Heartbeat change....

[Magic8Ball]

Anyone noticed their heartbeat change in the months after surgery?

Mine was quite irregular after surgery with lots of pauses at irregular intervals...the surgeon/cardiologist said this was how it was before its just that the mechanical valve ticking has made it more noticeable...

Well lying in bed the other night i was falling asleep and all of a sudden became aware that my heart was just going tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick with no pauses...ive monitored it over the past week and it has been the same all week.

There is no racing or discomfort, its not a bad thing, i'm just surprised at the change and wondered if anyone else had had the same.

I know my heart has shrunk and things are getting better but this seems to be a remarkable change....

 

[kodi]

I have always (well at least for the last 20 years or so) have had a slow and irregular heart beat. It will beat regularly for several beats then I get a weak beat. Since surgery my RHR is almost back to my normal 40 but it is still irregular.

 

[pedimed]

My heart rate has been quite rapid prior to surgery with baseline averaging around 90 BPM. I also had sinus arrythmia's prior to surgery. Postoperatively I noticed more irregular heartbeats and was told this is normal after surgery while the heart recovers. I also had to lower my dose of Toprol as it was causing unusaully low BP and HR. It is interesting you state that you are not hearing a pause between "ticks" yet you dont think your heart is racing?

Leah

 

[tobagotwo]

One of the things that happens after surgery is that the heart (for most of us that means the left ventricle), relieved of its burden of damaged plumbing, begins to revert to its former size.

So you have two things going on in your heart: the healing of the surgical wound, which temporarily (we hope) affects the cell-to-cell transfer of the heart's electrical currrents at the site of the valve incision, and the physical changes in size and shape of the ventricle that can cause its squeeze to be somewhat lopsided at various stages while it shrinks. As the curve and volume of the venticle change, the flow of electrical currents over its cells also change. In many cases, the atrium remodels partially as well. Not surprising to get some PVCs (Premature Ventricular Contractions) and PACs (Premature Atrial Contractions) under those circumstances. Most folks have bouts of PACs, PVCs, and worse during the first year following the surgery.

Fortunately, they are usually both harmless and temporary, which is why we sometimes urge people not to do irretrievable things in reaction to sudden shifts in their heart rhythms, particularly in the first months. Not everyone gets through without problems, but most who had no prior or complicating issues seem to.

Eventually, things return to as close to normal as they'll ever be, and a lot of those misrhythms and false starts just fade as your body's engine settles in to its regular rhythm. It's a great thing to feel.

Best wishes,

 

[Magic8Ball]

It is interesting you state that you are not hearing a pause between "ticks" yet you dont think your heart is racing?

Leah

Sorry, i mean tick tick tick as in the ticking of a watch with pauses in between each tick.

What i was getting before was a tick tick tick like a watch then a pronounced pause followed by a tick tick tick tick tick like a watch and another pause....the number of tick's was random and not affected by what i was doing or how i was breathing.

Basically, i feel like my heart is ticking like a normal heart should be and i'm surprised about that as i'd been told my random pauses were there before surgery and probably been there for 10+ years at least.

Regards.