My AFIB ablation with PFA experience 38/M - Paroxysmal AFIB

I was diagnosed with afib 4 years ago. Initially, the episodes lasted 30 seconds, then 3 minutes, then 30 minutes, and this year they lasted up to 4 hours every 2–3 days. It was unbearable, and I hope my heart hasn’t already remodeled itself.

A piece of advice: address it as soon as possible and don’t take it lightly as I did.

I entered the clinic at 8:00 AM. By 9:00 AM, I was already in the operating room. It wasn’t as cold as many had described. They placed a lot of patches on my back and chest, and then I spoke with the anesthesiologist. He asked me, “Where do you want to go?” I said, “The Maldives.” He started administering oxygen, and off we went—boom. I don’t remember anything after that, except waking up in the recovery room. No pain at all, nothing.

The operation lasted less than an hour. It involved isolating the four pulmonary veins using pulsed field energy.

In recovery, unfortunately, I experienced two issues. At 3:00 PM, they told me it was time to get out of bed (I’d been lying there for 5 hours—utter boredom). Instead of getting up slowly, I jumped out too quickly, and my leg, where the stitches were, started bleeding. The nurse spent 15 minutes pressing on it with gauze.

At 4:00 PM, I tried getting up again, this time slowly. The stitches held, but I didn’t. My head started spinning, and I felt like I was going to faint. I experienced a drop in blood pressure and sweating, which they said was caused by the anesthesia.

At 5:00 PM, I tried again, succeeded, and began walking around the floor. By 5:30 PM, I was discharged and went to a hotel to spend the night alone. I suffer from insomnia, and, unsurprisingly, I slept even worse than usual—barely 2.5 hours.

The next morning(today), I returned to the clinic to have the stitches removed and then took a train home alone (a 2-hour trip). I was worried my leg might start bleeding again, but so far, everything has been fine.

From an energy perspective, I feel okay. My resting heart rate has increased from 70 to 85 bpm. I’m not experiencing PACs or PVCs at the moment, and I’ve been in sinus rhythm for at least 24 hours.

This is my experience: male, 38 years old. Hopefully, it lasts. Unfortunately, in my case, the trigger for atrial fibrillation might either be a hiatal hernia without reflux or my unexplained insomnia. Since the underlying problem isn’t being addressed, there’s a risk that the afib could return sooner or later.

They told me I should be able to return to work in 7 days.