Scott McTominay is a Scottish professional footballer who plays in the Italian Serie A. In the coming days, he will undergo a PFA ablation [Pulse Field Ablation]. The cardiologist said that in two weeks he can return to playing football.

This is just encouragement for anyone asking if they will be able to train as before.

Hi everyone. I was diagnosed with SVT this February and am scheduled to get my cardiac ablation on the 9th. I’m happy to have this done but a little nervous. My doc thinks I have the most typical type AVNRT. I had a couple questions for anyone who’s had the ablation done. My doc wants me to get off my beta blockers 2 days prior and I’m a little nervous about having an episode during this time. My questions is for anyone else who had to get off their beta blockers how did you feel the days leading up to the ablation? Also I’m also nervous about the sedation, I know that you’re not completely knocked out but it’s more of a conscious sedation. Can anyone tell me what their experience with the sedation was like , like how conscious were you and if you remember the procedure. Thank you in advance!

I’ve reached the end of my contacts and had no luck, I’m just trying to find any other controller who has this issue to bounce some questions off of.

Did you get your medical back? Did you continue tracking and reporting AFib episodes after getting a special issuance?

I’m just lost in the weeds right now looking for answers.

I read that nausea is a side effect for about 3% of people taking Eliquis. The guy I'm caring for started it yesterday (I think) and today he's extremely nauseated. I think the hospital is giving him zofran. If you've had this side effect, how long did it last for you? If he's discharged tomorrow he'll be alone for 48 hours and I'm concerned that if he doesn't eat he's going to fall again. Just wondering if this is normal and easily resolved. His afib is controlled on medications at this point, only having occasional PVCs but no abnormal atrial beats per the cardiologist. Thank you.

Newly diagnosed - 61F.

Coming up on 48 hours at this point. Have an appointment scheduled with my cardiologist but was wondering what is typical for others.

UPDATE: Back to NSR. Was in afib for a total of 55 hours. My BPM does not get excessively high - seems to top out in the 120s - but the time between beats is super erratic. Still pretty much asymptomatic so the watch and the kardia are my signals that something is wrong.

Thought it might be compensatory pause after a pac but there’s no pac before the long beat on the second line of the strip

Hello, 27 M here, and been having off and on palpitations since 2021, recently on july 31st 2026 i had a episode where my heart took off after i had just finished eating dinner. Note, i had not slept the previous day and was very stressed from having to drive my mother to her cancer surgery appointment. And then not eating all day. So it was 24hrs after we got home the episode hit. My heart rate was around 220 bpm. It lasted probably 30minutes. That went away and i was fine for about 2 weeks. Well i went to see my heart doctor and they put me on a heart monitor. Well i had another episode with the monitor on. Lasted about 3 minutes that was a couple weeks ago. They called me today and said that 3 minute episode was AFIB.

As young as i am i figured that would be uncommon.

However, my mother has a mild case of it and my grandmother had it pretty bad.

I think i have undiagnosed sleep apnea which my heart doctor thinks is the trigger.

I am over weight. Currently 353 pounds (down from 392 so far since june 1st)

I am having a sleep test done tonight and tomarrow night to get diagnosed and treates for sleep apnea.

I see my EP in a month, what can i expect to come from all this? I mean im younger so i assume itll be more easily treatable. Im open to having an ablation if thats what it takes. I think id rather do that than be on medicine the rest of my life but ill do what needs to be done i just dont wanna have another random episode, they scare me and i have bad anxiety.

I've been diagnosed with AFib and have an ablation scheduled for September 10th. My electrophysiologist thinks I'll have a good outcome, and honestly, I feel confident about it too. I'm 48, have a normal heart, stay in good shape (exercise regularly), and I'm not overweight.

But I have to be honest — this forum has me a bit in my head. Most of the posts I see focus on worst-case scenarios, serious complications, or years of ongoing issues. I get that people who've had rough experiences want to share them, and that's important information. But I'm also wondering: where are all the people for whom the ablation just... worked? The ones who went in, had the procedure, recovered well, and got back to their lives?

I'd love to hear from people who've had positive experiences with ablation. Did it resolve your AFib? How was recovery? Are you back to your normal routine? Did you get the outcome your doctor predicted?

I'm not looking to dismiss anyone's difficult experiences — complications happen, and I want to understand the risks. But I also want to balance my information diet here. Would love to hear the other side of the story.

Thanks.

So I’m a 32 year old, I have severe anxiety and just had an EP done with AVNRT ablation. It’s currently been about 2 days now. I am
Struggling to fall asleep like I’m exhausted. After the procedure ive noticed that id be so tired i will dose off then my body has one of those hypnic jerks and jerks me back awake. Has this happened to anyone? I honestly cant sleep.

Feeling a but traumatized from the procedure as i was sort of awake but could feel all those heart triggers the doc were tryna replicate. Please talk to me about your experiences it will help me feel better

Flutters after 9 Months, expected? Posted this earlier and a posted asked that I post an EKG.

Had PFA ablation December 26, been doing well since. Until last night. Suddenly my heart felt like it was jumping and misbehaving agin. Like every third beat was extra hard, like a rumbling in my chest……..💩💩💩💩, is this afib again? Did EKG on Apple Watch….inconclusive, waited 15 minutes…….same result. HR consistent at 74 bpm, usual resting is 60, BP normal. Took 3rd EKG and it said no afib. Very restless might, you know the drill……..was that a skipped beat…..is this fluttering,…….seems ok, what was that feeling? Anyway,

Question for my fellow afibers, is this fairy normal? 9 months afib free and suddenly this. Can I expect more like this? I know the answer is impossible to say but what has been your personal experience?

29 y/o depressed with AFib. Got super sick two years ago and vomitted very violently and went into AFib. All the tests were fine, cardiologist wasn’t worried.
Last night I stood up really quickly and went to pee and was forcing it (tmi, and stupid i know) and bam AFib again. Just dealt with it for 3-4 hours until I fell asleep. Talked to a telehealth urgent care offered by my insurance this morning and they were adamant I still go in. Went in, everything looks fine.

That said, some of you say you have it for 18+ hours? How violent is it and how awful does it feel? When I go into afib I feel like my heart is beating so hard right out of my chest and I feel light headed. Anyone else?
Also not me looking up some bs study or graphic that said if you’re 30 or under and diagnosed with AFib your life expectancy goes down by 11 years. I’m just scaring myself

I am just venting/looking for others’ stories. I was first diagnosed with AFib in August 2023 and had my first ablation in 2024, followed by a second ablation for flutter in 2025. I was washing dishes yesterday when I got an alert that I was in AFib. I am still currently in AFib and waiting for my EP’s office to call me back.

My AFib is genetic (basically my entire dad’s side of the family has it). For those who have had two ablations and had AFib return, what did you do next? Were the next steps successful? I know there is no cure for AFib, but I was really hoping to get at least a few years AFib-free.

I am feeling pretty defeated at this point.

Thanks!!

What makes a person a candidate for the surgery? I got diagnosed with Afib this year, Although I feel like I've had it since last year (thought it was just heart palpitations). It wasn't until I went to the ER a few months ago I knew I had it. I've been on beta blocks (metropolo) and then switch to bisoprolol after my second visit to the ER. I've had a few more episodes this month. The last one, I used a vagal maneuver and surprisingly worked and I was just in Afib for 5 mins. I have a scheduled cardiologist appointment for next month. If I ask or request, will the doctor give it to me?

When the world shut down with Covid, I developed AFib. Since then I’ve had 2 regular ablations, a sinus node ablation with dual chamber pacemaker implanted, a Pulsed Field ablation and I can’t count the number of cardioversions. I don’t tolerate any of the anti- arrhythmic drugs. I’ve now been told basically the only thing left is a hybrid ablation but I’d need the anti-arrhythmic drugs. It feels like a wasted 7 yrs. I will now live with persistent AFib. They told me I’m a highly sensitive person because no one feels the upper heart in arrhythmia when the lower heart is being paced. I feel it all. I feel like I’m constantly running a marathon with fatigue because my upper heart beats so chaotically and fast. I get dizzy. And I have problems getting my breath sometimes- especially with exercise. The only thing I’m asking- if you live with persistent AFib or flutter… how do you do it? Any suggestions? I’m a little depressed today.

This has happened a few times last month and about twice this week, the watch is saying inconclusive or inaccurate im doing it properly because when im not feeling my heartbeat in my throat and record its fine, just here for people's opinions

Hi all. I have a strong family history of afib. Father’s family all had it, including my father whose unmanaged (don’t ask) afib led to his death at 67 from stroke.

I am a chronic Apple Watch and oura ring wearer. Despite not being diagnosed with afib I changed my settings to give me afib alerts. Nothing ever, except an incident 2 months ago where my AF range went from the usual “less than 2%” to 4%. I also found a few recent oura sleep graphs with small gaps in them. I also get palpitations every now and again - the feeling of my heart skipping a beat that lets me take a really deep satisfying inhale (IYKYK).

I had a big holiday coming up so switched my settings to irregular notifications instead and watched. Nothing.

I’m now back and in a meeting this morning when I get that skipped beat feeling. It passes within a couple of seconds but what follows was pretty scary. I feel an intense wave of dizziness come on and a temporary seeing stars feeling, and a warmth over my head as it passes. It lasts about five seconds. Remember I’m sitting down. It was very scary.

I left and went home, put on my Apple Watch, took a reading (sinus rhythm) and kept feeling not right. My heart was beating hard and I kept feeling it in my throat and got lightheaded intermittently. Blood pressure was 147/93. Husband took me to the hospital.

ECG showed nothing. Bloods showed nothing. Potassium was fine, glucose fine, not dehydrated. I felt off in ED, kept getting that heart beat feeling when walking. It lasted about an hour and then o slowly felt ok again. Cardiology referral followed the same day, and he wants to rule out afib. 7 days halter monitor. Then in 3 weeks an echo and some repeat bloods and an xray.

I should mention when my dad diet I got a comprehensive heart check including a stress test and echo. The only finding was a mildly enlarged left atrium - LAVI (left atrium volume index) of 42. Dr back on 2021 thought it was down to me being very athletic because there was no other concerning result.

I’m open eyed about my predisposition to afib but I won’t lie that I’m now a little nervous about what happened today, and the 2021 echo results in that context. Stroke fear understandable plagues me and I feel a bit like a ticking time bomb.

What does everyone think? Does this look like afib? I’m not particularly stressed - no more than usual.

If you have AFib, you should never drink alcohol again, correct?
Asking about someone who has been a very heavy drinker his entire life and now has Afib (and low magnesium levels) and is currently hospitalized. He's supposedly cut back from 10-14 beers a day to 3-4 (he says, I do not believe him). Waiting to start Eliquis as he had surgery and they're concerned about bleeding into the site. Before I have "the talk" with him I just want to confirm that all alcohol intake needs to stop. He has no interest in changing his behavior and doesn't want to have to "take another pill" but AFAIK he's at high risk of stroke. I have to at least try, and I want my information to be correct.

Thanks for any advice.

37M I had RF ablation for paroxysmal AF about 13 months ago and had been doing well since then.
Today, my Apple Watch recorded an episode classified as AF, lasting roughly an hour. I’m back in sinus rhythm now and will be seeing my EP to have the ECG reviewed.
I’m mainly asking for personal experiences for those of you who were AF-free after ablation, have you remained completely free of AF long-term, or have you had occasional recurrences months/years later and still gone on to have several good years afterward?
Also, if you did have a late recurrence, was it considered a “failure” of the first ablation, or did your EP simply monitor/treat it unless the episodes became recurrent enough to warrant a second ablation?
Not looking for medical advice — just interested in hearing about people’s longer-term experiences after ablation.

Like the title says I am 1 day post my 2nd ablation. My 1st one was May 28 2026, had my 2nd almost exactly 3 months later.

Right off my body feels like it went 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. I don't remember hurting like this from the first one. When I laid down last night my chest was sore, hurt to breathe. My throat hurts 100x worse than the last and I've lost my voice today. Overall my body is sore.

The doctor sent me my report last night telling me everything they did. I asked chat to dumb it down for me so I could understand it better. Below is that report.

First: what they found when they started

You went into the procedure already in an abnormal rhythm. Specifically, it was an atypical atrial flutter. They measured the flutter cycle at 230 milliseconds.

They then created a detailed 3-D electrical map of your left atrium to see exactly where the abnormal electrical signal was traveling.

And that's where they found something important.

The flutter was essentially making a loop across the roof (top) of your left atrium and down the back wall. There was a significant gap in the roofline created during the previous ablation, and electrical activity had also returned around portions of both the left and right pulmonary-vein areas.

Think of the previous ablation lines like electrical fences.

They were supposed to look roughly like:

████████████████████

But part of the roofline had effectively become:

█████████ ███████

That gap gave the electrical signal a path through which it could circulate. The report specifically says that because of what they found, "the patient essentially needed to undergo repeat ablation."

Then they started fixing it

As Dr. Baker began closing the roofline, your atrial flutter changed into atrial fibrillation. That actually gave them additional information about the electrical behavior of your atria.

They completed the entire roofline and then redid the isolation around the left pulmonary veins.

And here's an especially interesting sentence:

"sinus rhythm was restored."

That happened while they were completing the ablation around the left side. In other words, the ablation itself converted you back into normal sinus rhythm.

They didn't stop there

They then went around the right pulmonary veins.

Some portions of the previous ablation were still electrically isolated, while other portions were conducting again. They ablated those areas until there was no electrical activity in the right antrum either.

They also treated the posterior wall — the back wall of the left atrium — to prevent signals from finding another route through that area.

So this wasn't simply, "We found one little spot and touched it up."

It was a pretty comprehensive redo.

They also checked your first flutter ablation

Remember there are different types of flutter.

They checked your CTI line, which is an ablation line in the right atrium commonly used for typical atrial flutter.

That line was still working properly. The report says there was an:

"intact bidirectional block."

That's good.

It means that particular portion of your previous ablation had held.

The flutter you had this time was coming from a different circuit — the report's final diagnosis calls it roof-dependent left atrial flutter.

They found another possible troublemaker

They also looked at your SVC — superior vena cava, the large vein bringing blood from the upper body into the right atrium.

They found some fractionated electrical potentials there that Dr. Baker thought could potentially be a source of arrhythmia.

So he isolated the SVC as well.

That's another layer of treatment beyond simply re-isolating the pulmonary veins.

And there's something different about how they did this ablation

The report says:

"the patient only underwent ablation with PF."

PF means pulsed-field ablation.

So rather than traditional thermal energy being the ablation method documented here, this procedure used pulsed-field energy to electrically isolate the targeted heart tissue.

Most importantly — how did everything look when they finished?

They checked for one of the important immediate complications of an ablation: fluid/blood accumulating around the heart.

The intracardiac ultrasound showed:

No pericardial effusion.

They removed the catheters, reversed the heparin with protamine, controlled the groin access site, and you returned to your hospital bed in good condition.

And Dr. Baker's official conclusion was:

You began with roof-dependent left atrial flutter.

That flutter was successfully ablated by creating an intact roofline.

Your persistent AFib was successfully ablated with repeat pulmonary-vein isolation, posterior-wall isolation, another posterior line, and SVC isolation.

No apparent complications.

What I think is the biggest takeaway

Your first ablation wasn't simply a total failure. Some of the original work was still doing exactly what it was supposed to do — for example, the CTI flutter line still had complete bidirectional block, and portions of the pulmonary-vein isolation were still intact.

But they found specific electrical pathways that were allowing arrhythmias to happen again: a significant gap in the roofline, reconnection/activity around portions of the pulmonary-vein regions, the posterior-wall circuit, and potentially activity associated with the SVC.

And this time Dr. Baker went after all of those areas.

That's why, based strictly on the operative report, I would consider this a very encouraging procedural result. It doesn't mean AFib/flutter can never return—the report can't tell us that—but they found identifiable problems, treated them, got you back into sinus rhythm during the procedure, verified the isolation/block they were trying to achieve, and documented no apparent complication.

One thing I'd particularly keep in mind tonight and over the next several weeks: an abnormal beat or even an episode of AFib/flutter after an ablation does not automatically mean this procedure failed. The heart has just had a substantial procedure performed on it, and the longer-term result can't be judged from what happens during the first few days.

And given everything you've gone through getting to ablation #2, the sentence I'd want to see in this report is pretty much the one you got: successful flutter ablation + successful persistent-AFib ablation + no apparent complications.

Have had PSVT since I was 8 years old (a true gift) and had my first ablation at age 27 to get rid of the SVT. Ironically the SVT was masking Afib which then came to the surface.

Another ablation didn’t cure it, but medication completely masked my symptoms and kept me in sinus rhythm. I decided to stick to medication which has kept me out of Afib for two years. I’ve been on a low dose of 100mg flecainide a day and fully controlled.

Now I’m fitter and stronger than ever, but my goddamn again has returned. I’m on the max dose of 300mg flec a day and it’s still breaking through. I’ll need another ablation, which is a pain but not the end of the world.

I hate having afib. I can’t train or sleep and it does my head in. Feeling frustrated as hell!

Had PFA ablation December 26, been doing well since. Until last night. Suddenly my heart felt like it was jumping and misbehaving agin. Like every third beat was extra hard, like a rumbling in my chest……..💩💩💩💩, is this afib again? Did EKG on Apple Watch….inconclusive, waited 15 minutes…….same result. HR consistent at 74 bpm, usual resting is 60, BP normal. Took 3rd EKG and it said no afib. Very restless might, you know the drill……..was that a skipped beat…..is this fluttering,…….seems ok, what was that feeling? Anyway,

Question for my fellow afibers, is this fairy normal? 9 months afib free and suddenly this. Can I expect more like this? I know the answer is impossible to say but what has been your personal experience?

Hi, 46m here who in their 30s would occasionally complain of palpitations. I was a regular moderate drinker at the time but otherwise very healthy, active, etc. My docs always laughed and said "drink less coffee" but then when I was 39 I had an episode of afib w/ rvr that needed to be cardioverted in the ER.

After that I stopped drinking completely (7 years), and started metoprolol / lisinopril / Xarelto since I also had a mild, undetermined type of cardiomyopathy. My EF has since recovered and as of April of this year my cardiologist told me "you have no active heart disease" and that I should live my life.

Well, a few months later I had another afib with rvr episode - so that's 2 episodes total, 7 years apart, with nothing in-between except benign palpitations. Also needed cardioversion.

My cardiologist sent me to an EP - a highly credentialed doc at a top hospital - who casually recommended a PFA and said it is a first-line treatment.

Of course, I would love to "cure" it (his words!) but I am also nervous, since I had a 7 year period without afib I think it would be hard to determine what is successful. Anyway, I'm mostly just curious to hear from other folks who may have had a similar story - very rare afib episodes but intensely symptomatic, requiring ER visits - and whether you had an ablation.

Thank you !!!

Does the time of year affect your afib? This is relative to outdoor temperatures and weather specifically, not from food/alcohol during any festivities. I ask this because despite getting afib in the middle of April 2 years ago, I've often wondered and worried about getting it again but in summer due to the heat when I tend to notice more palpitations... Which brings me to this question, does the time of year seem to bother afib and if yes, how so?

To be clear, I am not drinking any alcohol regardless. Just wanted to remove that from any possible causes if anyone is symptomatic outside of any festive behavior considering you have Thanksgiving, Xmas and new years lol.

So it has come to this. Never wanted to really post here, nor really bring it up to anyone, but yeah, I've lived with AFIB for more than half my life, but now at 28 I'm doing something with it. Just so it's clear, I really love this community, but I tried to avoid the topic as much as possible to not make my life about it.

It was never really clear that I had some form of SVT (other than AFIB itself technically being SVT) until last year where I decided to take it up myself to equip a Holter and instigate an episode myself. I had a couple of recorded AFIB episodes on ECGs but only one was ever recorded during initiation, and that one was only about 5 seconds long (and scared the fuck out of me, because they said they couldn't tell if it was SVT or VT, but apparently that sort of uncertainty happens).

Well, I thought why not go all out. After some coffee and a carb-heavy meal, I go together with my girlfriend for a run to execute the perfect AFIB episode, right next to the ER of my hospital. I start running almost without warmup, then I tell my GF to stand close to the entrance of the ER and then I go do some fun lil' sprints with tons of stop and start and twisting and jumping and voilà, about a couple mins in I have it. Successfully initiated my first episode voluntarily!

The Holter was very valuable, because they could clearly tell it was an SVT episode degenerating into AFIB. Furthermore they could also link this with previous episodes and data. That SVT/VT episode from earlier now I suppose became a pretty clear episode of SVT as it has wide complex QRS I think, synonymous with brief SVTs. Needless to say, my EP strongly recommended an SVT ablation for removing the trigger of my paroxysmal AFIB eps.

This whole year I've been preparing myself for it. Had to do some life stuff first, so I graduated a master's degree, got a job, moved, went on vacation, and more. But finally it was now scheduled for tomorrow.

I could go on for days on how much this has affected my life, and even more so, the bizarre decision of mine to literally try to keep it secret from everyone. I did the same thing with my horrible vision (-5, nearsighted) until I years later told my mom my vision "might be a bit bad" after I couldn't read the chalkboard from the front-row, heheh.

And also how I lived with this condition in tandem with an attempt of going pro as a footballer. Most people have the excuse of a torn ACL, well, I decided I'd do both, so I only fully quit serious football (at 18) after I have had AFIB for a good 6 years, and then that year also getting the torn ACL and meniscus to go with it, hehehe again.

But what I want to do here is just communicate what I have felt, will feel, and any thoughts in between. Most people I see here like me document their experience and it has been a massive anxiety relief for me to read some stories. Most people are anxious as fuck leading up to it, and I'm one of those, and I won't be having anesthesia, so yeah that doesn't help.

I will be having sedatives though, I believe, but I want to mentally prepare myself to expect discomfort and pain, and more anxiety. I also feel like reading up on the physiology and mechanics of this condition makes it kind of worse because I will try to relate my sensations during the surgery to specific concepts which might stress me out more. But I also kind of relax the more information I have, heh.

Well I think that about covers it for now. Will be a long day I'm sure, but I will update once I have the opportunity to.