Vagus nerve damage after ablation?

[laulasouth]

I am a 28 yr old female and had my second ablation for SVT in April 2010 and experienced extreme fatigue and weakness for weeks after ablation. My symptoms went away eventually only to return whenever my body is put under certain types of extensive physical stress. For example if I exercise more then 3 times a week my symptoms of weakness and fatigue return and last for weeks. I also experience pain in my chest and upper back as well as shortness of breath whenever this happens. My heart rate is well controlled with medication so I know this is not a result of SVT. I experienced none of these symptoms before my ablation in 2010. My question is if this is a result of vagus nerve damage since I was informed the area they ablated was located near this nerve. Is there any help for this type of nerve damage? I am 18 months post ablation and still suffering with these symptoms.

[noodleman]

  my wife had a cardiac ablation on June 11th.
Quite a bit of ablation was performed. She had terrible pain after 1 day and was continuously nauseous and had a bad gag reflex.
  She ran a low grade fever for weeks. She was hospitalized twice.
She had no appetite and could not eat. She was scoped twice for espohogus damage- None.
No answers. My son an his wife-who are doctors looked into it
and came up with the only answer we could find.
  Vagus nerve was affected. She is on stomach med for gastroparesis
and has been surviving on chicken broth with brown rice.
  Internet says this is very rare.
Question- will the nerve eventually repair itself to 100%

[maddie102684]

I would speak to your doctor about chronic fatigue syndrome

[Bromley]

BTW, be sure to factor in the possibility that the exercise could be making you tired.  If you are putting a lot of stress on your body, be sure to fuel up: watch your electrolytes and get plenty of carbs.  Learn when to rest too.  Also, I wouldn't expect too much from yourself for about a year after your ablation.

My opinion only.

[Bromley]

You need to see your doctor about the chest and back pain and shortness of breath.  There are potentially many causes of these sorts of symptoms, including normal recovery from ablation with some depression.  However, there are also some more serious possibilities as well. A qualified doctor is your best bet for sorting these problems out.

I am sorry to hear that you are having problems.  I had a difficult time of recovery after my ablation for svt, and can definitely relate to your situation.  The things that helped me the most were:

resuming moderate exercise

resume drinking of moderate amounts of caffeine (I stopped drinking coffee after the ablation, and I think this made me feel weak, especially since I wasn't sleeping well).

keeping a positive attitude (it is easy to obsess over heart ailments:  keep worry within reason, and be sure to get plenty of rest.)

I realize that a lot of people say they feel almost no affect of an ablation. I do  believe that the catheter ablation set me back.  It took several months before I started feeling myself again.

[grendslori]

I would call your GP on this one. It is not normal to go this long with those symptoms and an ablation would not be the cause for this. This doesn't sound like any kind of vagus nerve damage either. There are all kinds of issues that can cause the symptoms you are describing, everything from Fibromyalgia to deconditioning of the body. Pay a visit to your GP first to rule out these issues as well as something like anemia or asthma; he'll determine if a visit to the cardiologist is warrented  

[MichelleP_3811]

I had extreme fatigue and weekness to the point of barely being able to move when my svt went on too long a couple of times that only lasted a couple of days.  I believe this was stress on the heart and not vagus nerve related.  I would definitely go back to your cardiologist and find out if your meds are too strong.  If changing the meds doesn't help then ask for an echo and or stress test to make sure your heart is structurally sound.  Pain in your chest isn't something to ignore.  Take care and keep us posted on how you are doing.