Exercise after ablation

I'm wondering how people do getting back into exercise after ablation?
I have to admit that between being stressed out and anxious about my diagnosis and the fact that we have had horrible air for nearly the last two months, I've not really been exercising much... mostly just walks and easy to moderate hikes. And to be even more honest, in the year prior to my May diagnosis I let myself get in extra crappy shape. New job stress pretty much ate me alive this last year and I let regular exercise slide. Did a did a year of not enough exercise ruin my heart??? I'm kinda beating myself up about this, but I have to turn that into incentive to turn things around.

So with the cool weather coming soon and hopefully better air (not today though blech) I'd like to get back more regular exercise. I'm having my ablation in 2 weeks. The instructions say I should be able to go back to exercising after a week, but what I wonder is if that is going to mean more limited exercise? Does one need to pay attention their heart rate? Are there any generalized post ablation excercise recomendations?

Of course I realize it must be different for everyone... what I consider to barely be exercise is a lot for some people, and and what I consider to be hard exercise is nothing for others, but I'd be curious what I might expect...

I'm especially curious about whether you need worry about heart rate, because I know in the past mine can get pretty high when doing things like steep climbs.

Define "exercising". My Dr. said to wait a month, which I did since he knew what I did for "workouts". I returned to my normal routine which was doing twice a week weight workouts (70 mins including warm ups and stretching) that included more or less 25 sets of 10 lifts of 10-20 repetitions. Alternating upper and lower body to minimize rest. Some jogging and at least once a week windsurfing and golf.

What I notices is that I hit my anaerobic limit quicker than before the ablation (out of breath), but that slowly came back to normal over the next year. Heart rates didn't seem to be any different as I recall, but could get pretty high doing some specific lifts. My ablation was 11.5 years ago.

I felt that I could have worked out a week after my ablation, but decided to follow the Dr's orders. Best to wait, your heart will experience moderate trauma with lots of burns during the ablation.

You'll never get consensus on this. Some people say you need to take it easy for weeks while others say it's fine to return to normal activities as soon as the insertion sites are fully healed (5-7 days). I'm in the latter camp myself, but it's a personal thing. If you feel run down, rest and take it easy. If you feel good, go for it. A high heart rate due to exercise shouldn't be a concern. Every EP I've asked asked thinks it's perfectly fine, but Shannon has said he disagrees and thinks you should take it easy for a month.

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Ken
Define "exercising". My Dr. said to wait a month, which I did since he knew what I did for "workouts". I returned to my normal routine which was doing twice a week weight workouts (70 mins including warm ups and stretching) that included more or less 25 sets of 10 lifts of 10-20 repetitions. Alternating upper and lower body to minimize rest. Some jogging and at least once a week windsurfing and golf.

What I notices is that I hit my anaerobic limit quicker than before the ablation (out of breath), but that slowly came back to normal over the next year. Heart rates didn't seem to be any different as I recall, but could get pretty high doing some specific lifts. My ablation was 11.5 years ago.

I felt that I could have worked out a week after my ablation, but decided to follow the Dr's orders. Best to wait, your heart will experience moderate trauma with lots of burns during the ablation.

I'd like to get back to jogging, which I've not done in months.. that said I'm not fast and since wrecking my knee 5 years ago I rarely go more than 3 miles. I just know it's hard to get back to running when you stop (which is why I even ran when I was prego was back when) so I'm not looking forward to it after having my heart messed with.

I also want to hike... and around here that tends to mean uphill, and it's pretty easy for me to get my heart rate up on the steeps. I've always found it interesting that there is a certain steepness where I'm perfectly fine, then beyond that I really feel it. I have my eye on a summit that before I found out I had a problem, I had hoped to do this fall... It's not a big one, but steep, about a 1200 ft elevation gain in a couple of miles, plus it starts at 10k feet, so it wont be easy in my current state of out-of-shape-ness..

I said it in another thread, I've never heard anyone say they wished they started their exercise regimen sooner after an ablation. I waited close to 8 weeks after my Natale ablation, and started slowly, even though I felt great. Over a year later and I'm doing great, strength and endurance as good as I can ever remember. Everyone is different. Common sense is called for.

Go with what your body tells you. I hopped on the treadmill 8 days after my ablation and triggered an afib episode. Wasn’t bad, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. Just “go with the flow”. You might want to stay under 10k feet, though. If you do trigger an episode then the altitude won’t help, and you don’t want to fall considering you’ll be anticoagulated at the time.

I'm wondering if there is really a higher number of afibbers among athletes than among "not so active" people. Do you think the answer might be that there are much more symptomatic afibbers among athletes ? IOW, most athlete afibbers know they have HR issues, while other people might be afibbers who don't know they are ?

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wolfpack
Go with what your body tells you. I hopped on the treadmill 8 days after my ablation and triggered an afib episode. Wasn’t bad, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. Just “go with the flow”. You might want to stay under 10k feet, though. If you do trigger an episode then the altitude won’t help, and you don’t want to fall considering you’ll be anticoagulated at the time.

Thus one of the reasons I want this to work and to get off the blood thinner... scampering on rocks!

Did your afib end up going away? Was that triggered episode one of those that happens during the blanking period that they don't seem to count?

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Pompon
I'm wondering if there is really a higher number of afibbers among athletes than among "not so active" people. Do you think the answer might be that there are much more symptomatic afibbers among athletes ? IOW, most athlete afibbers know they have HR issues, while other people might be afibbers who don't know they are ?

In one study I saw on long term Finnish orienteers, the orienteers had aftb at a 15-20% rate (from memory from reading it 14 years ago - could be off), there were only 2 people in the control group that got afib and they happened to be active also. This is true for people under 60. For those over 60, it is the reverse. Most afibbers are older, have comorbidities and are not active. My sense is the active afibbers might represent 15-20% or less of the total.

In this thread, those whose chronic fitness was their path to afib are the posters (including me). Hence you see many saying that they got back to significant activity as soon as possible after their ablations, whether this is wise is an open question.

There is a well known U or J shaped benefit curve for exercise. The greatest benefit is for those who are sedentary and "get off the couch."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2018 09:06AM by GeorgeN.

bolimasa,

I too was (and still am to some extent) a hiker and climber (now age 73). My last big trip was in 2012, the "Tour de Mont Blanc" a 10 day, 100 mile hike around the circumference of Mt. Blanc, through three countries. I also spent a week hiking in the Dolomites in Italy a year after my ablation. I have been as high as 18,491 ft. - Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. Talking about high heart rates while climbing steeps - you just slow your steps to where you can keep moving without going into oxygen debt. On Orizaba, that was a complete inhale and exhale for each step. To make it even more challenging, the time between leaving the US at sea level and reaching the summit was 55 hours.

However, getting back into shape after a long layoff and after an ablation suggests you take it slowly. It will likely take a year for your heart to recover to 100%, so take your time and don't push too hard. Of course, that's relative depending where you were pre ablation. Prior to my ablation, I was in great shape on purpose since recovery is usually a piece of cake when in great shape. As I said before, I waited a month before exercising and then progressed pretty quickly. Taking only a month off, wasn't a big handicap. I was only on a blood thinner (coumadin) for one month post ablation, then nothing so bleeding was not an issue. No other meds. I had no major arrhythmias or any afib during my "blanking period".

And I guess I can blame my afib on my 14 years as a competitive swimmer, culminating with the Olympic games in Mexico City in 1968.

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Ken



And I guess I can blame my afib on my 14 years as a competitive swimmer, culminating with the Olympic games in Mexico City in 1968.

A lot of endurance athletes also consume energy drinks, which can be lethal when the body is trying to cool down.

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bolimasa

Thus one of the reasons I want this to work and to get off the blood thinner... scampering on rocks!

Did your afib end up going away? Was that triggered episode one of those that happens during the blanking period that they don't seem to count?

That episode during the blanking period, 8 days after my ablation, doesn't count. I just didn't have a real good understanding of how inflamed and irritated the atria are after the procedure and didn't modify my behavior accordingly. Lesson learned. That was in 2015.

The episode I had back in April of this year, however, certainly counts as a recurrence. Fortunately I converted that with 1 dose of propafenone and nothing since. So in my estimation, yes, I'm headed for a second ablation but I will do my level best to put that as far off into the future as I can.

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Ken
bolimasa,

I too was (and still am to some extent) a hiker and climber (now age 73). My last big trip was in 2012, the "Tour de Mont Blanc" a 10 day, 100 mile hike around the circumference of Mt. Blanc, through three countries. I also spent a week hiking in the Dolomites in Italy a year after my ablation. I have been as high as 18,491 ft. - Pico de Orizaba in Mexico. Talking about high heart rates while climbing steeps - you just slow your steps to where you can keep moving without going into oxygen debt. On Orizaba, that was a complete inhale and exhale for each step. To make it even more challenging, the time between leaving the US at sea level and reaching the summit was 55 hours.

However, getting back into shape after a long layoff and after an ablation suggests you take it slowly. It will likely take a year for your heart to recover to 100%, so take your time and don't push too hard. Of course, that's relative depending where you were pre ablation. Prior to my ablation, I was in great shape on purpose since recovery is usually a piece of cake when in great shape. As I said before, I waited a month before exercising and then progressed pretty quickly. Taking only a month off, wasn't a big handicap. I was only on a blood thinner (coumadin) for one month post ablation, then nothing so bleeding was not an issue. No other meds. I had no major arrhythmias or any afib during my "blanking period".

And I guess I can blame my afib on my 14 years as a competitive swimmer, culminating with the Olympic games in Mexico City in 1968.

Wow! you are a real hiker... I'm just an out of shape weekend warrior with dreams of more if I could ever find time to do it. Getting this diagnosis was pretty devastating to me. It has been hard enough to stay semi-fit with out getting slapped with a real problem. Hoping for miracles with this ablation... ski season is coming up.

jpeters said:

A lot of endurance athletes also consume energy drinks, which can be lethal when the body is trying to cool down.

Never used or use energy drinks.