Hasn't my SVT ablation worked?

[OhNotAgain]

Hi

I found this site while googling looking for something to tell me why after 8 months my symptoms have been more frequent and intense.

Before my ablation for SVT I was going to casualty every 7 - 10 days and on 2 occasions I needed an injection to stop revert my heart back into a normal rhythm. After the ablation all I got was 5 rapid beats which became less frequent and all the things (which was everything) that set it off soon didn't have any effects at all. I would still at times get the feeling when it wanted to go off but it didn't or it would just be the 3 - 5 beats. I also have (don't know what it's called) and extra heart beat that seems more noticeable when I'm stressed and I also feel my heart jump. My heart jumping also settled down. I've had a few patches where my heart has gone off and for 5 days I had palpitations once a day and then another bad patch I had it wanting to go off 5 times in one day. Now each of these times have been under stressful circumstances. Now the last few weeks my heart hasn't been as settled and this past week I've had lots of symptoms. Not everyday, but several my had has had it's 3-5 fast beats and my heart is jumping several times a day and today those things like taking a deep breath, bending over and turning around quickly is making my heart either jump or have a few fast beats. I would have thought after 8 and a half months I wouldn't be getting these symptoms now? I am going through a very stressful time. My mum was diagnosed in January with secondary breast cancer and although she's doing really well and responding to hormone treatment it is still tough. I'm not getting enough sleep and my eating is all over the place. My heart this week has me worried sick that my ablation hasn't fully worked 100%. Even so I would expect no symptoms if the ablation had worked?

Thank you for your time

[BrokenH]

I can relate ! I had an ablation done Feb 17th 2014 for AVNRT. For some time things felt normal, I would also get the feeling from time to time that an attack was about to happen, but only a few fast hard beats and everything would go back to normal. My ablation was only 80% due to location. A few months ago I started feeling skipped beats, flip flops and flutters so this scared me. I made an apt with my cardiologist and he ran some tests. He was convinced my ablation was successful. He also told me that many ppl experience this after ablation and not to panic "easier said then done" PVCs and PACs unless I'm having 100's a day. He did give me Bisoprol 5 mg once daily when needed,but I find just having them on hand has reduced my symptoms.

[researcher09]

Last Friday, I played tennis with a friend that does arrhythmia screening for young atheletes.  We talked about the choices around where we live for sending young patients with SVT.  You would think that if someone puts a sign up that they are THE pediatric EP specialists in the area that he would know what he is doing.  The guy blew 5 cases where conditions worsened post ablation, in one case VT/VF.  Do yourself a favor when picking an ablation "specialist.  Make sure they are past the learning curve and have a lot of cases under their belt.  The more complex the cases the better.  The 5 cases were referred down to UC san diego and the EP down there could not believe how such simple cases are being screwed up.  Be careful out there.

[tom_h]

A fact often overlooked by the patient is the mechanism for your SVT, whether it's an accessory path like what is found in AVRT, or a reentrant path found in AVNRT is still present.  Only a barrier of non-conductive scar tissue is preventing the path from conducting again.  If a little thread of tissue remains, or if conductive tissue cells begin to reform, conduction will again commence.  4 years after my ablation, I still get occasional runs of SVT, perhaps 6 to 12 beats before it drops out to NSR.  I look at it as a fact of life now, and I don't worry about it.  This may be how it's going to work for you.  Give it a year to settle down, and mention it to your cardiologist on the next visit.

[MichelleP_3811]

I understand your concern but truthfully mine took a full year to see any significant change and then another year before I started to have days when I didn't feel anything.  Some people have ablations and they are free from all symptoms right away while others are sometimes left with an ectopic beat issue.  For me the little runs I can get, similar to what you are feeling, are really just a run of ectopic beats in the atria and not my svt.  I can't say for sure what you are feeling but your symptoms sound exactly like what I have gone through and stress in my life did not help my situation either.  As well your stomach may be causing some of the symptoms too.  But I do need to ask when you feel what feels like tachycardia is it the same or not quite?  I get the sensation like my heart will go off but when I do get a run it isn't the manic feeling like I had with my svt.  It is just a rapid sensation.  

Anyways, I wish I could tell you that your symptoms will totally go away but they may not but with more distance they should improve and if you can work on your stress, avoid caffeine and pay attention to any stomach issues it should help calm some of the jumpiness down.  I honestly can't say why some of us wind up with worse ectopic activity after an ablation but in the whole scheme of things it isn't as hard on our heart as the svt was.  This all said, you may want to make an appointment with your ep just to see what they say about your situation since everyone is different and I can't say with absolute certainty what is going on with you but your symptoms sound exactly like I have experienced if that gives you any peace of mind.  Take care.