Isn’t that what Southern women do in the morning before breakfast?
A friend had it done, and it seems to have helped. No side effects in his case. Sorry, but that’s all I know.
Two of my friends have had it with great success......my other friend was a cardiovascular nurse and also thought it was a great procedure with minimal complications....go for it.....
There is a professional golfer named David Toms. He was playing a round in a tournament and his heart raced so badly he passed out. They life flighted him out and stabilized him. He had Afib too. They snaked the cathter in and abated the node that was firing wrong ( or near the node) and he has been fine since. Google him.
It generally is very effective but like all medical procedures there is some risk (rather low risk) and no guarantee of long term success. In hands of experienced electrophysiologist (heart doc specializing in cardiac rhythm disorders) it’s very effective and if successful, it’s much preferable to taking long term blood thinners!
Calex, there a couple of problems with leaving atrial fibrillation untreated. First, the atrium is not contracting normally and this leaves blood to stagnate in it and frequently coagulate. The clots formed in this way can be ejected into the brain and cause strokes. This can be treated by anticoagulation with aspirin or other anticoagulants. Second, the failure of the atrium to contract normally in AF, can reduce cardiac output. In an otherwise healthy individual, this is not a big deal but if someone has other heart problems, as people with atrial fibrillation often do, it can reduce cardiac output to the point of causing significant symptoms. Ablation is the use of an electrical stimulus to destroy the abnormally firing pacer in the atrium that is causing atrial fibrillation. There are medications that can reduce heart rate if one has atrial fibrillation but there are not without their own problems. Ablation is generally very well tolerated and effective. I would much rather have this procedure than live with untreated atrial fibrillation.
It can have a minor impact on the performance of one valve down the line. They've been learning more about that and cardio-surgeons can take steps to minimize the problem.
My father had been at a total loss about what to do with his heart for many years. Some doctors wanted to slow it down, others wanted to speed it up, others said there was nothing short of a transplant to help out, or maybe the addition of a very complex device similar to a pacemaker but with more bells and whistles.
(SEE DICK CHENEY).
One day I discovered that a type of Bradycardia/Tachycardia is symptomatic of having one of three different alleles of a gene frequently found among Sa'ami, with one very bad version found exclusively in a small group (500) living mostly in Scandinavia. These people had a number of other alleles typically found among Sa'ami, particularly the favorite medical test group of all time, the 500 Skolt who live in Finland.
I told him to find people who were interested in eliminating an extra sinus node that fired his heart muscle up out of sequence with the other sinus node.
Almust unbelievably he found an advertisement in a local paper that said Dr. so and so and his buddies had opened up a new practice in Bloomington Indiana to treat exactly this problem.
He made an appointment with them. They took him off all medication and gave him a couple of weeks to get the aspirin and other drugs out of his system. Then, he went in for the procedure and walked out of there a new man TWO HOURS LATER.
We have improved our genealogical records immensely after that time ~ NO ONE had any knowledge of an origin in Scandinavia for any of the ancestors. Now we know it's most of them, and among the Sa'ami, not the Norse.
I"ve found distant cousins with the same problem ~ usually involving more than one member of the family, and directed them to doctors who know what to do.
This is not without risk, nor is it perfect, but it's far better than being crippled!
I talked to a lady a couple of months ago, and she had to have it done twice. I believe this is done by catheter, so it’s not too bad to go through.
Have u tried Multaq? It's a new, very effective anti-arythmic.
Also, ensure the physician/electrophysiogist does at least 70 of these procedures per year. Statistically much better results with surgeon who does more than 70
Cleveland Clinic has great reputation but there is also a surgeon in Oklahoma City / Norman, OK associated with OU who is going it via a new access route who is having great success
Tool luck
I had the opportunity as a nursing student to observe an A-Fib atrial ablation. It was fascinating. There is a whole team to oversee the care of the patient.
There is so much equipment in the procedure room to tract the patient and to assist the doctor that it looks like a Best Buy store gone bad. The procedure took about 4 hours to complete. I was surprised how quickly the patient came out of the anesthetic after it was all over. The guy was up and talking to the doctor about 15 minutes after we were done.
The patient has to lie flat and be still for several hours after the procedure to ensure that the femoral arteries don’t start bleeding. But that is the same issue when you have an angioplasty.
I had cardio ablation to resolve a SVT problem. It was very interesting experience. Laying on a table surrounded by computer monitors your put half out but aware. They insert through a vein in your upper thigh then wind their way to the inside of you heart. It is a little uncomfotable but not painful. On mine they spent some time mapping out the heart to find the place to burn. They induced the SVT (minor) to confirm the spot then burned it. After the burn they injected large dose of adrenalin to stimulate the heart and trigger any episode to prove the burn was good. That was the hardest part. Strapped down flooded with adrenalin sweating, heart racing and creating sensations like your running a hard mile. Once they are satisfied burn works they bring you down remove the probes and close the small incision. Several times during the procedure the affects to the drugs started wearing off and I would notify the nurse per instruction that I was starting to give a shit about what was going on and she would juice me a little more.
Post op was mostly concerned with the incision not bleeding or infecting and no exercise to let the heart recover. After a couple weeks can return slowly to normal exercise routines . ( I road bike so was eager to get back on the bike)
Mechanically things were good, The head in another story. It is easy to mind lock on the heart for every bobble and trigger anxiety. Took me a while to get my head strait about what happened and where my body was now at.
The SVT has never recurred but I do have increased occurrences of irregular beats ( pre beats sometimes called) These as you probably know even if not life threatening are troubling when they increase in frequency. I regular see my cardioologist and had had a harness on a couple of times with the prebeats so still under observation for those. Had to concede to a beta blocker which really slows down the cycling in the hills but being alive is a good thing...
All in all it was a strange experience with more dimensions than I originally contemplated but stoping the heart from randomly racing off to over 220 bpm for no reason was worth it.
hope this helps
My mother was to have it but wasn’t stable enough. As others have stated relatively low risk, especially when you consider life time warfrin or prodaxa.
My friend had it done and it was wonderful for her. She was going to the emergency room often - they could knock her heart back into rhythm with meds - it was terrifying.
She met with the specialist once, went in the hospital one morning and was out by the afternoon. She only had a headache from the meds.
After the ablation, all that fear and worry is gone and her heart has been perfect for several years. She has had no side effects.
I have Afib,Let me know how you make out. Sick of the Coumadin and Digoxin and still get the flutters.
I had AFib in 2005. I converted back chemically, but the plan WAS to Cardiovert me. Compared to Ablation, Cardioversion is SCARY.
Basically, they kill you by stopping your heart... wait 30 seconds. . .then try to jump-start you using the usual paddles. 1 time in 20, you stay dead.
Hope it goes well for you....
My son had the ablation done in late January. A doctor had recommended it when he was 18, but he refused to have it done. He has been an RN, a combat medic and a SWAT team medic. It finally became too much of an issue (passing out) and he had the procedure done. The procedure itself was a success but it turns out the afib was in part his body compensating for neurocardiac syncope which is still resisting any kind of resolution.
Different doctors have different success rates with the procedure. Look for a rock star doctor and God bless.
I had an Ablation done in 2006 due to a very fast heart rate that they couldn’t slow down with medications. (120)
They knew what the hell they were doing... One night in the hospital and I was home with no restrictions what so ever. My heart rate immediately went down to the mid sixties and has remained there since.
I had the procedure done a little over 4 years ago for atrial flutter. Didn’t have much in the way of symptoms except that I had fainted a few times (probably a total of 3 all early in the morning, shaving, etc.) over a few years before that. Might add that I have done a morning run on fairly regular basis since we moved here in 1969. One time my chest at the lower edge of my ribs was sore on one side & it was uncomfortable running. The diagnosis was pneumonia and after the antibiotic treatment, the Dr. was doing a follow up exam and had me get an ekg. The results were somewhat similar to those shown here: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/757549-overview
He told me that that extra sawtooth waveform was not supposed to be there. The electrical heart doctor cured it with the ablation process. My heart rate had been pretty low (due to good physical condition) & they put in a pacemaker & set it at 60. I was not necessarily convinced that the pacemaker was necessary, since it runs all the time due to the natural low heart rate. The first pacemaker lasted a little over 4 years and I found out that you can learn a lot of interesting things from the pacemaker technician while they are downloading information from the old unit and setting up the new one.
Ablation Procedure: They put you out for the procedure. Mine was held in a room with 4 large monitors overhead, one showing the ekg. Don’t remember what the others were, but one is probably like an x-ray. They run the microwave cable up from your groin to your heart.
I came home the next day for Thanksgiving dinner. (Homemade beat hospital food). As far as I can tell, the atrial flutter is gone & I have not fainted since the procedure. My recovery was probably extended due to the installation of the pacemaker.
An advantage in having a pacemaker is that it records “episodes”. Its sort of like a continuous ekg.
Don’t know if this helps. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
I had RF ablation surgery 12 years ago, to correct recurring episodes of tachycardia. My heart rate would take off to 200 bpm. I was awake during the procedure, with only very mild sedation. The scope probe was inserted in one side of my leg and the tool was inserted in the other.
First, the cardio electrophysiologist triggered the tachycardia and mapped the electrical path of the short circuit. Next, he burned the short circuit connection with the RF probe, just like cutting a wire. I could feel my heart take off during the testing.
There was no pain with this procedure. I don’t recall how long the surgery took. After it was over, I had no more tachycardia events.
About 6 years after the surgery, I developed an occasional irregular heart beat. This was found while I was preparing to have rotator cuff surgery. This problem was deemed to be not serious, and I was cleared for anesthesia on this and a couple of other occasions since.
I chose the RF ablation option instead of trying medicines, which might or might not have worked, to control the tachycarda. The doc said he could fix the problem, and he did. I would have the surgery again.
Good luck with your condition and with the surgery if you decide to have it.
USN40VET