What Causes A Drop In Heart Rate After The Ablation Procedure?

Posted on Sun, 17 Apr 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 Answered on

Fri, 10 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : Had heart ablation for Afib. four days ago. All went great at the procedure. I had mild dull heart pain following the procedure, which I understand to be normal. Then to night suddenly my heart rate drop to 44 beats a minuet and stayed like that for about 5-8 minuets and then jumped around all over the place for awhile longer. This continued for about an hour (with some periods of normal rate during this hour,) then slowly got less and less till it was normal. Am I in any danger or is this to normal after an ablation?

Answered by Dr. Benard Shehu (2 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Following advice.

Detailed Answer:
Hi and thank you for asking!
I read your query and understood your concerns.

First of all what's happening to you may be a normal finding during the night especially in patients who underwent ablation provedure recently.

This is why you should stay calm and relaxed because anxiety may worsen your symptoms and your overall health.

I would like to suggest contacting your doctor to check you once again and to reassure that everything it's OK.

Hope this will be of help!
Wish you health!
Dr. Shehu

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar