HR is about 65 and BP about
120/70)  Whenever I had a monitor on when this happened it never detected
any arrhythmia, only a rapid pulse. Could it be exercise induced AFIB?

For the record I am 52, a former top notch athlete with no other heart problems.
I know my body and I know something is not right. Before the WPW was finally
caught,Docs were telling me it was only PVC's and nothing to worry about, I knew
my body and knew something wasn't right. I feel the same way now but cannot
catch what this might be.
Any thoughts or suggestions?  I just want to be able to exercise again without
having to worry about passing out, or worse.

[itdood]

Personally I don't think it's afib based on the rate, but I'm taking a wild guess.  A-fib tends to make a pulse erratic.  The rate will jump all over the place literally in a heart beat.  The reason for this is that the chaotic signals coming from the atria will travel down the AV node and fire the ventricles. When in a-fib the atria can be hitting 300+ bpm (technically they aren't beats).  The AV node has some natural blocks built in so that all the signals don't get through, *usually*.  What this means is that the rate will jump around at about 1/2 to 1/4 of the chaotic impulses coming from the atria.  If this natural block were not in place the ventricles will hit higher rates.  

Bottom line, get on a holter monitor to see what's up.  There's no way to tell without seeing it on a strip.  

[cindy707]

After we have an ablation it is pretty normal for us to have a low blood pressure and lower pulse rate...its the end result of the ablation which is a good thing other than what could have been i think.  I mean if you are experiencing these symtoms while exercising i think it fits that you would have a lower blood pressure and a higher heart rate but like my heart surgeon always said in most cases of the heart other then heart attacks when we have rhythm issues they normally happen at rest.  I know i had my ablation four years ago now and my doc told me i was good to go back to the gym and have with no issues but he did warn me that over time other areas or bad spots could pop up and that i may need a "tune up" to catch them and maybe that is what is happening with you.  I know that feeling tho of feeling the fear of it coming back and getting progressive but from what i understand it really doesn't because they have blocked the pathways and re routed them for the benefit of electrical firing.  I would probably not try to take a guess at this but as tom says go see the doc and let them decide what is happening with you so that you can get it taken care of.  I do know as most of us do that it takes up until the six month mark to know if its a success however i don't think i ever asked the doc how long until errant runs stop with our hearts.  I know over the four year period i have had a couple of episodes but that is about it..they were random, they were dealt with, i moved on ....good luck on your fact finding mission and i hope you get the answers you are looking for....

[tom_h]

As a newly ablated and former WPW brother, your story really makes me sit up. The hurdle I had to overcome to accept the procedure was in knowing the I had a stable controllable condition.  My fear was and still is if anything will happen after I'm done healing that I won't be able to control.  Your situation seems to fit that scenario.  My advice would be to get to your cardiologist asap perhaps for a stress test where they can get you going and monitor you. I hope it works out for you.