1st Setback....

[Magic8Ball]

Well after two days of taking a good long walk todays temperatures were a little high so i decided to just go to the local mall and walk around there.

After 20 minutes or so of walking around i went and sat on a bench in the mall as my neck/shoulders were feeling a little uncomfortable and waited for my mum to finish her shopping.

While sitting there i started feeling a little clammy, when mum came out i stood up and felt dizzy so sat back down again.

Mum said i looked pale and was covered with a layer of sweat, poor old girl was in a panic and about to call an ambulance....anyway she got me a bottle of water and sat next to me, i lay down and rested my head on her leg and drank the water and in 5-10 minutes or so i felt ok ish.

Walked to the car and went straight home, on the journey home my vision went a bit patchy in the right eye but i've been ok all afternoon.

To me, this sounds like a blood pressure issue, luckily i had my heart rate monitor on and it did drop to the low 60's when i was lying down but recovered to the high 60's/early 70's before i started to walk around.

I wonder if it's to do with me messing with my beta blockers over the weekend?

Anyhow, my confidence is now knocked i'd have been in a mess if mum wasn't there and had this happened yesterday when i went for a good long walk on my own !!!

Has anyone else had an episode like this and was it a one off or happened a few times.....does my 'blood pressure' assumption sound like a good bet..

I'm just wondering if 3 weeks post op today that i may have pushed things a little too hard over the past 3 days since getting the all clear from the cardio to do 2km walks..

 

[Marguerite53]

It can be frustrating. I think it does sound like you just pushed a bit too much. And you will now probably pay for it by being extra tired for a few days. Try to be patient. You really will have your old self back.....but not at 3 weeks out!!!

Please do call the surgeon's office and report that patchy sight thing. Even though we know it's probably your drop in blood pressure, please let them decide. Okay? My guess is that it's more that you did too much too soon, rather than any BP med reaction....I read your other thread, too.

Don't be too discouraged. Think of it as a lesson (okay, a baseball bat to the head) in needing to get more in tune with your body. You'll have plenty of time to push harder in the future. Every energetic step needs double the rest time right now.

Keep us posted. Marguerite

 

[Magic8Ball]

Yep, spoke to cardio and he agrees it was probably a combo of overdoing it a little and a drop in blood pressure and therefore heart rate.

Obviously going back onto the antenol at the weekend had the affect of lowering my heart rate and re-introducing the dizzyness.

It's funny you said to 'get in tune with your body' as i didn't feel great when i left the house but didn't feel bad so just thought it would pass....guess if i have that feeling i'll 'listen' to the messages better.

 

[WayneGM]

To me, the frustration of recovery has been the worse part of OHS. The surgery itself came and went so quickly, but the rest of recovery takes time and patience. It was (and still is) easy to overdo it once you start feeling better, especially the first couple of months post-op. For the first few weeks I found taking multiple short walks easier to handle than one long one. Then gradually increased the duration of the walks.

Anyhow, my confidence is now knocked i'd have been in a mess if mum wasn't there and had this happened yesterday when i went for a good long walk on my own !!!

I was on my own during recovery as my wife worked and the kids were at school. To rebuild my confidence, for the first few weeks I did walks circulating the neighbourhood so that I was never actually that far from home at any given point in my walk just in case I started to fade too soon. The mall was another great place as there's lot of places to rest or get a drink, and lots of people just in case. Aways carried my cell phone, too.

 

[SumoRunner]

Like when you jump off a building, it's not the fall that hurts you, it's the sudden stop. The problem was probably that you overstressed a bit and then sat down. That made your BP drop precipitously and lead to the faintness. The rest is from anxiety over feeling faint. You know how athletic coaches warn you to warm up before hard exercise, well you need a bit of warm down as well. Sudden stops are not good.

 

[aussigal]

Sounds like you have diagnosed the episode perfectly , ...beta-blockers can be too effective sometimes...

...gosh I was still doing shopping trips in a wheelchair at this stage in my recovery, I was very weak and dizzy...you seem to be recovering very well.

 

[AlonnolA]

I had very similar episodes around then. Frustrating. But they did disappear (BTW I was not on Beta Blockers). At three weeks I thought I was in perfect shape. Now it's 8 weeks (or so) and I know I'm so much better than I was then, but still not 100%.

You might also be a little anemic. Have you had a blood count recently? The docs and cardiac rehab nurses said drinking plenty of water can help with these kind of episodes.