Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Afib

First ablation for A-Fib and 2nd for Atrial Flutter. My heart rate was never over 130 at rest, but irregular.

I had my first ablation at 49.....second one at 51. I am 56 now. I was in constant A-Fib.....I was not going in and out of it. Like someone here said earlier happened to them, mine was found during a colonoscopy. Cardiologist thinks I had it for at least 6 months prior to finding out I had it and I just didn't know it other than the loss of energy. Recovery was instant for me for the most part.....not a terribly bad procedure and I was out for over 6 1/2 hours on my first surgery. Second one only about 2 hours.

One thing I will mention is doctor wouldn't do the procedure until I was checked for sleep apnea. I had it and had to get on a CPAP before he would do it. Come to find out apnea is one of the major causes of it happening. So if you even think you may have apnea, get tested and know for sure as it may help you avoid A-Fib in the future.

Was not aware that multiples could be done. That is new data to me. That in effect there is some correction still possible after the initial heart muscle cuts. That is actually hopeful info. Early on it was a one and done deal.

What about the chest cracking? Is it the same as open heart, or less invasive?

Wife has bouts of shut down, breathing, etc, hard to define the cause with the Afib and Parkinson's combined and she takes sleep meds.

An ablation is a procedure where they go through the arteries in your groin and to your heart. Think of it as basically carterizing sections in your heart to alter the electrical paths. When you are in A-Fib the current is basically like a dog chasing its tail and not going through each chamber correctly......therefor the heart is not contracting and pumping blood fully (the explanation given to me anyway).

Yes, sometimes multiple ablations are needed to correct it totally. My doctor said he has done 11 of them on one guy over a 20 year period. He claims once you have A-fib that you will always have it and it could re-occur at anytime. Some things trigger it more, such as alcohol usage, sleep apnea, etc....the more you change some of the habits that can contribute to it the less likely it is to re-occur.

I have has PVC's s and PAC's for 40+ years. No afib yet, but they put a 24/7 loop recorder inside my chest that satellite downloads every night at midnight to watch if and when afibs start. I am on Plavix blood thinner. Had a stroke a year and a half ago. Future does notlook real good. 3-4 problems with my heart.

Last May I had a funny feeling in my chest right before bed, not pain, just felt funny. Checked my blood pressure, BP machine also does pulse, it showed 130, but it didn't feel abnormal to me. Finally, wife took me to ER. Around here, when an old guy shows up with something funny in his chest, they go right to work. Didn't take long to diagnose A-fib. They kept me there total of 17 hours, doing testing, asking questions. Finally determined it was alcohol induced (I'd had a bit more than usual to drink that evening. Not what I'd consider a lot, but a bit more than my one nightly drink.)

They sent me home with a monitor stuck to my chest and kept track of everything my heart was doing for a couple of weeks. After that, I went to see the cardiologist. He told me my heart was fine. Said it can be alcohol induced, can be a cumulative thing, no problem for years, but then... He said he felt very confident in telling me that if I no longer consumed alcohol, I'd never have a recurrence. He said the head of cardiology has the same problem and, maybe once a year, gets a spectacular bottle of wine and has one glass.

Since that time, 9 months ago, I've had no alcohol other than when I got my wife a spectacular bottle of wine for Valentine's Day and I had about a 4 ounce glass of it. No problems at all. (also sleep better, wake up better, save probably $100 - $150 a week and have lost a bit of weight.)

Some solid information posted on here. It is not something to fool around with/ignore, unless you are okay with the potential consequences!

I don't deal with any doctor that gets pissy. I'm there for advice. I can take it or leave it. Let me decide if I want the meds, the side effects or just deal with it.

Moms a fib was not able to stop any way around. But when she finally shut up, and listened to me, she learned to go to her mental calm place and relax to get it to get back into rhythm.

I don't envy anyone with it. Best of luck.

The part to remember is all of our futures look the same at some point. As long as you know where you are going when you die and you are happy with it, live on. Live it the best you can until its over.

I had it for years and didn’t know what it was. Cardio verted 2 or 3 times and it never worked for long. Had the ablation procedure 12 years ago and wouldn’t use the c-pap so it came back. Another ablation 2 or 3 years later and so far it’s good. Take Multaq and bisoprolol. For years when I didn’t know what I had my pulse rate was over 100 constantly. I have a prescription for Xarelto but I live too dangerously for that so I don’t take it.

I had sleep arena bad, would stop breathing, said it caused the afib, on the c-pap machine, and do take a baby spring every day! So far good!

Coffee seems to be part of it for me too.

I had a bout of atrial fluttering last year. I was feeling a bit off for a few days - dizzy when I stood up suddenly mainly. Things came to a head when I came home one day needing a lie down, and when I got up I felt wobbly and then dropped like I was headshot. Syncope they call it. Apparently I hit the floor with a bit of a thud, though I was only out for a few seconds. I ended up spending a few days in hospital, wired up with numerous electrodes. Things stabilised there with medication - Amiodorone, Eliquis and Metoprolol, so I was sent home.

I was booked in the following Monday for cardioversion, but after they shaved my chest and attached the electrodes they found that my rhythm and other signs were completely normal, so I was sent home without the jolt. I had one brief episode in the following weeks, which resolved without any issue within a couple of days, and it was enough to suggest that slugging down way too many double espressos and forgetting to eat all day was a bad combination.

Happily this whole experience also confirmed that I don't have any heart issues apart from this. Arteries are clear too. The doctor has me take Eliquis and a half dose of Metoprolol just in case though. FWIW I understand that the latter is banned in shooting competition because it helps with steadiness, so there's that.

I got Vfib out of the blue while driving-which is very deadly. I passed out on the freeway while driving with no warning and luckily had people with me. got 4 shocks in the ambulance. less than 10% make it if you don't get shocked within 2-3 minutes- I was at plus 10 minutes. Almost 2 month post incident with an icd (pacemaker and difibulator). Not sure what the future holds yet.

I was healthy and have no blockage or other damage to my heart. Very frustrating. Only 51.

I had one of them ablation thingy's. It gave me a case of purple crotch......

Dang!

That's a bruise!

I'm sorry you had that bruise Huntsman, but I'm more sorry you showed it to me.
My heart cath was through the wrist. No bruise. Doctor sounded disappointed when he announced that I don't need a stent. That must be some gold plated chicken wire.

Looking up AFib and reading the info on sites like Mayo clinic don't give as much as this thread. I appreciate all of your inputs.

That is actually a sudo-aneurism, should have gone in for a sonogram. The artery puncture dd not seal off properly, bled into the tissue and then the blood went back into the artery. You are lucky it apparently, resealed by itself. If not, you might have been like I was, with a large purple butt cheek. Had to do the sonogram, live, with an injection into the point of bleed to shut down the femoral artery bleed into the tissue. Emergency room surgeon did the procedure, I got to be the object of a whole hospital teaching moment, all the nurses lined up to look at my groin, I told them I was a old GI and not much embarrasses me. So layng naked on a table with a line of nurses right out into the hall. Dr said 99% of the nurses only ever see the sudo-aneurism in a book. Did not even make a date.

I had over two dozen heart caths, so one deal of about 27-28 is not so bad.

Sounds like the procedure they now call AB is or may not be all that bad compared to open heart surgury and is much better than a stroke with permanent brain damage.

Gotta ask. Covid shots or not?

Yeah V-Fib mo worser then A-Fib. V-Fib will take you out, A-Fib more of a nuisance, well unless it leads to a stroke. You’re fortunate your ambulance crew was on top of their game.

DF

Yep, I bled like a stuck pig. One side was about the size of a quarter, the other side bled quite a bit. I bruised all the way to my junk and down my thigh some. When the nurses cleaned me up they used 3 wipes about the size of a paper towel. They came back soaked. I washed more off when I got home and showered. I did get the sonogram and had a hematoma at the sight that went away after a couple weeks. I am due for another ablation on March 28.