Is it back?

Hey lovely affibers

I hope you are all doing well.

I wonder if you might be able to give me your advice? I had an ablation almost exactly a year ago. I have felt a new person since then and freed from the dread of an afib attack. It has been blissful. I have felt very healthy and maybe have let my diet and exercise slide as a result. I have put on weight since then - around 10lbs extra.

Unfortunately on Sunday I felt that horrid familiar 'out of sync' beating along with an exhaustion - like my batteries are not properly aligned. I keep on doing my iwatch ECG which says Im in sinus but every now and then says its inconclusive and I had one reading of affib!. I see extra beats and I am just not feeling well. Something is definitely not right.

Im going to rest and see how I do tomorrow but any thoughts from any one? Has my ablation failed? Should I contact my electro-cardiologist? (UK here so NHS!). Can I get back to how I was? Really upset about it too.

Any thoughts on the matter would really be welcome and sorry to only come here when I need some help

Many thanks

Electo Blu

Ablations don't fail after a year of sinus rhythm. In fact, that's the criteria for labeling an ablation successful: One year of normal rhythm without the use of antiarrhythmic drugs.

Afib is a progressive disease, so it's possible the disease has progressed and produced a new source of afib that's outside the ablated areas, but one year is rather fast for that to happen.

I think the most likely explanation of what you were feeling was PACs, and those could be due to several things. Your electrolyte levels were off, for example. Maybe you were dehydrated? By any chance had you had a lot of alcohol the day before? Been ill recently? Had a vaccine or any sort of medical procedure recently?

If I were you I would simply wait and see how it goes. Pay attention to eating and drinking well. That could have been a one-off thing that won't repeat.

Beware of tiredness or bad sleep too.
Some stress, a couple nights of poor sleep, and you might have to deal with such HR troubles.

Thanks Carey and Pompon. This is all spot on advice and reassuring. They seem to have reduced and Im sure the result of an indulgent weekend. Back on track. All best to you

Just to add that its made me double down on my health regime. To those folk who have had an ablation, have you reverted back to pre-afib lifestyle? I think I have been heading that way big time - so this is a wake up call.

One further point, the PACs seem to have reduced but by no means have they disappeared.

In my case, there's undoubtedly a genetic factor. This combined with chronic fitness (hiking and, mostly, bicycling) may have caused my first afib episodes. Strangely, my heart was perfectly normal. Non enlargements or things like this, to my cardiologist's astonishment.
Since then, I've "detrained" a lot, taken different drugs and supplements, tried several kinds of diets, and been 4 times ablated.
Still lots of ectopics and about 50 afib episodes/year (AVG 1 hour), at rest or after meal, all self-ending, no drug to take.
I've noticed my heart is quieter at rest if I've been "active", but reasonably, during the day.
I'm now trying to re-train, bicycling (commuting) as often as I can. I'm feeling far better doing that : living outside and riding my bike.
My first encounter with afib happened late november, in 2015. It had been a "full year" for me, 7000km commuting on my bike, and november had been a very bad month, cold and rainy, so I had barely touched my bicycle. Clearly, I had detrained.
I'm now wondering if I did it right since then. I've feared repeated exercise, and maybe it's the key for me. Who knows, since we're all so different...
I'm sorry, it does not help you. But we're all trying to understand why all that's happening, and there are no rules.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2022 09:40AM by Pompon.

Sorry : read "at rest or after meal".
Can't edit my post.

Edit : edit worked...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2022 09:39AM by Pompon.

Your Apple Watch sends the 30 second output to your iPhone assuming that’s your setup? You should be able to look at the trace. You can send it to your cardiologist or even post it here. That will help.