Blanking period question - Long tachycardia episode

I had my Natale ablation a week ago. Pretty much no afib since then. Feeling great overall. Then I got home and had 2 days of constant work stress. Last night around 11:30pm my heart all of a sudden jumped to around 140bpm. On my Kardia, on several readings, it went between "unclassified" and "tachycardia" each time I took it. It's been 21 hours and my heart is STILL averaging between 140-150bpm, even as I sit here at total rest. (Sometimes I think it's gone, but it's not.) Natale's nurse educator told me to take my diltiazem CD twice per day for a week to see if it helps. I took a dose at 2pm and I'm still at about 150bpm.

Question: Should I be concerned? Or is this type of craziness normal during the blanking period? Any tips on stopping this tachycardia?

Good news: At least I'm not in afib!

It's almost certainly atrial flutter, and yes, that's pretty common following an ablation. You don't need to be concerned. Keep taking the diltiazem and talk to the NP tomorrow if it's still going. Natale may want to put you on an antiarrhythmic for a while and perhaps have you cardioverted (though the whole coronavirus thing could complicate that).

Thanks Carey, as usual! I don't think I've ever had atrial flutter before, especially like this. But I appreciate your reassurance. My rhythm is fairly steady, no afib, just "unclassified" or tachycardia on the EKGs I'm taking. And, I think I'm more afraid of the cardioversion than the ablation. haha

I had a few of those, thankfully short, in the months following my ablation. It was tachycardia like a horse shot out of the gate with no warning whatsoever. Only lasted about 30 seconds each time so I was never able to capture one on a Kardia strip. But I’m certain it was transient flutter. It’ll go away.

Thanks. Mine has been going non-stop for 23 hours. But, I'm not overly symptomatic (mostly). At times I even think it's gone. The problem is, the RN said to try diltiazem, but my bp has been rather low, like 94/77. (I did take the pill about 8 hours ago.) So I'm not sure what advice they'll give me next.

I’m experiencing something similar. Although my episodes are of much briefer duration of only a few minutes at a time, and it didn’t start occurring til week 4 post-procedure.
Even though they’re brief, they can restart just minutes after calming down.
I hope it will stop all together very soon. I’m not taking anything right now except the Eliquis.

Yeah kind of stinks. I’ve had it for almost 1.5 days now. I hope this doesn’t mess up anything.

I think I had my last (really short) tachy episode about 3 months after my ablation. There may have been one or two more even farther out, it's been so long I don't remember now. I should've kept a diary now that I think about it.

I’m surprised you are not on multaq during your blanking period.

Natale tailors the post-op drug choice to the patient. I've seen people come away from ablations with him on Multaq, Tikosyn, flecainide, and nothing at all. Sometimes a beta blocker or diltiazem, sometimes not.

They put me on diltiazem and flecanide for 1 week. I took my 2nd dose this evening at 9pm. Around 10pm the issue stopped, after 2 full days. I'm sure this is just blanking period stuff. Thanks fellow afibbers for your encouragement!

Awesome!

Great to hear Robert and nice speaking with your again today (Thursday) Im glad we could review over the phone some of the details of how the blanking period works.

Just a day at a time here RG and take er' easy! x

Cheers!
Shannon

Thanks everyone, especially Shannon and Carey, for your support! This forum is priceless!

Yep, I had some brief tachycardia (at about the same rate) in the blanking period after my Natale ablation. I also had a couple of longer episodes (4 hours, 1 hour), within the first year after ablation. Nothing, nada since then (3 years out now). Don't be surprised if there are some little glitches even after the blanking period. I suspect they will pass.

Thanks for sharing! Yeah I'm excited to heal fully.