Ablation 6 years ago now runs of AFIB, need advice

Hello once again to all you folks here, I was active here years ago prior to my ablation and was so thankful for all of the feedback and great advice I received here. Many of you were very helpful to me along the way especially Jackie!!! My ablation was in 2011 and outside of a few breakthroughs over the years I have been great. The breakthroughs I have had have all been while I was sleeping and awoken me from sleep. They have all been cured with the PIP using Cardizem and Propafenone normally within a few hours or less.

The past few months have seen a sharp increase in the recurrence of AF, more than ten times in the past three months. Although all of the events have still been handled by the PIP it seems to be looking more and more like a second procedure is in my future.

Since my ablation I have been a regular coffee drinker both day and afternoon/evening, and I drink beer and wine. Prior to the ablation I was a triathlete and competed in various endurance events as well as daily training on duty as Firefighter. I will admit that since the ablation I have not done a whole lot of cardio and exercise thus I have gained 25-30 pounds. My diet is all over the map but bottom line could be better.

My EP here in La Jolla, CA Dr. Feld has scheduled me for a sleep study but says that ultimately a second ablation might be the best option.

My question to all of you is, is this the right course of action or could I avoid a second procedure by getting back in shape and cleaning up my diet?

Thank all of you again in advance for your input!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2018 07:42PM by Sean G.

Hi Sean G, sorry about your troubles. I'm similar in that I was always very athletic. Still active but not athletic. I shy away from aerobic activity that gets my rate up. Man if it were me I would try and do everything with diet and health possible. Only time will tell. If it gets to be too much another ablation may be the quickest and God willing best route.

My vote would be to clean up your diet/lifestyle and get modest exercise. You can always get the ablation if it doesn't improve.

George

You are almost certainly going to do best by doing both long term. Clean up your diet and adapt to better quality exercise for sure, plus stress reduction and adopting any life style risk reduction too you might individually need are key steps.

These can all help a good deal for many afibbers, but likely will not be enough to avoid another ablation for true freedom, and my philosophy is to include first and foremost a dedicated life style change to improve Self Health across the board including heart calming electrolyte repletion as discussed often in this resource, but once it becomes obvious you will still need an ablation to eliminate AFIB from your life even after a dedicated effort at all of the above recommendations, then keep your eye on the ball and partner with the most expert EP you possibly can find and finish that expert ablation process until you are free from the beast for good without needing PIP AAR drugs ever again.

And stay devoted to all the Self Health good habits you embrace along the way even after that successful ablation process is complete too, in order to insure the most complete and rewarding freedom from all atrial arrhythmia long term.

After having had an index ablation that reduced your AFIB burden some, but you are still having periodic episodes since 2011, as in your case now, indicates that your index ablation was left half done to begin with and you might well now be having some late recurrence from areas of new triggers popping up and some from garden variety reconnections from work already done in the index ablation but that were not durable lesions. Don't leave you ablation half done with loose ends usually those will only morph into more issues over time un less properly addressed, That is why I emphasize that one you start and expert ablation process and you are 100% sure you EP can and often does handly the most challenging kinds of persistent and LSPAF cases too with great success, then just follow the big picture and get all triggers buttoned down once and for all.

Send me your cell by PM Sean and we can discuss your specific scenario in more detail if you would like.

Best wishes,
Shannon

You are almost certainly going to do best by doing both long term. Clean up your diet and adapt to better quality exercise for sure, plus stress reduction and adopting any life style risk reduction too you might individually need are key steps.

These can all help a good deal for many afibbers, but likely will not be enough to avoid another ablation for true freedom, and my philosophy is to include first and foremost a dedicated life style change to improve Self Health across the board including heart calming electrolyte repletion as discussed often in this resource, but once it becomes obvious you will still need an ablation to eliminate AFIB from your life even after a dedicated effort at all of the above recommendations, then keep your eye on the ball and partner with the most expert EP you possibly can find and finish that expert ablation process until you are free from the beast for good without needing PIP AAR drugs ever again.

And stay devoted to all the Self Health good habits you embrace along the way even after that successful ablation process is complete too, in order to insure the most complete and rewarding freedom from all atrial arrhythmia long term.

After having had an index ablation that reduced your AFIB burden some, but you are still having periodic episodes since 2011, as in your case now, this indicates that your index ablation was left partially done to begin with and you might well now be having some late recurrence from areas of new triggers popping up s well as some from garden variety reconnections from work already done in the index ablation but that were not durable lesions. Don't leave you ablation half done with loose ends, as doing so those will usually only morph into more issues over time unless properly addressed.

That is why I emphasize that once you start an expert ablation process and you are 100% sure your EP can and often does handle the most challenging kinds of persistent and LSPAF cases too and does Non-PV trigger detection and ablation as well as Coronary Sinus and LAA Isolation ablation too, if needed, then you should be in good hands.

Sen me by PM your cell number and we can discuss your scenario in more detail if you wish,

Be well,
Shannon