Stairs after Ablation

I'm four weeks past Cryo ablation for AFib/ Flutter, I'm doing ok. After, I had two episodes of Afib where I converted and I am now back in sinus. I am an active person and I love to hike and crew. I still can't do stairs and I struggle to walk up the hill near me. I still have a mild cough if I exercise and talk. The worst heartburn. I Know I'm impatient, everyday I hope to see a small improvement, this morning, I was scrubbing the bottom shelf in the fridge and I had to stop. I am taking Colchicine for another few days to reduce inflammation. I'm sure I will feel better if I am off the meds, 25mg Metoprolol, twice daily, Eliquis 5mg twice daily, Felcainide 100mg once a day and 50mg at night, Colchicine 0.6mg twice daily.
I'm walking on eggshells as I constantly check my heart rate, now its 63bpm, I want to enjoy my dance classes and have fun. I was prepared for the reoccurance of AFib, pain in groin, and tightness in chest. but not for the longer recovery. I have my follow up with my EP in July. I guess I'm looking for words of encouragement to tell me it will get better.

I'm nine weeks post cryo and went through similar. Heartburn and two short courses of colchicine for procedural pericarditis. And the symptons of the two overlap, making it all that more difficult to know what is going on and what to do.

At week 4 I was starting to wonder if the pericarditis was becoming permanent or not. Ep shrugged it off at week 5 saying "Hey, don't look at me"

What I did at week 4 was cut back significantly on my exercise routine, as exercise just made things worse, even just moderate walking made my chest feel inflamed. So it was just easy 5-10 minute walks and some days if I felt more symptomatic, no walking, just stayed at home on the couch or in bed.

As I listened to my body, my body listened to me. By week seven, no signs of pericarditis. I'm now at week 9 and just sort of getting back to how I felt before the ablation.

It can be frustrating, but you have to go at your body's pace, not your heads You only have one chance to heal properly from the ablation. Too much, too soon, can ruin all the good work you and your ep put into this procedure. Be patient, you will get better, just a little later than you would prefer.

Thank you so much for that info, I should listen to my body, and not rush it. I'm very active so I find it hard, but like you said I do not want to undo all the work that was done.

We all react differently after an ablation and for some (like me), ablations were a non-event. I have had two, the first about 15 years ago and the second two years ago. What I am about to say is for the benefit of those that may be "scared" of the post operative issues. For me, I got myself into the best possible physical shape before the ablations. For the second one, it was day surgery, and the following day I was walking 2 miles. The only physical discomfort I had (with both ablations) was an extremely sore throat from the intubation, which lasted a couple of days. Nothing else. Lots of bruising in the groin area for the first because they went through both femoral veins, the second ablation was much better, with access through one femoral vein. Off hand, I don't recall how quickly I got back to my normal fitness activity, but it wasn't long.

For heartburn have you tried Prilosec? My EP instructed me to start taking it b.i.d. one week pre ablation and four weeks post ablation.

Similar to Ken's comments. Went home same day. Only issue I had was pain urinating from the catheter and it dissipated within 24 - 48 hours. Sore throat was minimal. For exercise I was told wait one week before exercising and then start back w only half your normal routine. There are still times during activity I can feel the rate jump up and couple of times I simply stopped and rested. My resting rate is higher but over time has come down but still is higher than what it was pre-ablation.

Are you able to climb stairs the same day after ablation? My bedroom is on 2nd floor, there are 15 stairs. I guess I can sleep on the couch the first night, my concern is my cat will climb on me (my cat sleeps on that couch, so that's his territory). I suppose I can ask to stay overnight in the hospital and go home next day? My ablation is coming up soon.

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Yuxi
Are you able to climb stairs the same day after ablation? My bedroom is on 2nd floor, there are 15 stairs. I guess I can sleep on the couch the first night, my concern is my cat will climb on me (my cat sleeps on that couch, so that's his territory). I suppose I can ask to stay overnight in the hospital and go home next day? My ablation is coming up soon.

That is a good question for your EP. I found that staying overnight was important as I had a few problems after general anesthesia—not being able to pee until I had IV Lasix the next morning and very low blood pressure. One of the concerns about stairs (from my post ablation instructions) was pressure on the groin access points and possible hematoma.

I was instructed by the EP's PA on pre op visit that stairs were to be a one time event per day. for the first 3 days.

Thank you, Daisy, Jake, I will ask EP if I can stay overnight at the hospital, especially if I am not the first one getting the procedure on that day. They won't tell me the time until the day before.

Aoife5,
I'm 4 weeks post my first ablation which was pretty comprehensive. (Not complicted; the doc just covered as much 'ground' in my heart as he could). I still feel the need to take it easy and this past week has seen some new symptoms of very high heart rates, for which 12.5 mg of metroprolol tartrate twice a day has been added to my Multaq to stablize the heart. I figure I should listen to my body and take it easy for as long as it takes, but it DID give me pause that I wasn't bouncing back as quickly as I thougth I should. (And I'm pretty healthy, although age 72 -which is a facor, I realize). Guess we have to be patient. :>)

My recollection for "take it easy" advice was to allow for the healing of the insertion location in the groin. The only restriction was to "not lift more than 20 lbs for 5 days".

However, different patients, different ages, different fitness levels, different general health issues, different doctors = different recommendations/restrictions during recovery.

In my case, nothing more than 5kg for five days, and no immersion (tub, spa, pool, ocean...). Stairs were okay if a must, but be careful and do them slowly. Lift the mass with the 'good' leg, and drag the incised leg after it. Repeat.

I was encouraged to remove the covering/bandage and to gently wash the incision, but to only pat it dry. I could replace the bandage with a new one if I desired, but it wasn't necessary.

Keep dogs' and cats' claws off the incision. Maybe a second day with a bandage ain't such a bad idea after all..

Resume normal activity, whatever that is to mean (subjective, obviously, so let your sensibilities lead you), after 49 hours have passed from the surgery.

Hi Ken.

You are correct, I'm 52 fit and about 10lbs more than I should be. But reading through posts everyone is different, I just spent so much time researching the procedure that I honestly believed that post op would be easy, pain in groin, chest, sore throat etc, was not ready for the fatigue and zero energy combined with awful dry cough and shortness of breath.
I really miss not being able to exercise, I can walk a little more than two blocks now, but its slow.
My EP. said to continue meds day of surgery, some EP's you stop,( I don't know why as the only blood letting is the incision opening and you are entering a vein) I have a CHADVAC score of 1, but I am still om 25mg of Metoprolol, twice a day, Flecainide 100mg and Eliquis 5mg twice a day, some patients just need to take Eliquis post ablation. Although in fairness I did have Afib twice post ablation but converted back. I'm hoping when I see him soon that I will be off the Flecainide and maybe just the Metroprolol once a day. Even though I was taking the Metoprolol and Elquis I did not have any real side effects, but now after I take the Metoprolol I can definitely feel a cough and shortness of breath, so I hope that will disappear when I'm off the meds, Good job I decided to reschedule my vacation as I would not have been able to do much. But thanks to my EP I am in sinus.