Moving forward

Three days post my AV node ablation, have had bad nights with HR up in the 90's still and also very aware of my pulse, feels too strong(can't think how to discribe it).Suppose it will be down to the new way my heart is working. However I know things take a while to settle, so staying positve and trying to find info on getting back to fittnes without causing undue strain on my confused heart.don't want to cause/bring on any more problems.

Hospital seemed to warn you on not doing too much in relation to the wound in you leg but nothing about the heart. Have read in some posts about working to a percentage of your upper limit, any info or good websites would be appretiated. Also do these fitbit monitor type things help, not a runner so not really sure if they would be of much use.

Feel very nervous in trying to get going again, but will start with baby steps.

Cheers Janex

2 Comments

Ablation Post Op

by Artist - 2016-07-16 15:14:13

I had my ablation on May 27th and it took 4 hours for the pulmonary vein isolation (4 veins in the left atrium). They said the procedure was a success but that it will take up to three months for the ablations to heal and the scar tissue to fully form.  That scar tissue theoretically isolates the areas of the heart that produce the errant signals that cause AFIB. Considering that,  it will take some time before you experience the full benefits of your procedure.  Gradually increase your activity and see how you feel.  Try not to obsess and fixate on heart rate.  Since you are  not a runner,  my personal opinion is that a Fitbit is an over reaction.  Part of healing is just getting on with life, and  not constantly thinking about your heart.  If you start to feel light headed, or have noticeable arrythmias, put a BP cuff on and check it out.  Your heart rhythm is recorded by your PM and will be available for diagnostic purposes when they interrogate it during follow up appointments.

Ablation 4 months out

by aussieray - 2016-07-19 06:47:27

Hi just thought I'd add a comment, all be it a little late. I had a cardiac ablation on the 15th of March this year for atrial fibrillation and can only say that over here in Sydney Australia, the thing that was told to me was that it could take anywhere from 3 to 6 months for the heart to fully get over being mucked around with. For me, at the 2 month stage, I started gently walking about half a mile or so each day and noticed that I was very short of breath. This concerned me a bit and on questioning the EP I was told to do no more than 5 days a week at a pace that I could walk and talk at the same time for about 30 minutes each day. I did this and have continued to see improvements in the shortness of breath, stamina to walk further and slowly building my heart rate up to a cardio workout stage ( about 109 beats a minute). I now walk in that half hour time about 1 and a half miles and actually I'm starting to feel more like I was before the ablation. My ablation has caused me to feel some funny heart beat sensations at times, but they say this is all part of having someone zap your heart in multiple locations and with time it will subside. I have been constantly tested for recurrence of my afib and so far there is no sign (the pacemaker does a great job of recording all those beats), I have suffered from some ectopic beats ( about 200 or so a day) but they too are dropping off, except when the anxiety hits and I get an increase again. I do use a Fitbit HR for my walks, but I am not obsessive with it, I just really use it to see how far I've walked and how hard I am pushing my heart into the cardiac workout zone. Hope everything is going ok with your recovery.

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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.