Ablation at Abbott Northwestern

After months and months of misery, and my consult with Dr Natale,.I decided to proceed with a local ablation at Abbott in Minneapolis. It was a rough pre-op with Natale and my EP recommending anything and everything to induce the rhythm. (Do not try this at home!!). . So I had a Pepsi, took a Sudafed, proceeded to have dinner. Then had a couple of alcoholic beverages, stayed up most of the night, and drank black coffee at 0500am. Needless to say, I felt like garbage! Went in for my ablation, which ran late, but lots.and lots of PACs and runs of SVT.

Once in the lab, they tried to map the PACs first so that they could ablate them also, but about 10 minutes in, my SVT kicked in without induction and maintained throughout the subsequent mapping, induction of anesthesia, and ablation. They decided to go ahead and try to ablate the PACs as they have been extremely bothersome. They determined left atrium and crossed the septum and tried to initiate with iso and washout, but no luck. They did, however, get the SVT. I almost cried when I woke up. Thank God for the SVT showing up!!

I am cautiously optimistic that a majority of my issue will be fixed. It is entirely possible,.however, that the PACs and short SVT bursts were also coming from the left. All in all though, it was a stellar experience, with a great EP, and team, and it was super cool to get to watch the initial mapping of the SVT. Man did I lay on that table thanking God (and Sudafed, coffee, and wine) for that SVT.

Will keep everyone posted. Am going to start the George ectopy supplement program tomorrow . Got all my supplements at the house and ready to roll. Thanks for all who have been and are rooting for me! You guys are fantastic!

Oh, and as a side note, I slept last night, symptom free and unencumbered by any arrhythmia for the first time since Mid-December 2023!!! Woohoo!!!

Wow, this sounds great! Hurray for you!

Definitely sounds positive! Take the time you need to recover, and hopefully it will solve your problems.

Spectacular!!! Great news! A wonderful EP who will listen & work with you!!!!!

Great news—keep us posted! Great “Don’t do this at home” protocol!

That's very good news, I will be keeping your protocol in mind just in case I need it some day.

Thanks everyone. I am a bit nervous about the fact that they couldn't get the site on the left. My PAC burden was at an average of 26% but it is unclear how much of that was coming from the Crista Terminalis site that they fixed, and how much was from the left site. We will see. I am hoping that if there is a bit of ectopy left still, that the supplement protocol might help with that. The NP didn't think that SVT necessarily had the same, if any, blanking period, not sure what you guys think.

I didn't get to talk to the EP because they kept me overnight and came home today.

Congratulations, Megan. It's a great chapter to experience, but one best kept in the past now. I'm happy for you.

It is outside my area of interest or reading, but to me, an ablation is an ablation, and the blanking period should apply regardless of the reason for the ablation. It's still a process causing damming fibrotic tissue, and it still involves destroying tissue, and it still involved letting the heart both heal and settle down to see where it wants to sit. So...I'm thinking that, barring your EP actually saying you don't need a blanking period, you should probably go easy for the first week, then begin to build activities as you feel able to.

No scrip for metoprolol or anything else? Surely you're still taking a DOAC of some kind?

Yes, I was told no blanking period for flutter, so maybe the same for SVT. It either works, or not. Best of luck.

Jim

Goodness me, I know that ablations are still heart surgeries, essentially, but I am seriously wiped out! I have been completely useless and exhausted for two days! I keep falling alseep and finding myself just completely wiped! The ablated a large area on the right, crossed over through the septum, but didn't ablate on the left. They also had to give me heavier sedation and tube me because my breathing was erratic and messing up the ablation catheters, so that may be why? Eek. I didn't feel this way last time!

I am glad they managed to map it and hopefully it has improved infinitely for you!. I was massively wiped for a few days. I still get tired after 5 weeks! How long were you under for?
Take care

Best of luck for the future!

Im not sure exactly. It was light sedation but they had to and up going more sedation and intubating me because my breathing was erratic and they needed me still for the ablation. I feel.better today! Its amazing to sleep after so long.

My EP did a lot of work on me, and then they gave me something for my back pain that knocked me out a second time. It was a good week before I was truly back to normal. But I could get up and do a short/small tasks during that time. It did eventually mean I needed to lay down and sleep, though.

Thanks all. Unfortunately, the ectopics not being ablated is going to be an issue. Minus the SVT, I am much improved ,.and feel a different level of sane then I have felt in quite some time. My heart rate had been running 90-140 with the SVT/ectopics. Now, after the ablation, I am running 70-90 and have been able to sleep through the night for the first time since December 2023. I still have a high index of concern with the ectopics, bigeminy, etc., but I think those were triggering the SVT, so that has certainly improved.
I still struggle with the ectopics, despite knowing that they are 'benign'. I have been in bigeminy almost persistently since coming home. Its okay. Its still an improvement over a week ago. I'll take the sleep and try to sort out if there is any other way to treat the ectopics (diet, supplements, etc). Are there any other ideas out there on how to just turn your brain off so you don't notice them as much?

Hi Meagan,

Add D-Ribose to your supplement regimen, too many benefits to list here but all relate to the heart strengthening and atp.

Thanks Johhny. I will look into the Ribose. I am super disappointed today. My rhythm is just right back where I started from...

I had my ablation for AFIB in Sept of last year, and I went back into AFIB about three days later. I ended up having a cardioversion and increased my Diltiazem to get in under control again. This has kept me AFIB free since November. But in January I developed PACs and have been suffering from them since. Although, it has gotten better since I started taking Magnesium and increasing my intake of potassium. It has gone from week long bouts to about 12 hours 2 or 3 times a week now. I have also started taking Taurine and L-Arginine, which seems to help as well. Unfortunately, I have not been faithful in taking it as I have a lot going on right now. This has helped me a lot. But I can trigger mine with a lot of stress and poor sleep habits. I had managed three weeks without any arrhythmias, but life has gotten in the way again. I'm hopeful that in a couple of weeks things will settle into routines again. Then I can focus more on myself and figure out where to begin again.

I started on low doses of supplements for reference:
250mg Magnesium Glycinate
600mg potassium
1000mg Taurine
500mg L-Arginine
1000mg vitamin C (I don't know that this helps with arrhythmias, but it helps to keep my immune system in order)

My blood work prior to starting this has always been constant, with all my levels sitting in the mid-range of good. If you are not sure if you can take something or just to be safe, talk to your doctors and your pharmacist.

My doctor was okay with it all. I am taking:
4 G Taurine
850mg Arginine
800mg Quercitin
600mg Magnesium Taurate
B Complex
1400mg Potassium

No benefit yet. Will keep trying. I am already back up to the 20,000 or so ectopics a day that I was at before.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2024 03:15PM by MeganMN.

I was sure you were already doing this. This maybe anti-productive, but try decreasing or increasing sodium intake. I need to keep mine low most of the time, but I do have days that increasing it does help. Mostly because of working in the heat here in SWFL to try to get my electrolytes balanced.

I do understand the 20000 or so a day thing. It is very disruptive even when I have my 10000 or so a day now. My current EP doesn't want to do anything just yet, so I am trying anything that makes sense to keep it at bay. I wish I could sleep better than I do, but too many things to list keep from getting a good nights sleep all the time.

Quote
MeganMN
1400mg Potassium

In what form? You can't buy OTC potassium supplements in the US that contain more than 99 mg of elemental potassium.

Quote
Carey

1400mg Potassium


In what form? You can't buy OTC potassium supplements in the US that contain more than 99 mg of elemental potassium.

I've taken 4 g elemental K/day as 2 tsp food grade potassium citrate powder (readily available OTC) for many years. This is what I put in 1 liter of water and consume over the day as my version of "timed release." Of course this is inappropriate for someone with issues with kidney function.

{edit} I also add 3/4 to 1 tsp of NaCl as sea salt to the water, though I realize some advocate for low sodium.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2024 08:40PM by GeorgeN.

Yeah, I'm aware you can buy potassium as bulk powder. I spent two years consuming more of that than I care to recall because it was the one and only thing that could terminate my flutter (other than cardioversion). The difference is I had to take it as a bolus to achieve results, not a slow release. I just assumed that's not what Megan is doing, but potassium in prescription form is measured as mEq, not milligrams. Hence why I'm puzzled.

So it is Potassium Citrate Powder. 448mg elemental Potassium, which converts to 1400 Potassium Citrate. Not sure what that means related to what you guys are discussing.

The EP office called twice today. They are going to have me do another 48 hour zio monitor,.send some more of my home Kardia strips, start back up on the Bisoprolol, and consider Verapamil while we wait for my heart to heal and come up with a long term plan. He said that he had to ablate a really large area, so my heart may also just be more irritated. A good plan, anyway, minus the meds, which never seem to work..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2024 02:35AM by MeganMN.

Okay, that's what I was wondering about. You're taking 448 mg of elemental potassium per day, not 1400 mg. Elemental is the only number that counts. Interesting that the FDA restricted pills to 99 mg but didn't put restrictions on powdered forms.