Ectopic Beats After AVR

[JohnMc]

Hi All,

I am now 3 1/2 weeks out of surgery for an aortic valve replacement. Everything is going very well at the moment apart from one 'minor' niggle. Over the past few days I have started getting more and more ectopic beats. My heart rate doesn't increase at all, it hovers around the 60 - 65 bpm, it's just skipping a beat every 1 minute or so. I have put this down to the fact that since the surgery my blood pressure has decreased considerably to around the 115/80 mark (from around 150/70) and the dilated left ventricle is going through the remodelling process (very hopeful) so these things are to be expected. I am keen to get anybody elses experiences during the first 6 weeks after surgery so that I know what sort of things to expect.

Other than this my recovery has been great. I am walking 2 miles a day, can move around pretty well, have no breathlessness or any other symptoms other than a mildly painful sternum.

I am not on any painkillers at present, the only medication I am taking is Carvedilol and warfarin.

Any advice or experiences would be very helpful.

Thanks
John

 

[Trinityheart8891]

John,
what you said makes sense

I am not post op for valve replacement/repair, but I did have 2 open heart surgeries as an infant/toddler one 16 yrs ago (a VSD repair) and one 19 yrs ago (a left ventricular outflow tract obstruction resection) (I am in line for mitral and aortic repairs/replacements within the next 5-10 or so years) and I do have lots of PVC's (I'm assuming you are talking ventricular ectopics) I also get them in a bigeminal pattern (every other beat is ectopic) sometimes.

scar tissue can cause PVC's, as well as remodeling. Alot of peoples hearts are irritable after surgery (my mom said I went into some nasty rhythms after my surgeries) Your BP probably doesnt have much to do with the PVC's thats more likely because your heart doesnt have to pump so hard to keep your cardiac output up.

that said, I think you should call your cardio, and mention it, he may want to see you just to check things out, and more than likely put a 24 hr holter on you.

another thing you might want to consider is whether you are drinking caffeine or alcohol, or if there are any other triggers going on, like lack of sleep, or stress or things like that.

hope this helps
Morgan, 20

 

[Karlynn]

John, you are still in the beginning stages of recovery. Your heart was "man-handled" and sometimes has funny little ways of showing it didn't like it. Just about everyone - even those without heart problems, will have occasional arrhythmia. The big majority of people don't really notice it.

Most post-surgery folks report that they can "feel" there heart quite a lot after surgery. Probably because everything was disturbed in that area and makes it more sensitive for a while. It's possible you've always had some ectopic beats but just didn't notice them prior to your surgery. You will be able to feel these types of things more for a while.

Take a look at your activity as well. It could be possible that it's your heart telling you that you are overdoing it at this point and need to slow down and get more rest. Morgan made a good point. Caffeine and alcohol can sometimes make these things occur, particularly if your heart is in a repairing stage.

If it continues, or becomes bothersome or activity-limiting, contact your doctor. But your description, for now, doesn't sound out of the ordinary.

Don't forget the saying that really important - particularly for those just starting recovery: When in doubt, check it out.

 

[tcopel]

John,
I, like you, had AVR about 9 weeks ago. I noticed that I could feel my pulse in my chest and even seem "feel" it in my ears. I dont think that is an uncommon finding. Then, about 3 weeks after the surgery, I began having a significant number of palpitations. My heart felt like it missing beats, jumping around and I thought there was a tennis ball bounding around inside of my chest. It really got bad when I laid down, enough so that it kept me awake. Then, for some reason, the day after I went into see my cardiologist to discuss this (he put a holter monitor on me), it magically got better. I think it was just like Karlynn said, my heart didnt like being messed with and it finally began to heal. I hope my cardiologist doesnt think I was making the extent of my palpitations up.
The take home point is to make sure it isnt anything serious with you doc. Atrial fib is a condition that warrents your cardiologists attention. However, it isnt unusual to have benign palpitaitons. God bless.

 

[Bina]

Hi John,
Yes.....right after OHS it is really impossible to lie down at night without the heart doing it's skipping and jumping. Once anything serious is ruled out, I just take it as a sign to slow down a bit, and try to relax.
These feelings do diminish, sometimes after weeks, sometimes after months.