Random Dizziness and Faintness - 11 months post surgery

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N

ncarlson

I had aortic valve replacement surgery on Feb 9th 2006. Bovine artificial to replace congenital bicuspid valve. Done at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC by Dr Craig Smith. Since then my recovery has been very smooth - was walking 45 minutes a day within 3-4 weeks of surgery - running and other aerobic fitness work within 7-8 weeks and have been steadily increasing since then. Now run 4-5 miles every other day and do 45 minutes of cardio work on the other 3-4 days of the week.

Have not had any symptoms of concern - hardly thought about the surgery up until very recently.

About 3.5 weeks ago - had a fairly severe bout of dizziness - i didn't pass out - but had to lay down for 15-20 minutes and then felt out of sorts for a couple of hours. I had been traveling intl in a different time zone and had just come back from a strenuous run - so i chalked it up to dehydration etc. However - happened again a few days ago - was waiting in line at a museum and suddenly felt very faint - had to go outside and sit down for 15 minutes - then recovered over the next few hours. Full disclosure - in both cases i had not taken my pescribed daily 325mg aspirin for a couple of days (stupid me) - and was probably a bit dehydrated.

I am going to see the cardiologist next Monday to make sure nothing is wrong.

But wanted to know if anyone else has had similar feelings etc - and what it turned out to be if anything.

Thanks
Ned
 
I am 8 weeks post op avr and have on occasion had a dizzy spell, usually while walking and one time while driving. I am going to my cardio in about 20 mins and that question is at the top of my list. I will post some info when I get back. Steve
 
Ned, are you taking any blood pressure pills and could it be that your pressure dropped too low??
 
Nope - no drugs other then 325mg aspirin. Have had two appointments - post the usual post surgery appointments - one 4 months post surgery with cardiologist where he did an EKG and said everything looked fine - and one with my primary care physician for full pysical 8-9 months post-surgery where he did an EKG and said everything was fine.
 
I'm 11 months post op and have had no dizzy spells. I have been off balanced once or twice:p :eek: :p ( no comment please). It only happens when I'm turning around quickly which I would not have to do If people would stop sneaking up on me:D
 
Ned,
Were you dizzy or faint? There is a difference.
I doubt that forgetting your aspirin had anything to do with either event.

I have had episodes of weakness, but mine is related to post-op pericardial constriction that prevents the heart's right chamber from completely emptying. I have felt like I was going to pass out, but recovered my strength fairly rapidly.

Let us know what the cardiologist has to say when you see him.
 
Nope, the dizziness I felt before surgery has gone away for me. I'm six months post op with BAV replaced and a bypass, and active and playing tennis for a couple of hours no problem. Could be blood pressure meds. Good luck at the cardio.
 
The following is a copy of a Feb 2005 posting by me.


I had feelings of lightheadedness during weeks 6 to 12 post surgery. I felt so bad one day that I went to emergency during the seventh week. They reported all tests were within norms. My doctor would tinker with meds but I got no relief.

Also I had several episodes of the room spinning violently. I was wearing a 24 hour Heart monitor during the worse episode but there were no blips on my record.

Gradually it went away.

Today I am fine except for an occasional ocular migraine.

Hope your condition clears up soon.
__________________
__________________
 
The sensation of the room spinning (or you spinning in the room) is often a sign of an Inner Ear 'issue'. Could be excess fluid, or other things that I have forgotten. They have tests to evaluate these kinds of reactions. BEWARE of the "Blow in your Ear" test. I lost everything from both ends from that one!

'AL Capshaw'
 
Hi Ned -

Sue (from the UK) posted a question somewhat similar to this several days ago, although it may be in a different forum section, and there were several suggestions by other Valvers. I don't know what might have caused your episodes/events; it could be a lot of things. Personally, though, I seem to be a bit more vulnerable to pretty significant episodes/events if I get a bit dehydrated, than others (non-Valvers) seem to be; and I've had something like that happen twice during different Int'l travel also, but I think mine was more like a faintness and then sweats. What made you think it could be dehydration for you?

Mary's question is a good one -- did you have dizziness or faintness? (edit -- oh, I see from your title of the thread you mention both)

Good idea to see your cardio. Let us know what he says, will you? Take care.
 
Below is a post I submitted a while back... I still have no real answers, but it also hasn't happened again. I sure hope you have some luck finding a remedy and/or answers.

Let us know what you do find please.
greg

*
I had an aortic valve replacement in Nov of 2003. All has gone very well after learning to live with blood thinner and the mechanical click at night.

Now my problem. About 2 months ago I got up for work as usual but I passed out or something like that. I stumbled from the living room to the bedroom and started hugging my pillow (security thing from post-op).
My wife could tell I was not coherent and she called 911 then got up to unlock the door. I followed her back to the living room, fought the parimedics and eventually the police had to handcuff me to get me to the hospital.
I started regaining some memory of events at the hospital but it took several hours for the fog to completly clear up.

I was tested for any and all drugs (none), tested for diabetes (none), CAT scan of my head read by two different neurologists (no problem found), INR was 2.9 (perfect), echocardiogram showed everything was great, cartaroid arteries were still very clean, no one found a problem anywhere.
My family doctor finally suggested that it was possibly a virus.
Nobody knows why I lost 20/30 Mins. completly and several hours all together.
*
 
Hmm - not sure what the distinction is b/t dizziness and faintness - guess it was more dizziness since I did not faint. Basically - standing there one minute - vision starts to get blurry - and rooms starts to spin a bit - have trouble standing. Am able to get over to a chair or wall to lean against - there for a couple of minutes - then needed to sit/lie down for 15 minutes or so. Then was able to get up and walk around - but felt a bit out of sorts for a couple of hours afterwards.

Thanks for all your feedback - I will post an update next week after meeting with the cardio.
 
ncarlson said:
Hmm - not sure what the distinction is b/t dizziness and faintness - guess it was more dizziness since I did not faint. Basically - standing there one minute - vision starts to get blurry - and rooms starts to spin a bit - have trouble standing.
Click to expand...

You just made the distinction . . . with dizziness, the room seems to spin or move, or you feel like you're spinning.
With faintness, I had no spinning sensation, just a sudden weakness in my leg to the extent that I actually dropped to one knee.
As Al C. wrote, if its dizziness you're experiencing, it's possible that it's related to inner ear issues--not heart.
 
Back from Cardio

Back from Cardio

Just got back from the cardiologist. He did an EKG, blood pressure, listened to the heart etc. Good news - he said the EKG is 100% normal, heart/valve sound good, blood pressure is normal. I am doing and echo on Weds - just b/c its been almost a year since my surgery - so would need to do one anyhow - but he does not expect anything to show up.

Now some info. that he passed along that may be helpful to others:
1) he said based on how i described it etc - its likely that i had a minor inner ear virus that would cause the dizziness and that it could take a couple of weeks to work itself out and that its not unusual to not have any other clinical symptoms.
2) he said he sees 12-15 people a year who come in complaining of similar things and 99% of the time it is not heart related - and likely a undiagnosed inner ear virus
3) he said he is 100% sure (or as sure as you can ever be) that it was not a clot - b/c 1) i have a tissue valve so very rare you get a clot from one of those 2) if it was a clot the symptoms would have lasted longer 3) if it was a clot - the chances of it happening twice in the exact same way are next to none - since the clot would have had to travel to the exact same part of the brain.

I asked him if I should get an MRI of the head etc - to make sure there wasn't something wrong with the brain - and he said I could - but that he didnt think it was warranted unless I was really worried about it.

Although he did say if I have another bout of dizziness I should have an MRI just to make sure nothing else is going on in the noggin.

So long story short - he doesnt think it is anything to do with the valve/heart. Said its not uncommon especially in the winter for him to have patients complain about this type of thing. I will have the echo to confirm all else is well in there. And if I have another dizziness spell we will move on to the brain - as he thinks my heart is doing great.

Thanks for all your help. Let me know if anyone has any other questions.

I will post how the echo goes when i get those results as well.
 
Thanks for the info. I am glad to hear your heart is fine. Will be waiting to hear on the results of the echo.
 
Thanks for the update, and I'm glad he's attributing it to inner ear!
 
Alls Well

Alls Well

Finally got the full report from my echo - everything is good. Heart looks great. 1 year post surgery heart has returned to normal size!!!
 
Great news Ned, so happy for you receiving that excellent report!

For me, the faintness is usually low blood pressure, I have a home BP monitor now and can nail it in the act so I'm pretty sure where the funny feelings I have come from. Dehydration is a biggie to watch out for, you can't wait until you are thirsty to drink.

All the best,
Ruth
 
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