weird symptoms - throat swelling & arrhythmia

[musician2k]

Hey all:

Well I'm 10 weeks post-op and things are OK, and I'm certainly feeling a lot more energy than before but I'm having two odd symtoms that I'm wondering if anyone has any insights on:

1 - arrhythmia: I think my cardio is doing a good job of trying to get a handle on this one. I wore a Holter monitor for 2 days, and hopefully soon he'll decide what if anything needs to be done. I'm having several episodes a day, often while at rest. Kind of weird but not painful and not caused any huge problems yet. I just think with a pacemaker in place I should have a good strong normal sinus rhythm and often its not.

2 - my throat is swelling up after eating. certain foods make it worse. i never had anything like this before the surgery. i was on toprol but he took me off of that to see if i was sensitive to it. nope. so it's probably a food allergy, and i'll be going to see my allergist very soon.

I don't think any of this is normal post-op oddities, but just wanted to post here to be sure. Thanks...

Chris

 

[PJmomrunner]

Hi Chris:

Sorry y9ou are having problems. I don't have much to offer, but I thought I'd freshen up your thread with a post!

I know my mom's pacemaker's job is to keep her heart rate from going too low. She has "brady-tachy syndrome," where her heart has two arrhythmias--one two slow, the other too fast. My understanding is the pacemaker can only do one job, so she's on medication to keep her heart rate from going too fast. Periodically they adjust her meds when interrogate her pacemaker and they see her rate's gone too high.

Don't waste too much time getting to the allergist. Food allergies can be cumulative, meaning each exposure can make the reaction more acute. Since you don't know what the allergen is, this could be dangerous. It might be helpful to keep a timed log of everything you eat and when you have symptoms until you get to the allergist.

Good luck!

 

[musician2k]

The log is indeed a very good idea. I will see if I can set that up, maybe make a word document or something. You're right, the pacer can only do one job I suppose, and I know it is working OK because it's managing to set the heart beat correct again after a minute or two to five minutes. Thanks for your helpful post that did more than just refresh my thread

-C

Hi Chris:

Sorry y9ou are having problems. I don't have much to offer, but I thought I'd freshen up your thread with a post!

I know my mom's pacemaker's job is to keep her heart rate from going too low. She has "brady-tachy syndrome," where her heart has two arrhythmias--one two slow, the other too fast. My understanding is the pacemaker can only do one job, so she's on medication to keep her heart rate from going too fast. Periodically they adjust her meds when interrogate her pacemaker and they see her rate's gone too high.

Don't waste too much time getting to the allergist. Food allergies can be cumulative, meaning each exposure can make the reaction more acute. Since you don't know what the allergen is, this could be dangerous. It might be helpful to keep a timed log of everything you eat and when you have symptoms until you get to the allergist.

Good luck!

 

[Marguerite53]

It sure seems like a bunch of us have arrythmias (usually benign) about 2 months post op. Mine were abit earlier, but my heart was just dancing!! I hated it! By the time we figured out it was harmless, they were gone. I hope that will be the case with you too. I chalked it up to the heart being a little confused and searching for its old self somehow.

As far as your throat goes, if it were me, I'd call the surgeon or your general doctor. I wonder if it is just some residual irritation from the breathing tube. Please ask someone....just in case it's an early infection, or easily remedied with some numbing spray, or something.

Let us know.

Marguerite

 

[musician2k]

Marguerite:

Thanks a lot. You'd think it would be a no-brainer to give the surgeon a call regarding the throat-swelling, but honestly I hadn't even thought it could be related to that. But I will call his office on monday, just to clarify. My cardio didn't think it was anything related to that, but as I mentioned stopped the Toprol just in case, which he had prescribed. I do have allergies & have made an appointment to see my allergist soon. So if it is something I'm eating, we'll get it figured out. So far the only possible culprit seems to be milk. As far as arrhythmias go, yes, I've known quite a few of us here have this and it's probably nothing. They got 24 hours of data from the monitor, so I guess we'll see. Thank you for responding, and thanks to everyone who's responded to my thread!

Chris

 

[StretchL]

Let Us Know...

Let Us Know...

...what you find out when you chat with your dox, please?

 

[Dustin]

Howdy Chris,

Sorry to hear things are bumpy at the moment. That Holter test should reveal potential problems, but arrythmias appear to be normal and I still have those annoying PVCs once and a while. The most common problem after AVR is AV blockage, but that has been resolved by your pacemaker, so perhaps these arrythmias are harmless. I'd advice you to give your cardio a call, just to let him know you worry about this.

Best wishes,

 

[musician2k]

Dustin & others....

Yeah I guess I need to talk to my cardio about how to differentiate between PVC's, arhythmias, etc. because according to the Holter, I'm having none of that. But several times a day I'd be just sitting there, and feel my heart go out of rhythm. Now, I can hear my heart ticking pretty easily and could easily tell my heart was skipping beats, and sometimes one or two of those beats would almost pound so hard as to make me physically MOVE. Not pleasant, but not life-threatening either but I guess it's nothing because the Holter showed it was nothing.....my throat-swellings have continued and I've made an appointment with my allergist so food allergy testing will probably be in my future.

Thanks for all your replies, everyone! Other than these very minor issues I'm feeling pretty awesome & doing very well in cardiac rehab.

Chris

 

[musician2k]

Just an update on this thread. It's been months since I posted last on this subject, but in the last few weeks I'd noticed things were a little different with my heart rate. I've got a pacemaker, and it's set on the low end at 60, but in my neuro's office he noticed a pulse rate of 56. Additionally I woke up in the middle of the night a few nights ago & tested my BP and found my HR to be 42! That kinda scared me but I know it can happen, so I just figured I'd have it checked out. Turns out I am having PVC's, and have been for a long time according to my pacemaker. I'm a little frustrated that the Holter monitor I wore in the spring didn't record this phenomena. Also, the pacemaker tech (who is really great, good manner, etc.) didn't really tell me prior to today that I was having these PVC's this often.....at least every 3rd heart beat is an early beat. Anyway, she spoke to the doctor and they've upped my Toprol....I was taking 25mg/day now I'm up to 50 and we'll see how that goes. The Toprol I guess can hopefully supress those 'extra, early' beats and allow the pacemaker to pace accurately.

She said if that doesn't work, then they'll probably refer me to an electro physiologist, which is a specialty I'd never heard of.

This all sounding fairly normal to everyone?

Chris

 

[Blanche]

Chris:
I developed a-fib a little more than a year ago. I've always felt quite lucky since the physician's assistant for the electrophysiciologist cardiologist at my cardiologist's office is also my next-door-neighbor.

Perhaps this link will be of assistance to you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_electrophysiology

Blanche

 

[MajorHart]

Hey all:

Well I'm 10 weeks post-op and things are OK, and I'm certainly feeling a lot more energy than before but I'm having two odd symtoms that I'm wondering if anyone has any insights on:

1 - arrhythmia: I think my cardio is doing a good job of trying to get a handle on this one. I wore a Holter monitor for 2 days, and hopefully soon he'll decide what if anything needs to be done. I'm having several episodes a day, often while at rest. Kind of weird but not painful and not caused any huge problems yet. I just think with a pacemaker in place I should have a good strong normal sinus rhythm and often its not.

2 - my throat is swelling up after eating. certain foods make it worse. i never had anything like this before the surgery. i was on toprol but he took me off of that to see if i was sensitive to it. nope. so it's probably a food allergy, and i'll be going to see my allergist very soon.

I don't think any of this is normal post-op oddities, but just wanted to post here to be sure. Thanks...

Chris

I would be very concerned about both. First if your throat is swelling up - you could be close to having analyphalactic shock which can stop your breathing completely. That's #1 in m view to resolve.

#2 is that I don't know if this can be done with a pacemaker in - but when I was in the hospital with atrial fibrilation, they gave me a "cardioversion" - a one shock (usually) procedure that corrects an abnormal sinus rhythm.

It worked perfectly on me - I wasn't even aware of it and my pulse is almost always as steady as a rock. I do get a very occasional palpitation when I first wake up but after that - none.

If your pacemaker is/was installed because of your abnormal sinus rhythms you might not need it anymore - I suppose they could leave it in place and deactivate it. ?

Sometimes they use drugs to try to control the palpitations - usually beta blockers - but you have to keep taking them.

I've always had atrial fibrilation and that little procedure took 15 minutes and now I don't.

Ask your doctor about it.

Good luck
John Hansen

 

[MajorHart]

It sure seems like a bunch of us have arrythmias (usually benign) about 2 months post op. Mine were abit earlier, but my heart was just dancing!! I hated it! By the time we figured out it was harmless, they were gone. I hope that will be the case with you too. I chalked it up to the heart being a little confused and searching for its old self somehow.

As far as your throat goes, if it were me, I'd call the surgeon or your general doctor. I wonder if it is just some residual irritation from the breathing tube. Please ask someone....just in case it's an early infection, or easily remedied with some numbing spray, or something.

Let us know.

Marguerite

Hi, Marguerite.

I have what we call butterflies in the upper chest area and my heart is still beating steadily.

Since I'm not nervous that I know of - I wonder if this is related to my surgery two weeks ago or one of the drugs I'm taking - cardizem, diuretic, hytrin. ?

Thanks
MajorHart

 

[musician2k]

I really should chime in here.....I figured it was good that I resurrected an old thread of mine but in fact I should have brought everyone more up to date before posting another question.

The throat-swelling episodes were certainly an allergy to milk. My first posts to this thread were quite a long time ago and I've not had that particular symptom since then.

This is one case where recycling didn't pay off

Anyway - I appreciate everyone's thoughts. The cardioversion is something I'll keep in mind and I did check out the wiki article on electrophysiology. I guess we'll go that route if we have to.

And, MajorHart, the butterfly-ish feelings you're experiencing are in my opinion probably normal but do sound like fibrillation. However, just two weeks out from surgery, I'd be surprised if you WEREN'T experiencing something like that as well as heart-pounding & weird rhythms. Your heart's recovering from a trauma and it's gonna feel weird for a while. But if anything concerns you, talk it over with your cardiologist or a nurse.

Chris

Hi, Marguerite.

I have what we call butterflies in the upper chest area and my heart is still beating steadily.

Since I'm not nervous that I know of - I wonder if this is related to my surgery two weeks ago or one of the drugs I'm taking - cardizem, diuretic, hytrin. ?

Thanks
MajorHart