And frankly, they will bring me into the cath lab first to look for blockages. If anyone had experience there, I'd like to hear it.
Thanks in advance.
I can only speak for my personal experience. About 20 years ago I started having an arrhythmia.
Ablation helped but it was not a panacea by any stretch. However medical technology in regards to ablation has progressed a great deal, so your odds of benefiting are much better.
What remained after the ablation turned out to be properly controllable by medication. I have not had any issues for almost 20 years.
My father had a defibrillator implanted around the time I first started having issues. All I can tell you is that he seem to deal well with it and that it saved his life. For several reasons, the doctor told me that I was not a good candidate for a pacemaker so I consider myself extremely fortunate that medication has subdued the symptoms that remained after ablation.
This is an extremely stressful thing to deal with, but I can tell you that more than likely you are stressing more than it deserves. Wish I can tell you from personal experience is probably not going to help you much to hear that
There are several kinds of ablations. The two that I examined in detail were radiofrequency ablation and cryogenic ablation. The difference between the two is that radiofrequency turns off the cells beating out of sequence byo heat. Cryogenic ablation turns off heart cells beating out of sequence byo cold. My research showed that the success rate for radiofrequency ablations are about 50% whereas the cryogenic ablations success rate is about 70%. So I chose the cryogenic ablation. There are other procedures—but these are the least invasive. The next thing you want to do is find a cryogenic ablation doctor who does the procedure several times a week.As well, that he has been doing so for at least a year. That ensures that your ablation doctor knows what he is doing. All his work is committed to muscle memory. Finding this out takes some research. Do a lot of googling. If you’re rural you may have to go some distance to find a doctor who can do the job. That said, the hospital stay for me was only one day. The procedure is not very invasive. A week later I was back to working out on my regular schedule. To me, it felt like a miracle from God.
Ablation was fine. A bit odd, sort of “drive thru heart surgery”. Was awake thru it. No need for meds after.
Have a pacemaker too. Knocked out for that, nothing odd. Just keep magnets and radio transmitters (cell phone) a few inches away. Have to get pat down at airports.
The valve replacement though…
I had an episode of ventricular fibrillation in 1981. On a Sunday evening I was laying on the living room carpet then the oven bell rang and I got up to take cookies out of the oven. I suddenly felt very weak and could feel my heart racing. I laid back down and it subsided so we went to bed.
I got up for work the next morning and it started again so my wife said to call in sick. The boss thought I was gold bricking. We went to the hospital but no one would look at me until my wife spoke up. Someone came over and put a stethoscope on me and instantly said get a wheel chair. They put the paddles on me and kept me over night. They gave me medication but I only took it a few days. It never came back. They said it was WPW Syndrome, I think, and mentioned ablation if it comes back.
V Tach is nothing to play with. It can easily lead to sudden cardiac death.
Please listen carefully to your cardiologist, and if you still aren’t sure get a second opinion. Ablation is a painless procedure and I’ve had a lot of patients come in to the ER ALIVE instead coming to be pronounced dead thanks to their AICD.
Speaking as an ER doc with over 30 years of experience.
If you are asymptotic then don't worry about it anyhow. Many persons who do have A Fib become distressed and it can be unsettling. Likely as many would never even realize that they have A Fib if the Physician did not inform them.
It is an invasive procedure typically requiring access through the Femoral Artery. That can seem to be daunting though it is pretty much painless.
My Physicians have certainly discouraged me from having it done. They prefer to Rx Meds such as anticoagulants or Blood Pressure maintainers.
I have not had one but certain family members have and they are glad for that.
Hope that helps.
I’ve had personal experience with both, ablation therapy and my now 2nd ICD.
They both saved my life and well could save yours.
There is a lot of upside and very little downside.
Have a frank discussion with your MD and take it from there.
I was hospitalized for v-tach 25 years ago. The doctor talked about implanting a pacemaker. The head nurse on ICU thought she was cheering me up by telling me that “they could keep me going another 2 or 3 years”. They woke me up a couple of times in the middle of the night to give me potassium, so I knew I had low potassium which is a muscle mineral. When I got home I insisted on a prescription for Effer-K 25 mEq and take one a day. I also buy on-line liquid Magonate, a muscle relaxant mineral, and take one tsp. per day. Never needed the pacemaker. I’m 81.
Had all my work done at Johns Hopkins ... couldn’t have asked for better care.
No issues with sleeping whatsoever. The ICD is there only when you actually need it for the V-Tac but will also pace when needed.
They now have MRI compatible ICDs ... ask for that if you think you’ll every need a MRI for any reason in the future.
I had an incident last October. I was walking a dog for my neighbor, and woke up in the hospital 10 hours later.😬
My arrhythmia also originated in the left ventricle. I had many cardiology tests and still not really sure, but what helped me is a beta blocker(metoprolol) and a low dose aspirin. I have a lower ejection fraction and maybe some early heart failure (age 63,female), otherwise, coronaries and carotids were clear, so yay for that. They said I didn’t need a defibrillator or pacemaker. Ventricular arrhythmias are scary tho, less wiggle room I feel.
Had A-fib for 7-8 years. That’s the price I paid for hard living in my 20’s and 30’s. Would I do it differently if I could...absolutely!!! Finally told my Dr. I could not take the side effects from ameoderone. 1st ablation did not work. 2nd (after 6 months) did the trick. 7-8 hours under with general. This was a long time ago (1993). I was told at the time the A -fib would probably return in 6-7 years. Never did.
However, since then i had a triple bypass 4 years ago), and a pacemaker (6 months ago). Lost 50 lbs, down to 175 and feeling pretty good. Turn 75 next week. Retired and living the dream.
Good luck and go for it. Heart surgery is almost routine now. Risk is very low. Go to the best hospital you can find. I went to Tufts medical in Boston. My GP was at Mass General, and she sent me to Tufts. I am in Houston now, and the medical care is first rate.
Suffered from atrial, not ventricular, fibrillation for 20 years before getting an ablation in 2006 as a 60 some year old. Had to repeat the procedure in 2008 and have been basically happy with the results since then. Getting off medication was a big plus. The one negative I’ve experienced is the inability to raise my heartbeat beyond a certain point, resulting in being short winded while exercising vigorously. I was okay if I paced myself but sprints were out of the question. Now into my 70’s I can easily take a 3 mile walk without any shortness of breath.
Go ahead and get the ICD. Your life will be shorter without one. VF could occur at any time and your chances of survival if it happens outside of a hospital setting are very, very small.
My brother had it done. Changed his life for the better.
Diagnosed with Afib in 2012 at age 60. Totally asymptomatic. Electrophysiologist thinks I had it for a couple of years before it was found during a routine physical. I was put on a calcium blocker and Xarelto. No issues until 2015. Went in for a physical and was found to have a 194 heart rate and 5% ejection fraction. Had no idea. I stayed in the hospital for 5 days. During this time they did a cath, found 25-30% blockage which they were all very happy with for an overweight 63 y/o male, meat, butter and cheese eater. When I left I was wearing a defibrillation vest and on a low sodium diet. Wore the vest for six month (still trying to stick to a “lower” sodium diet) at which time I had an echo and was found to have recovered to 50% EF and took off the vest. There was talk of a pacemaker during the six month I wore the vest, but since my EF recovered it was tabled. Never offered ablation. I’m presently on a beta blocker, Xarelto and Losartan, and wear a Garmin smart watch to monitor the HR since I’m asymptomatic.
Last Echo was in 2017 and the EF is still 51-52%. My Cardiologists think the heart rate just went off the rails, their term, and that is what caused the EF to drop and why I was presenting with CHF symptoms. Those are all gone now that HR is staying “normal” (RHR is in the mid 70’s.) Have had no problems in the last 6 years, but do see my cardiologist yearly. Afib runs in my family as does CHF, but my mom lived to 93 (died of a stroke) and her sister made it to 96 (died from a heart attack), so I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Cycle through a few of these YouTube videos, you may find some answers here.
https://www.umms.org/find-a-doctor/profiles/dr-stephen-r-shorofsky-md-1124068721
Here in MD were are blessed with two of the top hospitals in the nation. Johns Hopkins and UMMS. Each video will continue on to the next if you stay with it.
Ablation should in my opinion be your last resort. My wife has atrial fib and has considered cardiac ablation. He younger brother with the same hereditary atrial fib had ablation with mixed results. He had to have a second ablation and a pacemaker. If your arythmia can be controlled by medication try that route. My wife had an excreting tumor on her adrenal gland found by at the Mayo clinic that affected her heart and which has been treated by medication.
If ablation is your option have a second opinion and by all means have the procedure done by a physician who specializes in electrophysiology at a major heart center not some regional hospital
I had a heart attack in 1990 and a defibrillator implanted in 2008, which was replaced with a pacemaker/defibrillator about 18 months later, so I have some experience with these.
I don’t really know much about ablation though. There is a procedure that my doctors thought I might need to combat arrhythmia but it would make me “device dependent” and I wasn’t too thrilled with that. If that’s ablation then ask about being “device dependent”.
But don’t sweat a defibrillator. My devices have triggered 4 times and saved me for sure at least once, though I might’ve pulled out of the other 3. Honesty compels me to tell you that being shocked by one of these things hurts like a sonofabitch! But it’s quick and over with shortly. If you do get shocked I’d advise you to go to the emergency room or your doctor’s office right away to get checked out. The manufacturers have representatives and they can come in and read data from your device which may be helpful to your cardiologist (and you).
You might need medication as well. A few years ago I was having considerable atrial fibrillations, about 3 per minute and the pacemaker wasn’t completely eliminating them. So they prescribed Amiodarone and that helped a lot.
Good luck.