Why is my heart going thunky-thunky?

Valve Replacement Forums

Help Support Valve Replacement Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

ponygirlmom

VR.org Supporter
Supporting Member
Joined
May 2, 2008
Messages
659
Location
Fountain Hills, Arizona
Today as I was finishing lunch my heart decided to have a little party, beating fast and strong (although not unevenly.)

I was eating egg salad with wheat crackers. Not what you would think of as a heavy meal, although it's the first since surgery that has added fat (from mayo.)

Do you think I a.) ate too much, b.) ate something deceptively hard to digest or c.) have a heart that is very bored and decided to go for a run?
 
Probably because you had OHS a couple of weeks ago. ;):D

Seriously, your heart has been traumatized. Every so often it will remember what you did to it and scream.

That being said, it never hurts to let your doctor know "just in case".
 
The correct answer is C. Don't overanalyze it. You just had surgery.
 
Unless it continues and you are short of breath,it should be ok.
Did you take your pulse? and as long as its not too high(>110) AND doesnt
stay at this rate for too long, AND doesnt go up too much more with exertion-
it sounds like just normal post op symptoms. But since arrhytmias are
common after OHS , I dont want to write it off as nothing.
I had post op tachycardia going up to 110-115 for periods of 15-20 min
and it was nothing, just expected.
Keep in touch--Dina:)
 
Good answers so far. I'd be on the safe side and just run it by your doctor to let him know. He will most likely give you the answer most of us are thinking - new surgery - heart is a bit mad at you. But he may want to do an EKG on you to make sure there's nothing going on you aren't noticing. (Which there probably isn't.)
 
Good answers so far. I'd be on the safe side and just run it by your doctor to let him know. He will most likely give you the answer most of us are thinking - new surgery - heart is a bit mad at you. But he may want to do an EKG on you to make sure there's nothing going on you aren't noticing. (Which there probably isn't.)


I vote for answer (C) too, and second what Karlynn said. Don't be shy about calling the doctor when something seems unusual post-op. That's why we (and our insurance) pay them the big bucks.
 
C but if it continues, you may be going into afib and not realize it. Best run it past your Doc.
 
I used to get long runs of SVT....now my short runs of under 120 bpm are acceptable.
A couple of times I did end up in ER with long runs of 150 bpm. (not fun, but treatable).
Call your doc.
 
As it happens, I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow anyway, but of course I'm back to normal now.

I have a question though, about the definition of "afib": I thought that was the term for an uneven heartbeat. For example, when I wore my 24-hour heart monitor (I did that a few times before surgery to gather telemetry for the doctors) I was sure that my bouts of strong and/or fast heartbeats would be of interest. However, they said that I had "no incidents of afib," meaning that there were no incidents of uneven or skipped beats.

At least, that's what I thought they meant. Maybe they would have counted fast and strong beats if they were fast and strong enough, and mine weren't.
 
As it happens, I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow anyway, but of course I'm back to normal now.

I have a question though, about the definition of "afib": I thought that was the term for an uneven heartbeat. For example, when I wore my 24-hour heart monitor (I did that a few times before surgery to gather telemetry for the doctors) I was sure that my bouts of strong and/or fast heartbeats would be of interest. However, they said that I had "no incidents of afib," meaning that there were no incidents of uneven or skipped beats.

At least, that's what I thought they meant. Maybe they would have counted fast and strong beats if they were fast and strong enough, and mine weren't.
A. Fib. is usually when the heart's atrium isnt properly squeezing the blood
thru as its supposed to , but instead starts to twitch or give a real weak
pump which doesnt get the blood thru efficiently, so then it usually goes
rapid to make up for this inefficiency.
Anyway this is my limited understanding of it:)-Dina
 
DEFINITELY, tell your Doc about your arrhythmia at your Friday appointment. Hopefully he will run an EKG or suggest a 24 or 48 hour Holter Monitor to try to catch your arrhythmias on a recording. Then he can determine which medication is most appropriate to 'tame things down'.

Do you have a Stethoscope?
If not, I highly recommend one.
That way, you can listen more carefully and describe the type of arrhythmia. PAC's and PVC's are often 'regularly irregular'. A-Fib can present various types of irregular (and often rapid) heartbeats.

Door C is my vote, or some variation of it.

'AL Capshaw'
 
I vote for D. You just ate.

Seriously, in combination with C., you just had surgery, my heart for awhile would get very excited in conjunction with meals. I really have no idea why, if the rise in blood sugar got it all worked up or what.

I had afib for 6 weeks. It's where the atrium quivers instead of beating. Normally your atrium and ventricle constrict in rhythm, giving the ba-boom, ba-boom of a heartbeat. Think of the atrial beat as the "ba" part. So you get ---boom, ---boom when in afib.

Peace,
Ruth
 
I am now 3 1/2 months post-op.

I had "sinus tachycardia" (resting HR 100-135, even while sleeping). It lasted for the entire 3 months post-op and I was on beta blockers, Lanoxin, Cardicor, you name it, but nothing helped... and then I just woke up one day and boom! normal heart rate.

I still have daily PAC/PVC that lasts for hours, but these "heart hickups" are not dangerous, just annoying. You can either live with it or take daily beta-blockers. I have loooooow BP without the help of beta blockers (90/50 on a bad day) and choose to just live with it and be thankful that I don't have a "ticking noise".

Some people go into a-fib after OHS, some have tachy for a few days/weeks and some of us have it for longer than that.

Hope your heart find the right rhythm, soon. Hugs.
 
I vote for C too. Every time I had a rapid heart beat I left a message at my cardios office. I think you should let the doc know. Good luck and take care.

Deb
 
Like many others have said, it's more than likely your heart remembering the insult of surgery.
If it goes fast AND is irregular, make sure you let the doctor know. I was having episodes where my heartrate would go up to around 150, and be irregular. I was really out of breath and no way could I lay flat, I felt like I couldn't breathe.
When I finally went to the doctor (I got chastized alot by folks on the list, LOL) I had a pericardial effusion (fluid in the sac around my heart) which earned me 5 days in the hospital to get regulated and diuresed. To be honest, the day I got admitted I felt so crummy I was happy to be there. Fortunately it went away on it's own (it took a while, though) and I didn't have to have it drained. Yikes! That was the first thing I asked Dr Griffin--"I don't have to have a pericardial window, do I?" I'm sure he was thinking "these darn nurses, they just know too much!".
I still take metoprolol for my rate--and I can tell if I miss a dose. I don't feel bad, just notice I'm clicking along faster than normal.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top