Concerns about my ticker

[AMFT]

I had my aortic valve replaced as well as having a dacron graft for my ascending aorta in June. I have recently returned to work and have started living my life normally again, but I keep having strange things happen.

1. I see little light spots in my vision frequently during the day. This used to be far more prominent after my surgery but has begun to subside. I was told it would eventually stop. Will it though?
2. I have had a couple episodes of tunnel vision only in one eye. I've seen an eye doctor and they assured me I have perfect vision. Could this be heart related?
3. I have had 5-6 episodes of a VERY INTENSE cramping sensation in my chest and arms. I noticed that during the last episode my blood pressure climbed 30 points from normal, but oddly enough it was only in my right arm. The veins in only my right arm were bulging and my right arm was the one to get the "cramp" this time. I feel silly calling my cardiologist for something so silly sounding but it really is concerning. Anyone have any idea?

Thanks a ton, I'm so happy I have other zipper club folks to talk to.....most people just don't understand the anxeity associated with something like this.

p.s. I am on coumadin daily,

 

[pellicle]

Hi

I had my aortic valve replaced as well as having a dacron graft for my ascending aorta in June....

I had mine done similarly in 2011 ...

1. I see little light spots in my vision frequently during the day. This used to be far more prominent after my surgery but has begun to subside. I was told it would eventually stop. Will it though?

not uncommon ... I've had something similar and yes, it has diminished to the point where I'd nearly forgotten about it till I read this post...

2. I have had a couple episodes of tunnel vision only in one eye. I've seen an eye doctor and they assured me I have perfect vision. Could this be heart related?

it could be ... but then equally not ... the description is a little imprecise ...

3. I have had 5-6 episodes of a VERY INTENSE cramping sensation in my chest and arms.

I'm willing to bet that this is due to a bunch of muscular imbalances caused during the surgery and recovery. Sitting differently, unconsciously holding yourself in a protected manner. People get it in other situations too ... like car whiplash.

I noticed that during the last episode my blood pressure climbed 30 points from normal, but oddly enough it was only in my right arm. The veins in only my right arm were bulging and my right arm was the one to get the "cramp" this time. I feel silly calling my cardiologist for something so silly sounding but it really is concerning. Anyone have any idea?

this bit sounds different ... worth asking I'd say ... no such thing as a silly question I reckon

p.s. I am on coumadin daily,

I bloody hope so! I don't know where you live (like we have people here from Netherlands, Norway ...Sri Lanka .... I'm in Australia) but when you get more 'stable' consider self testing and if you have a mind towards it, full self management. Saves all the hassle of labs and whatnot. This blog post of mine is a little long, but the first words are the most important.

Firstly - the good news

I wanted to say that managing my INR myself is incredibly simple and takes me about 5 minutes per week. Learning to use an INR monitoring machine is dead simple (a quick video provided) and (almost) any idiot can do it. If you buy strips online they cost so little that if you are an able bodied person you just couldn't consider doing it any other way.

By using the Coaguchek XS I have been essentially free to travel as I wish (moved from Australia for a year in Finland, traveled to the UK and other places) and more or less unbound in any way by being on anticoagulants.

Best of all its been really cheap, with tests costing me less than $6 per test.

 

[Paleowoman]

I had my aortic valve replaced as well as having a dacron graft for my ascending aorta in June. I have recently returned to work and have started living my life normally again, but I keep having strange things happen.

1. I see little light spots in my vision frequently during the day. This used to be far more prominent after my surgery but has begun to subside. I was told it would eventually stop. Will it though?
2. I have had a couple episodes of tunnel vision only in one eye. I've seen an eye doctor and they assured me I have perfect vision. Could this be heart related?

I had my aortic valve replaced in January. I get those little light spots going across my vision daily too. I also get occasional double vision and what's called 'migraine aura without headache. I found a thread on the previous forum about this and resurrected it a couple of months ago: http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...964-visual-problems-following-cardiac-surgery Also found an aritcle in a science website about neurological problems following open heart surgery (can't find the link now). My cardiologist said I could see a neurologist but I don't see much point as this seems pretty common after OHS.

I've no experience of your third problem regarding the cramping sensation in your chest, but I do get sharp sternum and rib pains from time to time - spoke yesterday to a rheumatologist who said that the sternum takes ages to heal. Also found a long entry on Adam Pick's website about sternal pain one and two years after surgery - a surgeon was commenting on it and many patients relating to that.

But you should get any pain and your heart checked out - you're not long out of surgery so you have every right to feel concerned and check things out with a doc.

 

[Superman]

Wouldn't worry so much about the first two questions, but the 3rd, I'd be on the phone with my cardiologist or surgeon's office immediatetly. Pain, cramping, and blood pressure spikes are worth asking about. Even if nothing - better to know for certain.

The first two items that you speak of could be migraine aura's. Typically I like to source things, but being a bit pressed - I'll just say that I've read up on this being more common in BAV patients than the general population. I looked into it because I get the same thing. The "tunnel vision", when I experience it, is like a C-shaped swirling image that occupies my peripheral vision. Occasionally it will drift across my field of vision starting far left and moving right. Never really blocks center though. There is no pain with the phenomena, just the field of vision disturbance. In exploring this - I learned that pain does not always accompany "migraines". Lasts up to a half hour when it happens.

I want to say there was a thread on it here at some point, but don't recall specifically.

 

[chaconne]

AMFT,

I would definitely call about the 5-6 episodes of cramping, raised blood pressure and bulging veins. It may not be anything abnormal, but these could be indications of something more serious.

 

[knotguilty]

Its ben almost two years since my heart operation and I still occasionally get those little flashes of light. Eye doctor told me nothing to worry about. I have also had my eyes go bluury for an instant, again normal with age and othing to worry about. As far as the cramping, the only time I have had cramping is from the cholesterol medicine I am on. I had to change brands until they found one I could tolerate. I still on occasion get cramping in one of my extermities. All your questions are worth asking your cardiologist.