Has anyones tachycardia got worse following ablation??

[emilo1215]

Hello,

I am a 21 year old female, I was having around 15,000 PVC a day and these started to lead to short periods of SVT. normally these only lasted around 5 seconds. At times I would have 1-2 minutes of tachycardia (normally about once a week). I have now had one right side ablation, during this ablation they found that the problem originated from the left. So two months and two weeks ago, I had a left side ablation. This worked amazingly the first 8 hours, I had no palpitations at all, I honestly don't think ive ever been so relieved and so calm (it's was so peaceful having a normal heart rate) . Then suddenly I my heart rate went up to 160 bpm and I was having palpitations every other beat all night, in retrospect it seems silly, but I generally thought that I would die. Since then I started getting much much more frequent periods of tachycardia, it started off once a week. But in the last two weeks its got to 1-3 times a day and in the last 4 days ive had tachycardia lasting everyday between 5-12 hours (only just left the hospital after a two day stay, with no solution but to spend all day lying down). I don't understand how it could have got so much worse? Could it be because the pathway re-routed around the scar tissue ( in this case is it possible to have a successful second ablation?). What Im terrified of is that somehow the tissue which was burnt has been activated and is now misfiring as well, so that a second ablation would be pointless. Can this happen? Please, please if anyone knows anything can you reply, I am so desperate and terrified. Thank you so much x

[emilo1215]

I have not been able to get in contact with  cardiologist since it started getting really bad. Though i've written to him today so hopefully I will get some answers.  When it started playing up in the first few weeks following the ablation he said that it might just be because the heart is inflamed. But as its been such a long time since the ablation, this now seems less likely. It gives me a bit of hope to hear that this may be a bit of a blip and my heart might go back to beating regularly :) ! Ye I think my cardiologist is particularly cautious, so he does the minimum amount of ablation, which doesn't happen to be enough!    

[emilo1215]

Thank you for replying :) ! I was told that the tachycardia was supra ventricular, sinus tachycardia and I had RF. Its reassuring that you don't think is the scar tissue causing the Tachycardia, as I guess that would make a third procedure pointless. I will definitely go for another ablation if it is possible to have one! I've written to the cardiologist today, hoping for some answers and to be put on the waiting list.  

[tom_h]

I went thru a terrible week of arrhythmia out of the blue about 6 months following my left side ablation for avrt.  At this point, I felt it was a failure.  But the arrhythmia vanished within a week, and 2 years later I'm doingwell.  In your case, I'd venture a guess and say something is not quite right.  If you had the same physician do both ablations and hecouldn't get it onthe second attemlt, I'd think it was time to try a new electrophysiologist. I'm curious though, what does he say about your situation?

[MichelleP_3811]

I don't know that anyone can say for sure why you are still having issues.  What type of svt did they ablate?  It sounds like wpw or avrt?   My svt would run into the 230s or more and was avnrt.  Did they do RF or Cryo?  From what I understand Cryo is not always as effective and ablations in younger people have a higher potential to correct itself due to your still growing body.  If that isn't the case with you and this is only an assumption but I suspect it is possible you had a secondary pathway that occurred after the other pathway got blocked creating a new issue for you or you may just have a second pathway that has flared up now after all the stress on your heart.  It is not unheard of for a person to have more than one extra pathways.  I also can see that it is possible you are experiencing some sort of sinus tachycardia due to the pvcs and possibly pacs you are having causing your heart to get all out of whack.  The best thing you can do is to rest your heart. It is not uncommon for people to have a significantly higher amount of ectopic beats after an ablation.  
Ablations irritate the heart and due to that the ectopics jump in but they should eventually calm down.  For you it seemed to trigger a new arrhythmia issue.   I would think once you get the new tachycardia resolved the pvcs will calm down as well.  But why or what this new issue is can only be diagnosed by a doctor.  And to be honest since you are having so many episodes I would consider trying the second ablation.  Usually they are very effective at correcting the issue if the first time didn't work.  It is likely they just didn't get it all or were not in exactly the correct spot so have faith that a second ablation will correct you for good and with some good rest your ectopic beat issue will go away as well.  But until then do take it slow and baby your heart as much as possible.  Also drink lots of water.  It will help your heart function better.  Hang in there and do keep us posted on how you are.