anxiety after ablation

[AmitPurd]

I am a 33 Year old male. Working as Project Manager in IT. I have Ebstein Abnomaly which was detected when i was 15 years old. Since then i have been on Cordarone/Amiodarone(100 mg) 5 times a week

One month back i went to do an Ablation to fix palpitation which i was having on the suggestion of doctors. But now it seems that instead of fixing my problem it has been gone worse.

I have regular palpitation although i am on Cordarone 200 mg daily and also sometimes i feel as if my heart skip beats.

I did a ECG recently during and after the palpitation. During the palpitation the interpretation was Accelerated Junctional Rhythm. After the palpitation the interpretation reads Sinus Rhythm,etc....

I have sent the ECGs to the doctor who did the Ablation and i was told to wait for his analysis.

These things are worrrying me as i do have a clear picture of whats happening, have they damaged my heart? Do i need a pacemaker?

Please help
Amit  

[Bromley]

I think both perspectives probably have some truth in them.  The most dramatic effect should be on the circuit that they burned open, shouldn't it? If things work right, it should be basically gone right away, correct? However, over the ensuing weeks, the tissue recovers, perhaps regrowing new tissue or repairing damaged tissue to some extent.  The heart muscle may beat in a different way, and it has to get remodeled/redeveloped too. You may initially notice differences, but over months adapt to the change.  My guess is the whole process takes 6 months. But the circuit is burned during ablation, so whatever they went after should basically be gone right away.

This doesn't take into account your use of Amiodarone, and I dont think anybody that has posted on this thread has taken that drug for their issue (I could be wrong).  This change things I think. The effects of this drug could introduce some confusing feedback that could be mistaken for what is going on with your recovery.

I would suggest talking to your doctor, just to be sure they dont need to adjust your prescription. I am sure they would appreciate hearing from you and having the opportunity to help you. And I  dont think there is any need to wait. You are entitled some post surgery help, and/or a little peace of mind and reassurance from your doctor.  Good luck.

[jaspers]

Hi Amit,

Glad you have found Some comfort from the responses.

In my previous response you will see I have has two ablations and both times I was told to expect rhythm disturbances up to 6 months. What the cardiologist did say was the fast heart rate I was being ablated for should not return.

You will find if you search this site many people who have had ablations and like us have all suffered with irregular beats etc after ablation for quite some months. You may even find my post from last March after I had mine with the same worry!

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[AmitPurd]

Thank you all very much for reassuring me.

One cardiologist ( who did the ablation) mentioned that it may take some time to heel may be around 3-6 months.

When i was having the palpitation, i went to see another cardiologist who mentioned i am not supposed to have palpitation after the ablation.

From there i was confused, you don't know to whom to listen and i want to go and see another cardiologist for a third opition of whats happening.

Thank you all once again

[Bromley]

I read that many people with Ebstein Anomaly also have WPW. But Amiodarone may be used to treat ventricular arrhythmias. Here they may have also increased you medication post ablation for some reason.

This problem is sufficiently complex that a doctor's advice will be advised.  No doubt he or she would welcome your feedback if you are having symptoms or problems, and would care enough about you to respond to your concerns in earnest.

If it were me, I would call and ask to speak to the doctor to get a perspective on all of this. There is no need to wait. Or wait a little is OK, but not long. Seems like you are entitled to some peace of mind here.

[cindy707]

Do not panic here ...it is as jaspers said exactly..i too had an ablation a couple of years ago and the first couple of months were pretty tough...it takes time Amit after the procedure for your heart to calm down.  You have to remember that it was poked, prodded, penetrated and zapped during the procedure so one month after your procedure it is very common for you to still be experiencing random episodes w. your heart.  The docs don't even know until the 90 day mark if it was a fail or not and many times they wait up until the 6 month mark.  Do not lose hope here...you are going thru what we all did and your heart has to revert back physically after having all of those things done to it because no doubt it is still alittle swollen.  This is not to even mention that the heart has to retrain itself to go back to generating the right electrical paths and not go back to the old way which was the bad way...for alot of us what happened is we experienced what you did and each week the episodes would become less and less until the day came when we no longer could feel our hearts and that was the good day believe me.  As far as a pacemaker goes...most times docs put them in people where they get something called bradycardia or an EXTREMELY low pulse rate or there had been an interruption in the normal way that your heart is meant to beat and that happens sometimes if the doc accidently hits the sinus/AV node of the heart which is basically the brain of the heart ...it happens very very rarely Amit so get the pacemaker thing out of your mind here..patience is a virtue with this one my friend and do not panic..many of us have been there and done that.....relax a little and i too was put on a low dose of antenolol after my ablation to help me thru the rough spots and it helped relax my heart and made the crazy episodes subside until the heart did what it was supposed to do and that took about 4 months...do not lose hope you are on the mend Amit.......good luck

[jaspers]

Hi,
I had an ablation for SVT last March, within a month a to was experiencing the worse skipped beats and PVC's which in total took a further 3 months to calm down.

This was my second ablation as the first did not work and with the first I had none of the rhythm issues I had with second. I was terrified that they had caused a new arrhythmia.

I went back on a beta blocker for a few months in order to help with the skipped beats etc and that helped while the heart healed. I also took fish oils and magnesium and this also helped.

My cardiologist explained that it can take between 3-6 months for your heart to heal, some people have only started to sustain a regular rhythm a year later.

I like to think that the reason I had no rhythm disturbances with the first was because they did not ablate all of the problem areas as they should and this time it worked and hence the heart hiccups that followed.