4 months out and feel like I've hit a rut :(

[AshPitt21710]

So this past Friday I was at work and I started to feel what felt like palpitations to me..not really sure if that's what it was since I've never had them before. Those went away and when I was heading home from work I started to have some discomfort in my chest, especially when I took a deep breath or bent over. When I bent over it also felt like everything inside was being squeezed. My mom told me I might have pulled a muscle so I just relaxed Friday night. Saturday morning I got up, didn't really have any pain or discomfort so I went shopping with my mom. By the time we got home Saturday I was having the pain again and when I walked up the steps I got out of breath like I did before the AVR. So my mom took me to the ER. The oral surgeon that took all my teeth out before my AVR left one wisdom tooth in because I was starting to become unstable but the tooth wasn't infected and was all the way in my gum. But since I'm getting dentures, it needed removed. I had it removed last Friday, the 8th and was on antibiotics for 5 days after. The doctor in the ER was worried about an infection, even though I didn't have a fever and haven't had one. So the ER did a chest xray to rule out heart failure and blood work and cultures. The blood work came back normal, my white cells were normal so even though we are still waiting for the cultures, the doctor was pretty sure its not from an infection. They also did a blood test for a blood clot and that came back normal. The only thing they didn't do that I REALLY thought they were going to was an echo. Since my vitals were normal and the discomfort was mostly subsided, they sent me home and told me to call my cardio on Monday morning to set up an echo for this week. This morning when I got up, I'm still having discomfort mainly when I take a deep breath but now my throat is starting to really hurt. I would assume if I have a cold or the flu or something, my white blood cells would have been abnormal and they were not. Not sure what's going on and starting to really worry.

 

[Guyswell]

It sounds like you're worried about bacterial endocarditis. Of course that would be a bad thing. Remember there are many other possible causes that are less serious (like an upper respiratory virus). I'm assuming they did an EKG in the ER and didn't see anything unusual. Considering you're four months post surgery and you just took a course of antibiotics, it could be an intermitent heart rhythm thing. AVR surgery is done very close to the AV node (important part of the heart's electrical system). It's not uncommon to have palpitations, afib or other rhythm abnormalities. I've had palpitations for years and my cardiologist assures me they're not dangerous. I would describe them as a slight pause in my heart rate followed by an extra strong beat I can feel.

I can think of two things you can do today. If you're still having all the same symptoms and you're getting anxious and worried, try calling your cardiologist's office and talking to their answering service. They'll contact the cardiologist on call who will call you at home to take your question. You could do the same with your surgeon's office. You could also return to the ER, explain that you're feeling worse and really want them to monitor things for awhile and do an echo.

 

[AshPitt21710]

It sounds like you're worried about bacterial endocarditis. Of course that would be a bad thing. Remember there are many other possible causes that are less serious (like an upper respiratory virus).

This is true but my white blood cell count was normal. They did blood cultures but won't know the results until tomorrow. My throat hurts worse today and I keep getting a sharp pain every now and then down my throat and still have that pressure when I take a deep breath. My fiance asked if they checked for Strep but if I had Strep my WBC would be elevated if I'm not mistaken. I'm trying not to worry too much and make things worse but it's getting harder as the day goes on and I don't feel better.

I'm assuming they did an EKG in the ER and didn't see anything unusual. Considering you're four months post surgery and you just took a course of antibiotics, it could be an intermitent heart rhythm thing. AVR surgery is done very close to the AV node (important part of the heart's electrical system). It's not uncommon to have palpitations, afib or other rhythm abnormalities. I've had palpitations for years and my cardiologist assures me they're not dangerous. I would describe them as a slight pause in my heart rate followed by an extra strong beat I can feel.

They did and nothing was abnormal. I was on a monitor for about 3 hours and nothing abnormal happened but I also wasn't feeling bad when I was in the hospital.

I can think of two things you can do today. If you're still having all the same symptoms and you're getting anxious and worried, try calling your cardiologist's office and talking to their answering service. They'll contact the cardiologist on call who will call you at home to take your question. You could do the same with your surgeon's office. You could also return to the ER, explain that you're feeling worse and really want them to monitor things for awhile and do an echo.

I don't want to make my mom go back to the ER even though I'm feeling a bit worse because once I got there yesterday, my symptoms seemed to go away until I came home. And I don't want my mom thinking that I'm just making things up. I am kinda upset that they didn't do an echo yesterday in the ER, especially with me being only 4 months out from my AVR. But they called my cardio's office, talked to a cardio on call in the same office as mine and I guess he wasn't too worried about it.

 

[Guyswell]

If you're getting a viral throat infection, your white blood count would not be elevated. With a viral infection, the white blood count can actually go down a little. Strep is a bacterial infection so yes, in that case your white count would go up. Viral infections (colds) will also give you a pretty sore throat, are much more common than strep and usually don't pose much of a threat. If the ER doctor consulted with a cardiologist, and they agreed that you should follow up on Monday with your normal cardiologist, try to relax. Could any of this be caused by anxiety?

If you continue to experience sharp pains in the center of your chest (more than typical sore throat pain), consider going back to the ER. I doubt your Mom will think you're making it up. If your symptoms go away once you get to the hospital, you can always turn around and go back home. If your symptoms don't go away when you get to the ER, maybe they should do an echo of your valve and aorta, if only to put your mind at ease.

 

[AshPitt21710]

So I just realized I never updated about what happened. I went and saw my cardiologist and they did an echo and my valve looks wonderful. He thinks that I might have just overdone it at work, lifting boxes and reaching to grab things, and pulled several muscles. My cardiologist did say that the palpitations I was having could have been from some premature heartbeats but he wasn't worried about it because there weren't a lot. I haven't had anymore palpitations since that day at work and he said he thinks that the premature heartbeats could have been caused from stress and anxiety. I see him again in July just to follow up and see how I am feeling. I haven't had any issues walking up the stairs since, so I'm thinking that feeling short of breath was just in my head because that's been my life for the last 9 years. I have been running/jogging and slowly lifting weights. So everything is fine and I just got into my head and overreacted.

 

[Jkm7]

Thanks for the update.
Good to hear all seems well with you.

Keep up the good work.

 

[kimcdougc]

Good news. Keep up the great recovery.

 

[AmyR]

Hello,

I know how it feels. Once the palps took me to the ER and ever since then every little thing makes me paniky and yeah all your symptoms were of normal panic attacks cause by the funny brain than the beautiful heart. good health. You will be all okay. take care.