Does your normal heart beat feel wierd after ablation?

[demps123]

Hello all

Just a random question that i have been thinking about for a while. Once you have had a successful ablation and your heart is beating at a normal rhythm does it feel wierd or different?
I've had this WPW since birth so i don't know any difference really apart from when i am having normal days. I'm presuming it will be just like having normal days with the odd etopic thrown in.

[JoKelly]

Thanks for the good advice and I suppose it will have to be a matter of mind training or else years could pass 'waiting for the next one'.  I shall book my trip if I am still clear after the two months episode free which UK seems to adopt.  I also want to lose some weight and get fitter in the interim, so this journey is a good encouragement to do all those things.  Fingers crossed!

[DeltaDawn23]

So glad you're all doing so well.  Gives me hope if I decide to do it.  I really am having a hard time imagining not arranging my life around Afib and what "might" happen.  Just got back from a trip -- the first in 2 years -- and am somewhat encouraged that maybe I can live a pretty normal life on meds.

[hesterbox]

I'm really looking foward to getting fit again and digging my garden.
Thanks for your encouraging posts in the forum.

[twinbee]

For me the difference between my heart beat before and after my ablation was huge. I remember waking up from the ablation and the first thing I noticed was that I could not feel or "hear" my heart beat. For years I was so use to feeling every beat, now nothing. It was kind of scary. I am now almost 5 years post ablation, and still in NSR. I do get an occasional PVC or PAC that I feel, but that is it.

[littlegreenman1]

My EP told me he did the procedure on professional athletes and gave them 2 weeks until **UNLIMITED** physical activity.

He gave me 2 weeks.  I started easy. Running up and down my street.  My daughter followed me on her bike with 9-1-1 dialed ready to hit "send." :)    No blips... maybe a "that feeeeels like it just might be a.... nope" every soooo often. After 60 days or so, once the heart really healed up I had NO BLIPS, nothing. After say 30 days once I got my legs back - I RIPPED IT. My Vo2 max HR is about 200. That kind of ripped it.

If you're not in shape now... go out there and get in shape. Don't waste the ablation as a "tide me over" to the EP's vascular partner. Another guy I run with (multi-marathoner) is a full open heart quint-bypass survivor.

Go rip it and live while you're living!!

[hesterbox]

Day 8- post ablation.
My heart feel much more 'normal' today. Normal for me that is. I'm not really aware of beats and it is more comfortable. I'm not feeling much burn right now. Gratitude.

[tom_h]

You're back!  Hope you're feeling better!  I guess I realize that I'm OK.  But the way my oft cynical, doubting mind works, the spectre of it is always lurking, and I suspect always will I guess.  Hey, it's only been two years since I (supposedly) got it fixed. (See, I can't help it!) 8-)

[demps123]

I've actually been wondering today how you can emotionally put it behind you and realise after a certain amount of time that you are now ok. After years of being careful how do you kbow that the dreaded svt wont came back. It's like you have to retrain your mind. Early days for me mind you, so will see how I go.

[tom_h]

Although I think about it a LOT less now, I still wonder if it's lurking.  I say this because I still get occasional "twinges" of my former SVT; 5, 6, 8 beat runs which always drop out.  I also think it has a lot to do with your personality.  I'm not an optomistic person, but am fortunate to have a spouse who is the extreme polar opposite and it balances me out nicely, or I'd be a real mess.  To some people, two years post ablation is a distant memory, and one more day free of it.  For me, it's one day closer to the possibly "the next one".  That still doesn't stop me from pushing it as I've always done in my life.  So far, so good.

[JoKelly]

The waiting period to see if it is a success - I wonder how long you do that before you can say it's over?  I so want to visit my daughter in USA but haven't dared to do this since it all began a couple of years ago.  I am now four weeks after ablation for PAFib, doing fine and will be cutting down meds for a further month and then if okay, stop taking Flecainide and Pradaxa after a total two month wait and a week on a Holter monitor.  

Providing I can get health insurance which doesn't break the bank, I plan to make the journey, but will still feel anxious it might not have worked. At what stage could a post ablation patient feel cured and relaxed or does reoccurence become a sword of Damocles forever?

[littlegreenman1]

In two weeks will run my fifth marathon on the new heart.
Use it... don't take it for granted.

[demps123]

That's ok, long and short term is always good to know about.

[hesterbox]

Oh silly me-I didn't read your question properly. You wanted to know about long term recovery.

[hesterbox]

My heart definitely felt different after the ablation. At first it felt relaxed and it was actually quite slow- in the 50's. Then in the evening of the 2nd day it changed. I was very aware of it beating and it felt less comfortable.
Since then  I've had lots of skippy beats throughout the days.
Now day 6 and it is becoming less obvious but it still feels a bit wierd and wounded when I focus on it.
I'm hoping I won't notice it once it has healed.

[littlegreenman1]

You will have weird beats after ablation. The heart is a little irritated and it will gently remind you of that for a couple months.

[demps123]

Lol that's good to know as I have ironed my super hero outfit.haha

[tom_h]

Doesn't feel any different after than before. You won't have any superpowers, be faster than a speeding bullet, or be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.  BUT!!.... you won't get SVT while trying to do all that stuff!!