Ablation

I've had the AF ablation procedure, home 2 weeks.

Went OK. I had a bleed during the first night. Woke up from a sound sleep to find the bed wet with blood. Felt a bit ill after and a bit freaked out. What if I hadn't woken up, and all those things that worry us, just wanted to get home.

Went home a couple of days later, started walking, not too excessive. Avoided the gym. Developed a large hematoma in my groin over the next few days. Possibly from the pressure to stop the bleeding? It's slowly going down, but still sore. Had a black and blue bruise to the knee. I am very fatigued, which from what I've read is pretty normal.

My issue is dizziness, I feel very very dizzy and a bit nauseous. If I stand up it kicks in and I've got to be careful walking. Should I be concerned?
I thought it may be my neck as I have stenosis, and maybe pressure from the anesthesia has bruised it.
My heart rate is up and down but nothing too major, 50-150 depending on what I do. some missed beats etc.
Any advice appreciated.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2021 08:40PM by JoyWin.

Hi Joy....glad the main part of your procedure went off without a hitch.
I had soreness for about 3 weeks in my groin area with some bruising.
Your doing great compared to my nov. 2018 ablation i had 6 ARR. in the 1st 12 days after...i would have loved to have had just a few pac's like your having.
The bleeding seemed to be more then normal but its over.
The heart is famous for ups and downs in the blanking period...the fact your getting downs in the 50 range is great as most exp. high not low after.... like i did for about a month after and never got close to 50 or even 60 beats.
The dizziness is a little concerning but prob. just part of the background noise in the big picture.
If i were you i would do lots of slow walking around the house to help get everything back to equal again and i mean hours in total whatever you can at any period...10 min here 30 min there...push yourself a little as long as your not too dizzy and i predict that will very much help bring you back to normal.
BTW your last post i believe talked about how nervous you were about doing this and that you had canceled an ablation before i believe so how was your mindset going in to this the days leading up to and the day itself?

Hi Vanlith

To be honest, I was really nervous and anxious. I had asked not to be sedated before the procedure. I wanted to be alert going into the lab and before the General Anesthetic.

It was amazing how fast everything went once I was in there, a lot of people introducing themselves, putting things on me, and chatting at me, I really didn't have time to think.

I'm still dizzy and weak, but OK.
My fitness band monitors my HR, and 3 days ago it showed a high of 191 and a low of 45. I'm thinking no way. Maybe an error by the band. I'm going back to the gym next week so hopefully, all will be well.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2021 08:31PM by JoyWin.

Hi Joy,

Wishing you the best on your recovery. Can you share who your surgeon was?

Also if you don't have the Kardia Mobile device I really recommend it: [store.alivecor.com]

Now only $89. It is FDA approved to take clinical EKG readings and indicate afib.

Its HR will also be more accurate than the reading your fitness band gives.

The Kardia helps me a lot. Readings take just 30 seconds. You can link it to your cardiologist as well.

Hi David

I live in Australia. I do have a Kardia device and it’s been very helpful I must admit. I have a big thick folder with printouts of most of the events from the last two years. I’ve suffered from AF for over 20 years.
The advice I was given going back to those times was pretty pathetic. The first thing I was offered was an AV node ablation which I emphatically declined.

I tried all the medications over the years. My Cardiologist at the time would tell me to take a pill and go to bed if I got an episode. What awful advice, things were pretty tough at that time and I just didn’t have the energy to argue.
He would take my blood pressure and check my pulse and say “you’re in SR.” As if I didn’t know, being an obsessive AFibber and constantly aware of an episode or an impending one.

I did all the right things. Diet etc and my episodes reduced from around four a week initially to around two a month for a while. Then some years ago they came back with a vengeance.

A couple of years ago I decided to look for a new Cardiologist and an EP. Both are excellent and my EP is simply the best. I’m not sure how he put up with me as I took ages to make up my mind and canceled a couple of times. So far so good. Whatever happens, I am pleased that I did. However, I don’t think I could go back again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2021 08:36PM by JoyWin.

Yes, thanks to David I got a KardiaMobile and check my heart with its EKG at least 2 times a day. I just send the 'reports' to the dr and then have a video consultation. Fabulous! The first time I went into afib I had pain and had to go into the doctor office to get an EKG. Second time Kardia told me. Just called the dr, talked to her, and we proceeded. Heart rate on blood pressure machine and Kardia sometime differ a bit, but Kardia for sure registers AFB.

Be joyful. You are doing great!

Quote
rattana
Heart rate on blood pressure machine and Kardia sometime differ a bit, but Kardia for sure registers AFB.

Heart rate on Kardia is probably the average over the 30 seconds (the standard time of a recording). The Kardia is reading the electrical ECG signals. Don't know over what time period the blood pressure machine. It is also reading the pulse waveform in the blood vessels. The amplitude of the pulse wave can vary greatly between beats in afib. Devices that read the pulse waveform can miss beats or get confused by these amplitude changes. So your Kardia rate is much more accurate than the BP machine. In addition to a Kardia, I have pulse ox devices as well as phone apps that will display the pulse wave in real time as well as their rate interpretation. As well I have ECG based beat to beat heart rate monitors. While the readings are usually very close in NSR, they vary materially when in afib. Typically, the pulse wave devices read lower than the ECG devices. You can verify the Kardia number by visually counting the number of beats during the 30 seconds on the ECG and multiplying by 2. I just did this on one that the ECG said 56 BPM and I counted 28 beats during the 30 seconds. This is harder to do on an afib ECG. I got 53 or 106 BPM and the device got 114. Now there can be artefact in the data confusing the interpretation, too.