MikeHeim
Well-known member
About three months ago, I started getting some SOB. It was not the classic SOB in that I would not get winded during exertion, but I would just become very ?aware? of my breathing when I was just sitting around on the couch, talking on the phone, or walking around. At times it felt like I had to manually force myself to breathe and take deeper breaths. Strangely enough, I never had a problem with exercise. In fact exercise (the heavier the better) seemed to make the issue go away. I was also having problems with twinges of chest pain that may have been muscle/skeletal related or heart related. I hadn?t had them before, so I couldn?t imagine why I would suddenly be having sternum problems so long after my surgery.
All of this was occurring at about the time of my 18 month post-op checkup, so I mentioned it to my Cardiologist. I was having an echo done anyway as a part of the checkup, and it came back completely normal. My heart was now back to a ?normal? size, the valve had only trace leakage, and though my valve area was on the small end of the range, it would not classify as stenoic. He said my issues were possibly anxiety related (I was getting married, moving, and changing jobs all within about a two-month span). I took his word for it and went along with life. Two months later I had put all of my life changes in the rear view mirror, but the problem did not really go away. I would have both good and bad days, but never really shook the problem altogether. After moving, I was referred to a new Cardiologist, and I mentioned my issues to him. He had me do both a stress echo and regular echo, and basically confirmed the conclusions of my 18-month checkup.
What he suggested was that it was perhaps time to work my way off of Atenolol. My resting pulse was often in the mid-50?s, which seemed too low. He said that it was possible that the beta-blocker was keeping my HR too low that it couldn?t respond to the stresses of sudden mild exertion or that my heart wasn?t pumping the blood around quickly enough altogether. With heavy exertion, my body had time to adjust, which would explain why I wasn?t getting SOB at those times. He began weaning me off my usual dose of 50mg per day first to 25mg per day, then to 25mg every other day, and then finally off it altogether. The good news is that my SOB seems to have gone away.
After all that, I have a couple comments and questions:
1. Has anyone had a similar issue? I recall people on this site having issues with low BP and dizziness due to beta-blockers, but I don?t recall anyone actually having SOB symptoms.
2. As expected, my HR has risen. My resting HR is now usually around 70-80. Is it reasonable to expect it to lower down to the 60?s or so with time, or do most people have a higher HR after surgery for an indefinite period of time?
3. My HR recovery has become awful. I went running this evening for about 40 minutes. When I finished, my HR was so fast that I couldn?t measure it using my pulse. My best guess is that it was 150-160. Two hours later, my HR is still 92. Is poor HR recovery due only to poor conditioning, or are there other causes? I haven?t been exercising as much as I should lately, but this seems extremely slow to me.
Thanks for any and all replies.
All of this was occurring at about the time of my 18 month post-op checkup, so I mentioned it to my Cardiologist. I was having an echo done anyway as a part of the checkup, and it came back completely normal. My heart was now back to a ?normal? size, the valve had only trace leakage, and though my valve area was on the small end of the range, it would not classify as stenoic. He said my issues were possibly anxiety related (I was getting married, moving, and changing jobs all within about a two-month span). I took his word for it and went along with life. Two months later I had put all of my life changes in the rear view mirror, but the problem did not really go away. I would have both good and bad days, but never really shook the problem altogether. After moving, I was referred to a new Cardiologist, and I mentioned my issues to him. He had me do both a stress echo and regular echo, and basically confirmed the conclusions of my 18-month checkup.
What he suggested was that it was perhaps time to work my way off of Atenolol. My resting pulse was often in the mid-50?s, which seemed too low. He said that it was possible that the beta-blocker was keeping my HR too low that it couldn?t respond to the stresses of sudden mild exertion or that my heart wasn?t pumping the blood around quickly enough altogether. With heavy exertion, my body had time to adjust, which would explain why I wasn?t getting SOB at those times. He began weaning me off my usual dose of 50mg per day first to 25mg per day, then to 25mg every other day, and then finally off it altogether. The good news is that my SOB seems to have gone away.
After all that, I have a couple comments and questions:
1. Has anyone had a similar issue? I recall people on this site having issues with low BP and dizziness due to beta-blockers, but I don?t recall anyone actually having SOB symptoms.
2. As expected, my HR has risen. My resting HR is now usually around 70-80. Is it reasonable to expect it to lower down to the 60?s or so with time, or do most people have a higher HR after surgery for an indefinite period of time?
3. My HR recovery has become awful. I went running this evening for about 40 minutes. When I finished, my HR was so fast that I couldn?t measure it using my pulse. My best guess is that it was 150-160. Two hours later, my HR is still 92. Is poor HR recovery due only to poor conditioning, or are there other causes? I haven?t been exercising as much as I should lately, but this seems extremely slow to me.
Thanks for any and all replies.
