skipped beats and tachycardia after ablation

[annie2417]

I had a catheter ablation for avnrt 5 weeks ago.  I am still experiencing occasional skipped beats and also some rapid beats (2-8 in a row) that feel like the old svt. These rapid beats occur about every other day.  Today I also felt several irregular beats before starting into several seconds of what felt like svt. Is this normal?    Could the irregular beats have been several skipped beats in a row?   They only lasted a few seconds, but I had an episode of a-fib a few weeks before the ablation, which the ep felt was probably caused by the svt, so I am worried that the short irregular beats could have been a-fib again. I know that skipped beats and rapid heart beats can occur for a few weeks after the ablation, but I'm getting concerned that this is going on too long.

[annie2417]

Well I called the doctor's office again this afternoon and asked if I could please come in and get the monitor today, because my heart was going crazy and I wanted to capture it on the monitor.  Was afraid if I waited til tomorrow it might have subsided. They were extremely accomodating and had me come in and get hooked up today.  Then the nurse also did an ekg while I was there to get an immediate reading of what was going on, which I really appreciated. I was having a ton of PACs, but blessedly not atrial fibrillation.  That was a huge relief!  But I was getting several PACs every minute, which was not very pleasant.  I wonder now if the "17 svt beats" that I thought I felt earlier were actually a run of PACs.  Can you get that many in a row??  Not sure!  As much as I don't want to get another run of svt-like beats, I am really hoping it happens again over the next 48 hours so it is captured on the monitor.  The PACs have stopped after a solid run of about 4 hours.  Not sure what that was all about, but the nurse did say that some people get them from caffeine.  I have not had caffiene in 15 years cause of the svt, but I met a friend for breakfast this morning and had a large cup of decaf coffee and I know sometimes at restaurants I always wonder if it is really decaf!  Maybe that's what did it.  I think I'm done drinking even decaf coffee after this!

[debbier]

Glad the dr accomodated you.  Don;t drive yourself to crazy trying to figure out what the trigger was.    Hopefully its just PAC/PVC's and not SVT.    The heart does crazy things as it heals.  If things persist maybe they can maybe give you a beta blocker while the heart heals.   I was placed on Atenolol at my last visit he told me to get off of it but right now its my safety blanket that I am not ready to give up.  I tried but had a run of SVT due to trying Zyrtec and decided I am staying on it a while longer.  Its mental at this point.   Good Luck with the monitor, I hope you capture the problem.

[cindy707]

Hi Annie i am weighing in too...i had my ablation 3 1/2 years ago for the exact same thing that you did and went thru the exact same thing.  I panic 'd any time i felt anything and then my doc put it into perspective for me telling me tht the human heart beats over 100,000 times in any day at a minimum so that cleared that up.  They actually had me use the cardionet instead of the monitor so i could press it to my heart the second tht the episodes popped up and it went straight to a 24 hour service that notified the doc if anything looked weird.  I could have sworn it did but hey what do i know.  Like Debbier they put me on a low dose of antenolol to get me thru the rough patches and told me to give it up to six months and as each day goes by it will become less and less and less....that i had to be patient because my heart was relearning the right way to have the electrical activity flow and to beat in mind that my heart was no doubt still angry at me from being poked, prodded and penetrated and then zapped!!!  They were totally right day by day it got to be a little bit better until the day came where i had a run of about 3 days and suddenly remembered that i couldn't feel my heart anymore what a shock that was...and i think the docs office was glad they weren't mistaking me for a plant anymore and tried to water me LOL because i sat my fanny in there office every time something popped up....you can bet i sent them a huge bunch of flowers after the 6 month mark and i now have my life back...patience, patience, patience...if they said they got it they did....don't wait a bomb to go off that never will and just so you know...decaf coffee has caffeine in it.....good luck we are all here for you....

[Darlingorla]

Hi Annie - I had an ablation 11 days ago and like you I have had some 'runs' whereby my heart feels somewhat like a yo yo ... I checked with my EP and he says its normal ... a lot of people here confirm the same ...  Since I stopped monitoring my HR I feel a whole lot better.  You can check your pulse just by simply placing your index finger on your wrist (pulse) take a 10 second count and multiply by 6.  I think it is under-estimated just how psychologically damaged people with arrhythmia become.  It takes time to come to terms with the fact that it takes time to get over the trauma of SVT's etc.  Ending up in the ER via ambulance, Adenosine, cardioversion, it all takes its toll.  I just hope you have understanding people around you to support you.  I do and I have never felt so loved and understood in my whole life.  

Take care, it will get better for you, and for me!

[annie2417]

Thank you all for your support!  I really appreciate hearing all of your stories!!  It helps me to know that I am not the only one who has had this happen.

Kinda funny.....today I am really hoping my heart goes into one of its little svt-like runs while I am on the monitor.  I want the doctor to be able to see what is happening with me.

Debbier, hearing that Zyrtec brought on a run of svt in you after the ablation leaves me kind of wondering just how "cured" we all really are after an ablation. Obviously certain medicines would trigger the svt before the ablation, but I thought that was all supposed to be behind us once we were "fixed."  That's like me yesterday....went to Panera and had a cinnamon crunch bagel and large decaf coffee and as I was ordering I was thining, wow, this order would have thrown me into svt before the ablation!  Well guess what...it did anyway.  So what happened to the 98% cure rate or whatever I was quoted by the doctor before I had it done???  Sorry to sound negative, but I guess I'm still just kind of down today.  I expected to be well and have all this behind me by now.  Maybe I should go have a large cup of caffeinated coffee and really get my heart going for the monitor!!! (just kidding!)

[MaryLL]

I can relate to how you feel about "wondering how cured we all really are." After my ablation, my doc told me there were complications and I might have to stay on my meds the rest of my life! He said that would be considered a success and if I had felt better (he said this RIGHT after the ablation) I would have hollered at him. Part of the reason I had the ablation was to get off the stinky meds.
But, almost 6 weeks in, I can tell you that I feel so incredibly much better, higher energy, emotionally awake, that I'm going to be grateful even if I have to stay on the meds, which I hope I don't.
My doc quoted a 75% cure rate, with 23% having to have an ablation done more than once. I was afraid to ask about the other 2%! Because mine had complications, he was only able to ablate 95% of left atria and none of the right. But it seems to have made a huge difference and I'm going for that.
You will relax, I still get nervous sometimes. It does get better day by day is my experience. And when you really start to feel good, you begin to realize how horrible you felt pre-ablation.
Take care!