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Symptoms returning after an ablation

Posted , 5 users are following.

sara981
sara981

Hey yall,

Just looking for some input here. I am 26 years old. I was diagnosed with SVT a year ago. I had been having episodes of what I believe now was SVT since I was 19 years old, but I just kept brushing it off... until one day I was not able to get out of it. I ended up going to the hospital here in Dallas with a heart rate of 240bpm. Anyways, long story short I ended up having a 6 hour cardiac ablation surgery a few weeks later. Electrophysiologist said there was an extra pathway in my heart that he was able to burn away. He did confirm that some of the pathway was too close to one of the nodes so he wouldn't be able to fully burn it without having to put in a pacemaker. Things have been okay since then. Although, I did notice I was getting short of breath with activities that would not regularly cause this. I figured this may be side effects of the ablation surgery and moved on with my everyday life. Fast forward, Dec 18th was a year post surgery. I am having episodes of what I think are palpations but also feel different from my normal experience with palpations. I used to get palpations before my ablation surgery frequently. I describe these as now more frequent, lasting around 30 seconds at a time, and shortness of breath comes on strong with these. It's very inconvenient and somewhat scary. It's probably happened over 50 times today. I cant tell if I'm going into an irregular heart beat or I'm just having palpations. It just doesnt make sense, I'm in shape, I used to run half marathons and now I'm unable to mop the kitchen floor without struggling to breathe. I'm sorry about the rant, yall... but anyone else ever experienced this? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. - SARA

0 likes, 6 replies

6 Replies

  • chadcf
    chadcf sara981

    Posted

    The best thing would be to get an EKG so you can know for sure what is going on. If it's happening often your doctor can check in office, but if it's not often they may need to fit you with a wearable monitor to catch it. Alternatively I have purchased a Kardia so I can take an EKG on my own which makes it pretty easy to catch these things happening at home.

    My ablation a few years ago was a failure and I started having SVT episodes again about 6 months after. It's not unheard of though it can be more or less common depending on the form of SVT you have. Most forms of SVT have a very high cure rate with an ablation but some people have to try multiple times to get it. Not to say that's what your current episodes... Another thing to do is just manually check your pulse during these 30 second times and see if it's racing.

  • SS1969
    SS1969 sara981

    Posted

    Hello! You need to contact your cardiologist & ask him to do a 48 hour holter monitor! it sounds you are having post ablation ectopics which are premature ventricular complexes (PVCs).. If so your doctor can give you medicines to decrease their frequency & intensity. Otherwise, it could be recurrent SVT which needs further management! GOOD LUCK!

  • tom220
    tom220 sara981

    Posted

    I experienced shortness of breath after my first ablation in 2011. I was diagnosed by a lung specialist as having a left hemidiaphragm. He thought I might have been born with the condition but I know different. It was most likely the result of phrenic nerve damage which sometimes occurs during an ablation. What meds are you on? Beta blockers can cause shortness of breath. I had a second ablation in August because my SVT symptoms and PACs were over 25,000 per day. I recently was able to get completely off metoprolal and my asthma symptoms have almost disappeared and my breathing is much better thank God.

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    • sara981
      sara981 tom220

      Posted

      I guess the most concerning thing has been the shortness of breath.. I made an appointment to talk to my cardiologist about it. I'm actually not on any medications. I never have been. He just went straight for the ablation, which I was fine with considering the success rate. Thank you for the reply.

  • sara981
    sara981

    Posted

    Thank you all for your help. I have an appointment on Thursday.

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