3rd Ablation

Hello All - Just wanted to relay my experience and ask a question of any of you that have had ablations. I'm a 52-year old male and I just had my third ablation - this time with Dr. Natale in Austin. I'm about 72 hours removed from the ablation and the recovery is much different from my previous two. Obviously, the previous 2 two were not successful - had some relief but still experienced paroxysmal afib every 10 days or so. Anyway, the recovery from my previous 2 were a breeze. I was up and moving with no issues very soon after the procedure. This time my chest is screaming at me. I've been able to manage through it, but the difference really is remarkable. Dr. Natale and the team told me they were aggressive and I'm sure that is the difference. They basically hit every area in my heart that was a potential issue. My previous doctor was more conservative and the results were not what I was hoping for. I went to Natale for a reason - I wanted the 3rd procedure to be the last. He's obviously one of the best, so I'm very optimistic about the long-term prognosis. I'll deal with anything in the short-term if this does the trick. I wondering what the recovery and success has been like for others that have been ablated by Natale or another doctor that was aggressive in their approach? I guess I really didn't fully appreciate what an "aggressive" approach would feel like, and I'm wondering how long the skipped beats and and after procedure afib will stick with me. I've read all the literature and generally know what to expect, but I would love to hear about others' experiences. Again, completely optimistic based on his post-op follow-up with me that this should work for me. Hindsight is 20/20, but if I could do it all over again I would have started with Natale.

He's aggressive but that shouldn't result in chest pain. Maybe a little dull ache but nothing that could be described as screaming pain, or even close. This is not normal and could indicate a pericardial effusion. You need to contact the NP assigned to you and let them know as soon as possible.

I shouldn’t have said “screaming.” Specifically, I’ve been in and out of afib since the procedure, feel as if there is a lot of inflammation because breathing and swallowing is noticeably different, but not dangerously so. I’m in pretty good shape and I was not able to walk up a moderate hill today without stopping due to shortness of breath. Point being, I never experienced these symptoms after the first 2 ablations with what I think was a more conservative approach.

Even with your toned down description it still doesn't sound right. Pericardial effusions come in matters of degree, so you can't rely on a lack of shortness of breath. I would call the NP for sure. A few weeks of a colchicine prescription might be warranted.

Thanks Carey - I will give them a call.

Quote
Winfield
I wondering what the recovery and success has been like for others that have been ablated by Natale or another doctor that was aggressive in their approach? I guess I really didn't fully appreciate what an "aggressive" approach would feel like, and I'm wondering how long the skipped beats and and after procedure afib will stick with me...

I’ve been in and out of afib since the procedure, feel as if there is a lot of inflammation because breathing and swallowing is noticeably different, but not dangerously so. I’m in pretty good shape and I was not able to walk up a moderate hill today without stopping due to shortness of breath.

I had an extensive ablation (my first) with Natale in November. I agree--good to contact your NP and Nurse Navigator and send them a Kardia reading. I have found them very responsive. I'll also comment on recovery though as my experience was somewhat like yours. Natale had to do an extensive ablation because I had Afib and Flutter coming from so many places, including the LAA. When I woke up in recovery I had considerable chest pain but they gave me a good dose of Tylenol and it was gone in a few hours. But, swallowing remained difficult for about a day and a half--probably due to intubation and the anesthesia drugs. I did have a few runs of Afib and PACs in the first week after the ablation but I have been free of arrhythmias for several months now. I did have shortness of breath on exertion for a couple of weeks, but not pain.

Were you given Colchicine before and after the ablation? That seemed to help a lot as the inflammation disappeared quickly. There was, howeve,r a sort of sensitive feeling in my chest for a couple of weeks which I figured could be related to the 60 minutes of fluroscopy and 60 minutes of burning. (you'll find those minutes i your ablation report.)

Bottom line, while it is really important to check-in, my experience seems sort of similar to yours. Let me know if my description fits with your experience.

For both my experiences, I was asked to take a Pantaloc each day, one tablet, and to take Sucralfate an hour prior to each meal. This was for one full month. It was to stem the possibility of damage to the esophagus after the procedure. Not sure if that is relevant. This isn't intercostal muscle pain (between the ribs)?

Daisy - Thank you for the response. I am on colchicine - inflammation seems to be better today. Main issue now is I've been in pretty persistent afib for the last 24 hours and everything that comes with that. I was expecting afib and flutter, but I'm rarely (if at all) in nsr. They don't seem to concerned at the moment, so I'm going to just stick with the program and expect more of the same as things heal.

Gloaming - they did not put me on those meds - no pain between the ribs for me.

They are very responsive - great team to work with.