I am scheduled to go in for a ablation on May 8th. I have only had one episode that took me to the ER but the constant worrying and changing my lifestyle has me more motivated to do the procedure. I postponed my last scheduled date. I just want to get a perspective on why the people here that have not done the ablation but are still suffering made the choice not to do it even though it could cure you. My biggest fear is that you are mostly awake and the doctor giving Meds and playing with the heart seems very anxiety provoking and I have to come off Metoprolol which will also be uncomfortable. I am leaning toward just doing it and hope it fixes it. What is your story on why you don't want to do it or why you did it?
I stRted having frequent episodes. I would have them driving and had to stop and have an ambulance pick me up. It was causing me Not to drive for fear of having an accident. My lifestyle was being brought down by the SVT. I had the ablation and so glad I did. I was completely asleep during my ablation and was glad I was.
Hi Linda, My name is Ken, Maxine is my wife.
I had an Ablation just over 3 1/2 years ago, I am now nearly 79 years of age young. I decided not to have any sedation. The whole procedure took just one hour, it was for Atrial Flutter, I had no previous Symptoms and was put on Warfarin for 6 months beforehand.
The Ablation was a complete success, but my consultant did say that it could come back as Atrial Fibrillation and it did after 2 years, shortly afterwards I had a severe stroke but my wife noticed it straight away and I was in surgery within the hour to remove a clot, I was out of Hospital after 5 days with no problems whatsoever and just continued with my life.
By the time you read this you will have had your Ablation, you did not say if it was for A/ Flutter or A/ Fib. Whichever I hope it went well and you are much better.
Best wishes Ken.
HI, My doctor told me she needs me only slightly sedated to induce what she needs to. I have never had surgery before so being put out scares me also but being awake feeling all the anxiety feelings doesn't sound fun either. Anybody that was awake that can report how it was would be great.
Heya! My situation is very similar to yours. I have also had one attack in January seeing me admitted to A&E with a heart rate of 220/240bmp. After I was diagnosed with SVT and recommended ablation. I have now been booked in for one on the 24th of April. I went last Thursday as I wasn’t sure I wanted it done. I spoke to a nurse and with everyone in my life (apart from my partner) telling me I should have it I have decided to do it. I’m also terrified about it for all the reasons you have stated . I’m so anxious about it I’m even worried I won’t be able to go through with it.
Hey Rick like you I had 1 episode when I found out I had SVT. I had an ablation done and it made my bpm rest at 52 so I elected to get a pacemaker to regulate it when necessary and I've been o the road to recovery ever since. I'm thankful and I'm back to my normal routine. Just getting used to having a device . Good luck with everything.
Hi, how did it feel when they started to speed up your heart and give you adrenaline. Do you feel like you are going to panic or is it feel ok?
I hear you, I hope it is just not as bad as we play it up in our minds. I go back and forth all the time. The thing that is motivating me is I get short episodes to remind me it is hanging out there. The beta blocker makes me tires and dizzy and I am passing on thing I want to do like wine tasting because I worry it will induce a attack. So those are the motivating factors but I am thinking about it everyday.
I hope so! 😨 it doesn’t seem to be affecting my life right now that’s why I’m so undecided, I have had two brief eps where my resting heart was 130bmp but not for long. I have been given beta blockers as a ‘pill in the pocket’ for use when I feel I need it but since Jan haven’t felt the need to so currently not taking any meds . I’m scared to have the ablation because I don’t want it to affect my life more after getting it done then it is now. I’m also thinking about it all the time!
HI, my Pulse is at 49 to 52 everyday because of the Toprol XL and I exercise. Were you awake during the ablation? How was getting a pacemaker was that hard?
Hey Rick I had general local anesthesia during my ablation and when my heart rate stayed at 52 I asked what I could do to fix this so I never have another SVT, my doctor gave me 2 options, the beta blockers or the pacemaker. I took the pacemaker because I didn't want to mess around with a whole bunch of different pills to see what would work. Having the pacemaker the recovery time is 1 week or so. Most difficult is getting used to having something in your chest. I'm can go living my life as normal including exercise etc... and not worry about going into an episode. The pacemaker will regulate it. Other than that if my heart is beating at normal rate it backs off and let's the heart work on it's own. I'm happy I made the decision. I'm only 50 and have so much more life in me to live and don't want to do it taking a bunch of prescription meds.
I hear you about the Meds and living with it, I am 47 and want to exercise hard and travel. At first I was thinking I could just take the Meds and live with it but I am finding it is just hanging over you everyday. My EP doctor said it just hides out and it will find a time to come out at the time you don't want it to the most.
Exactly. I'm about to move from Pa. to the state of Florida and reinvent myself and live, travel etc.. I'm glad my EP doctor gave me an alternative. My heart muscles were strong and my arteries were clear as a bell. Had a catheter done after the ablation to check for a blockage. 1 and only SVT and no more. It takes alot outta ya
How did you get them to go back and check for blockage? I eat really good but have no HDL good cholesterol so I am on statins and a Coronary Calcium score showed some calcium in there. I would like to find out the condition of the arteries also.
Well during my ablation he had to burn more than one vein and in the process he thought he saw a blockage, so he scheduled me foe a catheter the next day to make sure they didn't have to do a stent but I was all clear. Heart muscles were very strong valves pumping properly and arteries were clean so they didn't have to do anything.
I think it depends how symptomatic your svt is and how much anxiety it causes. I got diagnosed last year, had a couple of very long episodes and ended up in the emergency DPT with a heart beat if up to 200 BPM. But since being diagnosed I stop drinking coffee which was a trigger, and now I know how to stop the episodes they don't really bother me. On average a get about one a week, my heart goes quite fast as I said up to 200, but now a do all the things I've been told to do (strain, cough, splash cold water on face etc) and it tends to stop after 10 mins at the most. I don't take beta blockers, but have thrm to hand just in case. Apparently SVT isn't really dangerous, just very uncomfortable. I would not get the operation unless I was really syptomatic..but then I'm 40 at the moment, who knows at 50 or 60 might be a different story. Listen to your heart (no pun intended). Do what feels right for you. Personally I wouldn't want to go to an operation and have doctors doing things to my heart, unless the condition was changing my life, making me unhappy. But it is a minor operation . Watching a documentary on the BBC about people going through heart transplants puts things in perspective for me. Hope that helps!
Hello, here's my take on your situation hope it helps!
Apparently I've had ectopic beats since I was a kid. I remember telling my mom that my heart would just race for a few seconds then go back to normal. Lived with those sensations for years! But it never bothered me and I pressed on in life. Joined the military, became a cop (starred on A&E's LivePD lol), got married, became a dad, got on SWAT team etc. Then....... it happened. I was on the shooting range of all places with some friends of mine from a few different government ABC agencies. I just finished running a course of fire (static shooting, meaning I was just standing there shooting at steel plates, nothing strenuous) it was a competition so I'm sure I was a little amped up and I won the competition! Lol. Anyway, during the course of fire, I had reloaded my weapon. Well after the course of fire was over I bent down to pick up the empty magazine I had dropped (apparently Vaso Vagled myself by bending over) well that weird funny fast ectopic beat hit me. At first I just took a deep breath and figured it would pass. Well, it didn't and it only got faster. So here I am surrounded by some of the most bada** dudes that America has to offer and I didn't want to be that guy that starts being whiny but I knew something wasn't right. So I reached in my pocket grabbed my man card and threw it on the ground! Lol. I grabbed a buddy told him what was going and that I needed to sit down. Well after about 10 mins not gonna lie, I was in full blown panic mode. I thought for sure I was going to die! Luckily the range that I was on that day shares a compound with the fire department recruitment depot so there were multiple medics to me within minutes. I was right around 200bpm. They pulled out the AED and I was like great, I'm dying somebody please call my wife. So, the ambulance shows up hook me up to an EKG and began transport to the ER. By the time I reached the ER (15 minute drive) it had broke and I felt fine aside from being the most anxious and anxiety feeling I've ever had in my life. The ER said oh you had a panic attack, heres some Xanax, now go home. I was LIVID!!! My wife brings me home, and she just so happens to be a Critical Care Surgical/Trauma RN and conveniently, regularly works with an EP cardiologist!! So, I make my appointment and he tells me that he reviewed my paperwork and SVT is the answer. He explained the different pathways of SVT and apparently I had an easy one that's easy to fix. So I said let's do it (ablation) because I never want to feel like that again!!!! So bam, get the ablation..... during my ablation, doc couldn't find the pathway so he induces it with adrenaline pretty much. I was knocked out for the ablation and that adrenaline woke me up. I remember waking up feeling like I couldn't pick my head up and not a care in the world pretty much If I had to imagine being really high. And I went back to sleep. Then, I woke up again only this time I was looking around still not a care in the world and my nurse said hey buddy we will pick you back out just close your eyes and off into la la land I went. When it was all said and done doc told me that when he induced the SVT it got me over 300bpm and put me into Afib that I was cardioverted out of (had some pretty gnarly burn marks on my chest lol) but was assured the procedure went great and was sent home after recovery time of about 3 hours to insure no bleeding at application site in my groin. Honestly the surgery was a piece of cake even all that happened cause I was all juiced up on the feel good mess. after that for about a solid 3-5 months, my life was turned upside down. Absolute misery. Fortunately, I never had SVT thus far but the PVC's were off the chain!!! So then my anxiety starts, and panic attacks too! I've never had an anxiety issue or panic attacks but let me tell you, that was gut check. I feel terrible for people who suffer from that because it sucked!! So doc puts me on Metoporol XL Succinate Extended Release 25mg one pill every 24 hours to take the edge off the PVC's issue. Without a doubt, I believe that I had PVC's before which triggered my SVT attack but now I get them way more often. Doc keeps assuring me that I've always had them I just paid them no mind until now cause I'm so dialed in on what my heart does. I'm convinced the ablation caused them to happen more frequently. I was an avid gym goer super high intensity cardio workouts usually with a weighted vest and outdoor. I could push myself so hard and easily get my heart rate in the 180's and feel fantastic. But now, I haven't stepped foot in a gym because of the fear of PVC's. Fast forward to now, the PVC's have slacked off tremendously and idk if it's the meds for the past 7 months or I've just gotten over my anxiety hump. I've ventured back into working out and training jiu jitsu but nothing like I was doing, yet. So, my advice to you is kinda what everyone else has said, if you feel that you can live with it do it to it but if it's regularly occurring, get the ablation because I haven't had any SVT so it did what it was supposed to do. The PVC's suck but they will subside. I'm still a full time cop and that doesn't help I'm sure because think of it this way. One minute I'm talking to my partner and my resting heart rate is around 57-60bpm then all of a sudden within seconds, I'm close 100 because an alert tone went off of an armed robbery in progress it's literally 0-100 up and down all day long. Stay on the forum they helped me a lot! Good luck! And God Bless!!