long QT questions!

Hi everyone! I've been having a very rough 3 months. Almost constant tachycardia, lots of a fib that triggers my defibrillator, dizziness, etc. It got to the point where getting out of bed would have my heart go into the 160's and trigger the a-fib. So I got an ablation done yesterday. I feel amazing!!! Totally different! Except for one thing.... I am having massive amounts of chest pain. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled I can walk to the restroom without needing to take a break half way there. But this pain is something else. My ablation took about 4 hours, and I was conscious the whole time, and of course I felt everything. I'll get to my questions, finally. If you have long QT, did your ablation help, or did you have to get it repeated? Did you have pain afterwards? Any advice? I'm 27 with a very active life and a 6 month old baby, I'd like to return to normal.

2 Comments

Ablation for LQT?

by golden_snitch - 2015-03-18 03:03:43

I don't think you'll find anyone here who had an ablation to treat Long QT Syndrome. An ablation is no therapy for this syndrome. Long QT is usually congenital/ heriditary, it's a result of a mutation of several genes. It can also be drug related. But there is really no cause for LQTS that can be ablated. Only treatment is a defibrillator and betablockers.

So, I guess you had the ablation to treat your Afib, in the best case stop it completely or at least reduce the episodes. Pulmonary vein isolations (PVI), the ablation procedure to treat Afib, often takes several tries. Haven't had this myself, but not quite a few patients who needed two or three procedures. Success rate after one procedure are somewhere between 40%-60%, with a second or third procedure they reach about 80%.

I have had several ablations to treat all kinds of supraventricular arrhythmias, and I remember having chest pain after the long procedures. I was told it's because of the catheters irritating tissue and tissue being burned during the ablations. Usually didn't last longer than 1-2 days.

Hope you feel better soon!

Thank you!

by JoFosqk226 - 2015-03-19 06:03:17

Thanks for your response!! I suppose I wasn't very clear with my question. I was still on meds when I wrote it! Part of my LOT are those obnoxious arrhythmias that I had ablated. I know it can't cure LQT, though that would be wonderful. Mine is genetic, so there is no getting rid of it, no matter what I try. I had to stay in the hospital a couple of extra days because of other cardiac issues, but it turns out that my terrible chest pain is severe paricarditis. I have gotten it before with one of my ICD placements. I appreciate you taking the time to respond to my post!

Jo

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But I think it will make me feel a lot better. My stamina to walk is already better, even right after surgery. They had me walk all around the floor before they would release me. I did so without being exhausted and winded the way I had been.