New member needs support, please

Hello, and thank you for reading this. I am 65 years old, female. I had afib for the first time in 2012, after knee surgery. Afib occurred infrequently for a few years and then I had a first ablation in December, 2015. It held for almost four years. In April, 2019 I drank a cold glass of water too quickly and started into afib. Instead of being an infrequent event, I had afib nearly every day with pauses of up to 5 seconds when I converted back to NSR. A second ablation was done in July, 2019 but it failed. I was discharged in atrial flutter. The nursing staff was reluctant to discharge me but they spoke to my electrophysiologist who said I knew what to expect and that I would contact him if I continued to have problems. Unfortunately for me, once home my doctor's nurse advisers ignored my phone calls, attributing the constant atrial flutter to normal issues during the blanking period. Two and half weeks after the second ablation I insisted that I be seen in the office but without telling me, I was scheduled with a nurse not a nurse practitioner or doctor but she did a good thing which was obtain an order for a 48 hour holter monitor. I returned the holter as instructed but did not hear anything about the results. More phone calls from me, more letters to the electronic messaging services, all to no avail. Later, I found out that my electrophysiologist was on vacation during this period. Finally, five weeks after the ablation I threatened to speak to an attorney in order to get attention. At that point they "found" the holter results which had been missing. My doctor had returned and he looked everything over and ordered a cardioversion. The cardioversion, initially successful, failed after a week and a second one failed after a day. I was given flecainide, metoprolol, and finally put in the hospital for a tikosyn trial. During the tikosyn trial, in September, they decided I needed a pacemaker because the tikosyn was increasing the interval. Then after six days in the hospital, they sent me home on tikosyn which failed to maintain nsr and was discontinued after a month. Since then, since October, I have been on metroprolol plus cartia to control the high rates and the pacemaker to control the low rates. All attempts to control the rhythm have been abandoned and now just trying to control the rate. The atrial flutter I've had since the last ablation is obviously permanent and present about 50% of the time, they tell me. I've had some personality change in that I'm no longer the "energizer bunny, type A" I have always been. Now I'm irritable and depressed. At the last check mid-November, the electrophysiologist tells us he wants to do a third ablation, which I do not want. Previously, his nurse practitioner said my heart was too scarred for another ablation. Can you all here on this forum offer me any support and/or advice? Thank you most sincerely



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2019 09:58PM by cile.

Hi Cile, welcome to the forum.

Yes, I can offer some advice. Don't let that EP do a third ablation. Don't even think about it. Or anything else, really. Check your private messages.

WOW!!!! So sorry for your situation. As Carey stated, get clear of that EP and find another one. He sounds very disinterested in your well being. I'm sure Carey has sent you some good advice via PM.

I’m sorry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2021 03:39PM by susan.d.

Sorry you’re having such a rough time with this. It is very unnerving to have your heart out of sorts. No can even understand it unless they’ve been through it. It’s all consuming for me some days. Agree you should find a new but highly experienced EP and get a new look at your situation.

Wow. So sorry to read of your issues. I agree with Carey. Get as far away from that EP as possible and find a new one.