One year post ablation report

Hi all,
Well, this weekend marked one year since I had my second (touch-up) ablation done by Dr. Patrawala of Silicon Valley Cardiology. That touch-up caught a small break in the initial burns around the PV's and also remedied some hot spots found elsewhere outside the left atrium.
Zero afib since then, but there is still an occasional hot spot somewhere that brings a low speed tachy now and then (120 bpm) that lasts seconds, never over a minute, and it is usually triggered by full stomach or positioning. It is not afib nor is it a big deal and seems to be reducing in duration and frequency as time progresses - just a few times a month now. It is my opinion that the heart is still changing and healing even after one year.

I'm very happy with the outcome and have regained a normal life. It took about 10 months to fully recover athletic-level heart strength from both the initial and second ablation (done a year apart) - so the reports of near normal function some have reported afterwards didn't apply to me. I do enjoy hard exercise but now keep it reasonably short before resting.

I continue to avoid triggers and watch my diet carefully. Believe it or not, my thyroid lab tests which have been abnormal have returned to normalcy after nearly twenty years of high TSH. My total cholesterol has finally dropped to where I want it to be also after decades of struggle. No drugs for either - just careful diet and limited amounts of supplements. Much of this success has been due to information gained on this forum and especially the prevalent attitude here that diet is key to success moving forward, not drugs. Hopefully, whatever led to afib in the first place will not repeat itself.

Thanks all.
Tom

Hi Tom,

Good report. Thank you for sharing!


Craig

Congratulation Tom! Everything turns out great !
Wish you continued NSR forever.

Duke

Congratulations, Tom. After all your struggles, you certainly deserve a peaceful heart. That's very good news.

Diet and lifestyle are very important for everyone but afibbers, especially, can make significant improvements by being ever attentive and making permanent changes.

Best wishes for a long, healthy life in NSR!
Jackie

Hi Tom, Thanks for the report and glad things are going well! I'm 6 weeks post ablation and still taking it easy, but I was wondering about your return to hard exercise. I would eventually like to be able to exercise with some intensity, even if for only brief periods. How have you progressed yourself and what would consider "hard" exercise one year post ablation?

Thanks ,

John

Great to hear Tom! So glad everything has smoothed out for you and best wishes going far into the future!

Cheers! Shannon

John21 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Tom, Thanks for the report and glad things are
> going well! I'm 6 weeks post ablation and still
> taking it easy, but I was wondering about your
> return to hard exercise. I would eventually like
> to be able to exercise with some intensity, even
> if for only brief periods. How have you
> progressed yourself and what would consider "hard"
> exercise one year post ablation?
>
> Thanks ,
>
> John

Hi,
First let me say that I had more problems than most with inflammation after each procedure so that may have been a factor in the rate of healing. My general exercise began with very short periods (minutes) and have advanced to about one hour duration for my riding, but only within the last few months.
Hard exercise for me is riding dirt bikes (motorcyles) at an advanced level. I do it once or twice a week. Lots of cardio stress - I compare it to mountain biking which I used to do a lot of. The whole body is involved and it is mostly aerobic - but now I'm smart enough to rest more often even though I don't feel tired. Sometimes though, I get caught in a situation where I have to muscle the 250lb bike, and the heart rate goes maximum and I can get fully depleted in a matter of minutes. But even after that, the heart doesn't seem to be any worse for wear (believe me, I work to avoid those situations much more now). I would say that my heart had begun to feel comfortable (no excessive PVCs, PACs or chest pain) just in the last two months or so, or put another way, about 9-10 months after the ablation. I'm 67 so there are other factors involved, but now I can ride longer and the heart is not the limiting factor, it is the entire body falling apart...LOL....!

In any case, I try very hard to keep the heart stress low and consistent while exercising - so I stay in shape to reduce the BPM spikes - I don't want to repeat whatever factors caused the afib, and I suspect constantly pushing my body to its limits (which I use to do routinely) was a big part of that.

You might get a kick out of this riding video I took a couple of weeks ago - riding like this is a lot of work! [www.youtube.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2014 12:38PM by Tom B.

Wow Tom,

Thanks for the nice video! Im beginning to understand where your excess inflammation may be coming from :-) Ha!

Knock on wood, but if I ever need another cardioversion I'll just give you a quick call and zip on up and strap in on the back of your bike for a repeat thrill ride! Just bring along enough propofol for the two of us in case the whole adventure goes south over one of those cliffs...

Shannon

Glad you enjoyed the ride! But, yeah, it is rough on the old bod.... Oh, to be young again, eh?

Thanks for that post. That was fun, but I'm glad you were riding and not me. Some of that looked a little hairy, as in right on the edge of a steep drop. Anyway, the comparison between dirt bike and mtn bikes is interesting. That's one of the activities I would like to return too.( mtn bikes that is). I would also like to get back to some cross country skiing and running, I'll be taking it slowly, and not expecting things to return to quickly. Good luck with your riding and stay safe!!!! I'd be more worried about your neck than your heart!

John

Hey Tom,
Good to hear all is well with your heart.
Eventually no matter how many lifestyle and diet changes we make an ablation is needed to reset the heart.
We all seemed to have gone the ablation route on here.

Best,

McHale

Nice vid Tom.

I've returned to mountain bking after ablation in March this year and it's great not to wake one/two days after a ride in afib as was usually the case with any strenuous exercise.

I think we all know now though that keeping out of the red line zone is prudent

All the best Phil.