5 weeks post op & strange set back

[Egbert]

Hi, I am 49 years old and had a Bentall procedure 5 weeks ago. My bicuspid aorta valve was no longer up for the job and had to be replaced.

First of all I would like to thank you all for the valuable information I found here. The frequency of my "optical migraine" (the term I learned on this forum), went from 2 or 3 times a month to 1 to 2 times a day after my operation. I found this very disturbing and worrying but was relieved to find via this forum that many more people have encountered this phenomenon, and more importantly that it will fade away.

I had an amazing recovery after my operation. I stopped the painkillers and sleeping pills after 4 days and have had very little pain. I was immediately able to walk stairs and make a reasonable walk outside. Last Friday, I went to the hospital to do a cycle test to set a baseline for cardio gym that I am supposed to start next week. Not extreme exercise, but it did bring up my bloodpressure to a level that it had not been after my op (something like 95/180, but I don't recall exactly).
Friday night at 2 o'clock I woke up from pain on my chest, left side. Rather frightening after having had no pain over the past weeks. During saterday morning things didn't get better (breathing-in caused pain around my heart), and I also noticed a temperature raise (38 Celsius). I went to see a general practitioner who mentioned he heared a murmur on my heart which of course really scared me. To cut a long story short, I ended up in the hospital were they did the surgery, and they did an ECG, Thorax, ECHO and bloodtest. To my great relief they couldn't find anything wrong. No murmurs, no leakages, no signs of an infection.
I was back home for dinner last night, still not feeling very well, and went to sleep early (in the meantime my temerature had increased to 38,3 Celsius!).
After a good night sleep, I woke up this morning feeling better. Fever gone, and the pain in my chest much more distant. No trouble with deep breathing.

I know the body is a complicated thing, but this is all very puzzling to me. Why no pain over the past 4 weeks and suddenly pain in the middle of the night? Why fever? A warning because of the cycle test?
Does this look vaguely familiar to anybody?

Rgrds, Egbert

 

[Ross]

Sounds to me like a misdiagnosis and you may well have fluid building around your heart. That is an emergency. The other is likely fluid around the lungs, which can become an emergency, but not as fast. If your temperature rises anymore, get back to the hospital for a reevaluation.

 

[Bina]

Hello Egbert and welcome!
My thoughts are that maybe the cycle test was too much too soon.
Our bodies will let us know when they need a rest, but chest pain should never be ignored and you were wise to be checked in hospital. Best wishes.

 

[Montrealer]

Hummm.....I wouldn`t chalk this up as nothing.........tomorrow I would get get another opinion from somewhere. Fever and pain around the heart is no laughing matter.

 

[netmiff]

I think I would do as you have, you have been thoroughly checked out, but I would keep a close watch on it, and get back to emergency if anything gives you the slightest doubt. As Bina says, the body tells us when too much is too much, listen to it. Maybe your cycling was just a bit too soon, or too much.

Congrats on a good recovery so far, and keep up the good work.

 

[Marguerite53]

I would watch that fever closely. It could be fluid building up. Maybe a quick search here on the forum of other people's experience with fluid around the heart or fluid in the lungs. I did not experience this at all, so the technical terms are not on the tip of my tongue here, sorry.

Of course, you could just have a virus, too!

I also wonder if the pain in your chest could be muscular. Even though you are thinking "new beating heart chest pain", the mere fact that you used a bicycle of some sort meant your hands were up on some handlebars. Your healing sternum hasn't had that kind of movement/position yet and maybe you stretched something you had been kind of hovering over and protecting. Just a thought about that part.

Hang in there!! Be very very attentive to yourself and do not hesitate to get professional opinions. And be sure you are satisfied with the opinion or drive on to get more answers. This is all about you. Don't be shy!

Best wishes

Marguerite

 

[brd]

Egbert, For what it's worth, I had a very similar experience at 6 weeks post-op........malaise,fever, chest pain that popped up in different places and once so intense it woke me and I was pacing in the bedroom waiting for relief from the ibuprophen. I had four such episodes each lasting a few days. One episode sent me to the ER where like you, with all the same tests they found nothing. Finally when I saw my cardiologist he diagnosed pericarditis. He could hear the "rub" sound indicative of pericarditis and he saw some changes on my EKG. The only treatment recommendation I received was for ibuprophen which seemed to do the job. I have had no episodes for the past four weeks but I believe pericarditis can take a long time to heal so I don't think I'm really out of the woods yet.
My advice would be to try to get in to your cardiologist so he can have a listen.
I wish you the best in getting to the bottom of your situation. Barbara

 

[Egbert]

Thank you all, for you valuable reaction/advise. I am feeling better right now, but by no means as well as I did last week. After reading Barbara's experience (thank you Barbara, it's worth a lot to me!), I checked the pericarditis symptoms, and these are almost exactly like what I am experiencing. I called the doctor that I had seen on saterday and asked him whether he suspects pericarditis, and he said that the tests he did didn´t show evidence for that.
I have slowed down my pace considerably and started to take painkillers. If it is pericarditis (and I suspect it is), there is nothing else I can do anyway, and that gives me some level of comfort.
Many regards, Egbert

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I was also thinking pericarditis. That could explain the "murmur" that they heard earlier - the rub. Pericarditis doesn't always involve fluid, although if left untreated, the fluid usually comes. 50% of people with pericarditis have an abnormal EKG, but 50% don't. Unless it is restricting the heart, an echo won't show pericarditis. Frankly, it is almost impossible to "see" without the fluid, but the symptoms sound right. My doctor mentioned that a Cath could be done, but he just decided to treat the symptoms.

My advice - take Aleve. Unless it is a severe case, it should get better after a few days.

 

[Eva]

Hello and welcome Egbert,

I agree with what was said above that you stated the exercise a bit sooner and a bit more than your body needed. It happened to me and the nurse at the rehab center sent me to the doctor to check if I was having pericarditis or anything else, luckily it was all 'muscular pain' which was awful I was scared it was an inflamation as it happened at night and suddenly. The doctor explained that all pain is felt at night as during the day we do not notice due to the movement (I do, but it is worse at night) but I take more Tylenols during the day.

As for fever, I had you same fever for one afternoon before that awful feeling for the whole afternoon and I was sweating from every single pore of my body and feeling heat coming out of me. Mine reached 99.9 F degrees. Again, the doctor/s disregarded them, since it was one episode and asked me to drink lots of fluids.

Good luck

 

[nancym]

Egbert---What is this optical migraine that you mentioned? I seem to have these visual auras almost every day, which I expect to be the beginning of a migraine, but that never happens. Is that what you were talking about?

 

[Egbert]

That's exactly what I was referring to. From reading this forum, it seems there is a connection between specific heart disorders and experiencing these auras, and also that the frequency can increase dramatically post operation (for a certain amount of time). If you do a search on "migraine" you'll find a lot of posts on this subject.
Rgrds, Egbert

 

[danb1983]

I have had these optical migranes all my life, I didn't know what they were until about a year ago (im aged 25), i pretty much get one a month on average, but sometimes they can be much closer together.

I was an optician about it and he said it is nothing to worry about - it is just like a migraine, but only in the eye, and it always goes after about 10-20 minutes... I never attributed it to having had surgery... I had surgery when I was 2 years old... pretty strange