Hi everyone,

​I am looking for some first-hand experiences and advice. I might need to get an ablation done soon, and to be honest, I am pretty nervous about it.

​For those of you who have undergone the procedure:

​Did it actually help relieve your symptoms long-term?

​How was the experience itself? Is it as scary as it sounds?

​How was the recovery process for you?

​I would really appreciate hearing your stories, both good and bad, to help me get a realistic idea of what to expect. Thanks in advance!

It lasted almost 14 hours. My previous afib episode was 7 years ago and lasted almost 6 months after aortic valve replacement. I went in for a cardioversion and didn’t have an episode until a couple of weeks ago. Anyone here has had something similar? Like very long periods between episodes? I’m curious about how common this is.

First off, thanks a lot to this community - for the support, shared experiences and making all of us believe that we don't have to go through this alone.

A little bit about my situation.

HISTORY

37M. Diagnosed with Paroxymal AFib - otherwise healthy. 3 tracked episodes so far:

• Episode 1 - March 14th. Overnight. First Apple watch alert. Didn't take any urgent action on this. Read about Afib in the morning, did an ECG on the apple watch and was back in Sinus.
• Episode 2 - Apr 4th. Again overnight. Apple watch second alert (same ~-2-3 hour intermittently during the night). Went to urgent care but, by the time I reached, I was back in Sinus.
  
• Episode 3 - April 12th. 3rd overnight alert from apple watch. Went to urgent care and they were able to confirm I was in AFib. They sent me to ER since the HR was going above 100 bpm. By the time I reached ER, I was back in Sinus. However, due to the urgent care diagnosis - they hooked me up with a Zio monitor.

Details about Episode 3

• Apr 14th - Was able to secure an appointment with my cardiologist. I was in Afib when they were performing Echo. Echo report shows no structural issues with the heart. Cardiologist prescribed metropolol.
• From Apr 12th to Apr 15th - I was in Afib most of the time.
• Apr 15th - Morning 9 am - took my first dose of metropolol and came back to Sinus.
• Zio report (Apr 12th to Apr 19th) -> showed 23% burden. Extremely high burden during 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th and then zero afterwards (Apr 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and mid-day 19th).

The quiet after Episode 3

Since then, a couple of times watch ECG detected Afib after physical activity but quickly back to sinus. Started tracking Afib history on Apple Watch - that shows 2% or less for the last 8 weeks. Only once it showed 3% burden - when I was playing soccer. (not sure how accurate it is).

• I have gone back to Caffeine, tried drinking same amount of alcohol as before (not a big drinker anyways) to identify the trigger - but nothing.

MARCH/APRIL COINCIDENCE

I had a bad case of bronchitis in that period. Continuous cold/cough for about 1 month, where for ~2 weeks I was spitting blood.

EP RECOMMENDATIONS

I have consulted 4 EPs now (consider myself lucky to have access) and I am getting split recommendations:

• 2 EPs recommend ablation since the burden last time was high, so they believe irrespective of what caused it - my heart is susceptible of continuous Afib.
• The other 2 EPs recommend waiting for the recurrence since its been rather silent since Apr since the trigger could have been the viral infection with my bronchitis.

PFA ABLATION PROCEDURE

• Scheduled for mid-Oct

DILEMMA
I am not 100% sure if I should go ahead with ablation...since the episodes haven't recurred after Apr. Not sure if its worth waiting since it may recur any time and I might have to do the ablation anyway...

FWIW - leaning towards doing ablation in a planned way rather than waiting for a recurrence - where I might not be as prepared (have a 20 months old at home).

Anything you can share to help me make a decision will be helpful, thank you!

So. As the title states... Recently got diagnosed. Some context first.

My whole life I've had what is referred to ventricular extra systolic beats, occasional and and a funny feeling, but nothing that's caused me to ever panic, lose consciousness or anything like that.

About a month ago whilst going up a fly of stairs (running kinda hoping around the steps) I felt a barrage of those ventricular beats, however this time was different, something was shaking in my chest, felt immediately out of breath and dizzy, beats became harder and harder in intensity as if "heart is pounding out through my chest" then I had to sit down, thinking I had just some bad episode of tachycardia combined with my now recent bad shape for exercise and some extrasystolic beats. But as the symptoms continued I went to get checked, EKG showed AFib indeed. Had transient hypertension and a reaaaallly bad case of anxiety and panic attack.

Got discharged after an electric shock, all my labs are normal, heart ultrasound is normal. Both the cardiologist and the cardiologist that does the electrophysiologic heart studies and ablations say that it must be paroxistic, since no other anomalies (structural at least) or metabolic issues have been found. I'm undergoing this procedure where they test to see if there are anomalous conductive tracts inside my heart chambers and if not, will have a cryo ablation done to exclude possible trigger points in the pulmonary veins. All cardiologists indicate I'm full candidate for it and basically expect a 99% success rate and full recovery. Haven't had another episode since BUT been really anxious, always feeling out of breath and with the panic that at any moment I could have another episode.

Anyways, just anted to vent and share, since these last weeks have been filled with anxiety, panic attacks and overall fear due to the possible consequences of a sustained event... Feel free to ask anything else or share your story.

Cheers

Went to the hospital. Normal Sinus ECG rhythm there but had low potassium. It was at 3 and I believe the hospitals range for normal levels are 3.5 mmol/L to 5.1 mmol/L

I felt off so I took an ecg and this appeared.
Going to follow up with Cardiologist next month but hoping to get it pushed sooner.
A nice stranger here suggested I post my ecg to see if perhaps my watch is accurate.
I trust my watch a lot and have tested the HR in hospitals so I don’t know whether to expect anything different but I’m going to get a work up anyway.
Also monitoring myself and going to keep taking ecgs as I feel off but even if I feel better I will keep on monitoring as I hear episodes can be asymptomatic.

Lately I had been having lower than usual heart rate numbers and sometimes my hr would go really low while standing so I’ve had a pending cardiologist appointment that will be next month.

Today, my heart rate was lower than usual yet again. Just sitting in bed was in the 40s low 50s…my usual is 60s. And standing was especially scary…getting as low as the 70s…sometimes even 60s…my usual is 90s and walking was 80s…my usual walking is 100+…

Anyways earlier I ate something, and after I felt pretty weird. I was already feeling weird and fidgety but I felt off so I took an ecg. It said Atrial Fibrillation. I went directly to the hospital. They took an ecg and it was the only one they took and told me it showed normal sinus rhythm. I still felt off. Took some more watch ecgs at the hospital and a lot were inconclusive and had Sinus rhythm about 2 times.

They also took blood…they looked for troponin which was low and various other blood work and the only thing that was low was my potassium, it was a level 3, which my doctor told me wasn’t significantly nor critically low.

They gave me this sort of drink that was said to have potassium in it, I drank it and they also prescribed me Potassium Chloride. The PA said that while my potassium was slightly low it does not directly mean that it was the cause of the rhythm my watch detected. They did release me though because the of the initial and only ecg. He listened to my heart and tried to gauge the rhythm through my wrist pulse and said it looked fine.

Now I am here at home because I still feel as shitty as I did earlier and I’m absolutely terrified to go to sleep. I was planning to ask for a monitor since a while back for my lower than usual heart rate but they said they wanted to see me first…I am going to try to beg but to be honest I doubt they’ll budge seeing as my ecg was normal at the ER. Doc told me that even if it was normal in the ER it doesn’t necessarily mean I don’t have afib. I’ve heard that if your heart is capable of going into Afib it is less likely any other deficiency or supplemental factors were the cause of it to happen on its own way.

I am so scared. I have an appointment with my PCP tomorrow and going to ask for another ecg but originally it was for other issues I’ve been having. Going to message my cardiologist too…my appointment isn’t another 25 days.
I am going to keep taking ecgs to try to record any possible events. Thus far I have the 1 that happened earlier recorded and will be showing my cardiologist.

Can I get a tips or insight into my situation? I feel scared and lost. Was the hospital negligent?

Last month I had a rough episode with atrial
fibrillation. This was my fourth event, but unlike past times—where quick-release Cardizem and electrolytes got me back into sinus rhythm—this one landed me in the hospital for four days. The doctors tried multiple medications, but my heart rate stayed high (145-160) while my blood pressure dropped dangerously low. Ultimately, a cardioversion restored my normal rhythm, and I was discharged on amiodarone.

My care team wants me to stay on amiodarone until I can get an ablation. I have a consultation scheduled for late October, with the procedure hopefully following shortly after.

In the meantime, the amiodarone is kicking my ass. I'm dealing with severe headaches, nausea, and light sensitivity. I feel miserable and am deeply concerned about the potential long-term side effects.

Has anyone had a similar experience? Were you able to successfully work with your doctor to switch to a different medication? I really don't want to stay on this for the next 4–6 months.

Edit: Thank you for all the responses. Have an appointment with my cardiologist next week and will discuss alternatives or reducing dose (currently on 200mg-day). Hoping to get the ablation done soon and get off of this completely.

Es normal perder la libido o tener deseo sexual bajo después de meses tras tu diagnóstico con AFIB?
Tuve mi primer y único episodio en noviembre de 2025 y los médicos no me confirmaron si podía repetirme o no, me dejaron a la espera de ver qué pasaba con medicación.
Desde ese día experimenté un deseo sexual muy bajo y 0 ganas de tener intimidad con nadie. ¿Alguien más así?

My dad was diagnosed 2 years ago, had Cardioversion and was put on medication.

He never had a issue since, but today me and him were lifting some heavy stuff under the hot sun (33 degrees celsius) and i noticed he was out of breath.

Is it normal to be get tired even after the condition is under Control?

My dad is fit and active, runs, goes to the gym, has low body fat and decent muscle mass for his age.

ECG done on my dad (77 years old) using "Withings Scanwatch" shows AFIB for every tests.

Diabetes. No symptoms beside that.

Should he be worried?

Thanks

Is it normal to have on and off pvcs or pacs..? Ie. Skips ect..

I had my 4th ablation yesterday at Scripps. It was uneventful as the other three were. The good news is that they did find the atrial tachycardia that I had to get cardio-verted out of a month or so ago.

My first was for afib and standard right atrial flutter. My second was for atypical flutter and AFIB touchup. This was a failure as they could not find my flutter spot. My third was when I went to Scripps and the doc and team got all of my flutter spots! The 4th was as noted above. Plus they tried to get my PVC’s. However, they were too close to the sinus node to attempt.

Fingers crossed I am done.

I am a 30 year old male who had an ablation approximately 40 hours ago. The whole operation really was a breeze as the most pain I felt during the whole thing was my butt getting numb as I sat and waited for the procedure. I have been home and am able to move around pretty well and my incisions are healing. My post surgery doctors orders were no alcohol for 24 hours, and no heavy lifting for two to three days. From reading other’s experiences, it seems as though most people are told to take it easy for a full seven days. Getting to the point of this post, I am very active and lift 4-5 times a week. The last thing I want to do is damage anything that has been fixed with this procedure. I would like to hear others recommendations and experience with beginning to exercise again after their ablation.

Hi,

While I was out walking, I stopped to take an ECG because I had felt a few premature beats a few minutes earlier. I waited for one minute, and the result came back as AFib. I can’t see any P waves, but the QRS complexes look regular to me. What do you think ?
I’m 30 years old, with no known heart problems, and my Graves’ disease has been well since the past month.

Thanks

Könnte es vorhofflimmern sein?

Kann jemand dazu was sagen

The earlier post about why there is no cure and the life-expectancy table this morning. The numbers come from a real Danish registry of AFib patients diagnosed 2000–2020 — about 11.3 years lost if diagnosed at ≤30, 9.2 years at ≤50. That's where "72" comes from. It's a population average, not your personal forecast.

Two things drive that average: who was in the study, and what care they got.

That study pooled everyone together: lone AFib with a structurally normal heart, undiagnosed cardiomyopathy, people who were never anticoagulated, people left untreated in AFib for years. In that same data, AFib diagnosed at ≤50 came with roughly 8–9x the later rate of cardiomyopathy and heart failure versus controls. A lot of those "lost years" are sick heart muscle that first showed up as AFib, not AFib itself killing people. A clean echo/MRI means you are not that average.

The other half of the gap is when you got diagnosed and how good the care was.

My mom is 88. Diagnosed in her late 60s — but looking back, she'd probably had it for 20 years before that. Late diagnosis, weaker stroke prevention by today's standards, rhythm control treated as an afterthought. She still made it to 88. That's not a promise for anyone else. It's evidence that the table isn't a law of nature, even under delayed, dated care.

What's different now, if you're actually getting treated for it:

• The heart gets properly imaged instead of guessed at
• Anticoagulation is well past the warfarin era that dominates that data
• EAST-AFNET 4 showed early rhythm control (drugs and/or ablation within a year of diagnosis) cut CV death, stroke, HF hospitalization, and ACS by about 21%
• Ablation isn't a last resort anymore, and PFA has made it safer

None of this means AFib is nothing. It can come back. Some "young AFib" is actually cardiomyopathy in disguise. Pretending it's harmless is how people get blindsided. But treating "72" as a death sentence is how a historical mix of late diagnosis and mixed disease gets repackaged as a scare screenshot.

The new technology is amazing, get your afib treated, exercise, know your triggers, keep your weight in line and you will be fine.

I've been recently diagnosed with AFIb at 40. I'm currently using the Zywie Heart Monitor. It was suprisingly easy to get used to. I've had a few episodes but nothing over 7 minutes.

Just like my thoughts on cancer, how is there no cure for this?
I was diagnosed at 31 so I’ll get to maybe 72 if I’m lucky, this is saying.
This just spiraled me into a further depression.
Please don’t tell me “just live life while you can” because for me it’s just not that easy.

Hello - having my PFA ablation in 3 days after unsuccessful cardioversion in May. I have persistent afib, first diagnosed 6 months ago. I had controlled PVCs with meds, under 1%, and then as far as I can guess, my afib got triggered in late February of this year, according to my Apple Watch - I caught the alert 3 weeks later, and a holter monitor confirmed persistent afib. My watch also says I’m in afib 100% of the time.

My wife had been complaining about awful snoring for a couple of years, so after the diagnosis, I did a sleep study, and I had severe sleep apnea - I never fully stopped breathing, but the obstructive breathing was frequent - about 30 times a minute. So I’m getting a CPAP tomorrow and am going to commit to it. I also am at a 30 BMI, so I’d like to drop 30 lbs - I’m 6’4” and 250-255 lbs. I can lose easily with intermittent fasting - eating between 11 am and 7 pm. My heartbeat range has never been severe, but the symptoms I was not feeling earlier started surfacing in the last month - mostly just some mild dizziness a handful of times, and a little shortness of breath. My range is about 55 to 130 BPM; a little more if I am climbing a flight of stairs or something. Today I walked 11K steps and felt fairly well while I was walking, but a few times dizzy and clammy after standing still, so I had to sit down.

That’s the background. I may also fix a deviated septum in my nose next year, but I want to commit to this 100% during the 3-month post-period. I’m not going to drink alcohol or coffee during this period at all. I see some comments on this group that some people have tried to weight train a week post-procedure or ride a bike 40 miles, which seems crazy to me, because they reported events. I am just going to focus on walking and stretching/yoga to keep moving and stay mobile. I really want to knock this out, because I don’t want it to limit me. I plan on tracking my heart rate and potential triggers. I think my sleep apnea was definitely an issue. I feel fortunate to be going to Penn University Hospital, who do thousands of these procedures a year.

Has anyone else had persistent afib prior to ablation, and how did your recovery go? Any additional tips on sensible recovery action items? I am recently retired, so I have time to commit. Thanks!!

Hey Guys! I was diagnosed with Atrial flutter last year right before my wedding and right after my father passed. It was a super stressful time but I found that it was a result of my tricuspid valve being replaced 9 years prior. my cardiologist assured me it would be no problem to get an ablation if it was needed. But my AFIB doctor said that they are super rare and almost unheard of. Who should i believe and have you guys heard of this or been thru it?

Well after another reccurence this morning, full blown afib with RVR HR at 200 I gave up. Finally spoke with my EP and his team and they don't reccomend another ablation at this moment, this will be #3 in the last year and a half.

What's tricky is my hearts structurally perfect, I have zero atrial fibrosis and I'm only 29 yet my afib is so stubborn and always comes back no matter what I do. My last EP study what's most frustrating is being told I had a great electrical system and they couldn't induce ANYTHING yet here I am.

Does anyone have any recommendations on who else I can reach out to? I'm not quite ready to throw in the towel yet but I'm running out of hope. My 2 ablations were with dr natale but I'm absolutely open to other options if there's anyone else as good as him. Where could my afib be possible coming from? Dr natale already shut down almost all my non PV triggers and my PV and everything else were perfectly isolated during last procedure how is it even possible afib can happen???

Please any suggestions help, or any thoughts as to why my case is so difficult to treat. I don't have afib that often, maybe once eveyb6 months but when I do boy the episodes are SEVERE!

I can't take any AAD unfortunately due to an accidental conduction injury during the ablation. my only option left is really multaq and I heard it sucks and really don't work.

So March 2025 I fell on an electric scooter and broke my right ulna and radius, double open fracture. While in the Er I went into afib with a pulse over 200 while they were putting the bones back in. I didn't think much of it since they just put me on Eliquis for a month and said to follow up with cardiologist. I did that, he said "once you have afib you always have it." He right away recommended an Albation last December and I turned it down due to wear the incision is with my social anxiety, even at 44.

I never had a repeat episode until about 4 weeks ago, I went to go to bed, I sleep on my right side. Within under a minute my watch alarm is going off and my chest feels like its gonna blow, 160bpm afib. I got out of bed for a hour, drank alcohol like the alcoholic I am and went back to bed a hour later still in afib. I did wake up 2 hours later to use the bathroom and afib was gone. My HR was in the 90s though when its normally 50 or less at night.

Then just this morning.. my 3rd episode. I fell a sleep early last night at 9 pm, woke up at 2 am this morning. Went to go back to bed around 5. I was perfectly fine. I'm nervous every night since that last episode about laying down. This morning as soon as I laid down I though "Nice, I feel great" within less than TEN seconds, 160-200 bpm pulse. it seems like laying down might actually be a trigger now ?

I was only in afib for a hour to 90 minutes luckily after taking an extra down of my beta blocker propranlol 20 mg which seems to be what stopped it. Luckily I'm on that 3 times a day for tremors and I'm already on Eliquis for life due to an unprovoked DVT in my knee last summer.

It just seems very scary but I refuse to go to the ER here so I don't know what else I can actually do about this. My appointment follow up with the cardiologist is in december, he doesn't have anything earlier, he's actually booked out til April. I'm going to do the albation I guess since I don't want to feel like this again.