I had a youngish (early 40s), non-smoker, very minimal drinker, not fat at all friend who ended up having to get the ablation deal done a couple of years ago. She's been fine since. Hopefully, it'll work for you.

To me, the cardioversion procedure was physically painless, quick and easy. Getting that instrument rammed done my throat for the TEE wasn't any fun, but was a necessary procedure. I'm not interested in having a stroke.

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Posted by Darth_Vader

A galaxy far, far away

Member since Dec 2011

72747 posts

Posted on 3/6/17 at 1:32 pm to White Roach

quote:
I had a youngish (early 40s), non-smoker, very minimal drinker, not fat at all friend who ended up having to get the ablation deal done a couple of years ago. She's been fine since. Hopefully, it'll work for you.

To me, the cardioversion procedure was physically painless, quick and easy. Getting that instrument rammed done my throat for the TEE wasn't any fun, but was a necessary procedure. I'm not interested in having a stroke.

Thanks. It's been right at two weeks since my last cardioversion and I think it's done me a world of good. I think between it, the iron pills I've started taking, and being three, almost four months post surgery has made a world of difference. I'm still dealing with pretty bad pain in my ribs and sternum, but other than that I'm starting to feel almost normal again.

Yeah, the cardioversion is painless since they put you to sleep. I remember them telling me they were going to stick somethig down there to make sure I didn't have any blood clots but I'm not sure if that went down my throat. I guess it did because the only hole I got poked in me that day was the IV. But of course they had to stick me twice to start an IV. I don't think I've ever had a nurse get my IV right on the first try.

I will tell you what does hurt like hell and that's a Thoracentesis, getting fluid drained from your chest. For some odd reason you've got to be awake for this torture session. IlThe pain I exprenced in this procedure was on a level I never knew existed. But it did help my breathing to the point it's almost back to normal now. Between December and February I had this done three times where they drained a like 4.5 liters of fluid from around my lungs that was left over from when my heart sutures started leaking blood into the membrane around my heart.

ETA: I don't reccomend looking at pictures of them doing this. I never looked back when they were doing mine and I'm glad I didn't.

This post was edited on 3/6/17 at 1:39 pm

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Posted by Hudson00

Member since Feb 2017

187 posts

Posted on 3/6/17 at 1:33 pm to White Roach

Check out Epley maneuver on youtube and give it a try if it is inner ear. Good luck.

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Posted by Jim Smith

Member since May 2016

2915 posts

Posted on 3/6/17 at 1:47 pm to MasCervezas

First sign of both SARS and Ebola.

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Posted by White Roach

Member since Apr 2009

9666 posts

Posted on 3/6/17 at 7:11 pm to Darth_Vader

Yeah, the cardioversion is painless since they put you to sleep. I remember them telling me they were going to stick somethig down there to make sure I didn't have any blood clots but I'm not sure if that went down my throat. I guess it did because the only hole I got poked in me that day was the IV.

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My understanding is that there is a deal on the backside of your heart called the "atrial appendage." I don't remember if it's part of the left or right atrium. But apparently when you're in chronic A-Fib, blood can collect and coagulate in this appendage because your Atrium isn't giving a strong squeeze to eject all of the blood out of the chamber. If a clot forms, and then they shock you back into sinus rhythm, you can throw the clot and mayhem ensues.

They do the TEE deal because it can "see" the backside of your heart, and any atrial appendage clot, when a regular Echogram can't. Obviously, nobody wants to have a stroke, so I submitted to the TEE.

Consider yourself lucky if you slept through it. Maybe the technology has improved since 2008, but I was wide awake and pretty uncomfortable when I had mine. They sprayed some nasty arse numbing agent down my throat and then I had to "swallow" the instrument, which was way bigger than anything I've ever swallowed before. It took three (I think) swallows before the cardiologist/surgeon was able to get it positioned correctly. Obviously, you can't speak while it's happening. They're trying to see what they need to see, all while keeping you calm. I'm trying not to be a pussy, but I'm praying they hurry up because I'm not enjoying this sensation at all. When they finished - and it really was pretty quick, probably only a minute or so - you take another big swallow and they whip it out of there. No shite, it seemed like they had about 18" or 20" of that thing down my throat. That was my first, and hopefully last, experience sucking the BBC.

I asked for some water (which they wouldn't give me) to rinse out my mouth because the numbing agent tasted so bad. The doctor said they got a lot of complaints about it, but it was supposed to taste like bananas. I asked, "Where do you shop? I want to make sure I never buy my bananas there."

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Posted by Walt OReilly