Help with Heart Skipping Beats and Fast Heart Rate

[T-Money]

Hi Folks.
Once again I need your support and advice. I'm 2 1/2 weeks out of aortic valve/root replacement surgery (mechanical, St. Jude) and for the past 3 days I have been experiencing some serious skipping of heart beats. I'm talking a skip every minute or two. The funny thing is that when I wake up in the morning everything is fine. Then, it progressively gets worse throughout the day. By the late evening time it improves again. I've also noticed that my resting heart rate is in excess of 100 bpm and gets up to 110-115 when sitting. I talked to the cardio and he put me on a heart monitor for 24 hours. It was almost painful to keep that log, but I did it. I probably won't hear anything until Friday. Anybody have any experience in this area. It is downright worrisome. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
T

 

[Ross]

It's worrisome, but it's not uncommon this soon after. Most likely he'll see if it subsides on it's own soon and if not, will probably put you on something to help.

 

[geebee]

T,

Very common as Ross said. The monitor will show the doctor was is actually happening and there are plenty of meds out there that can solve irregularities. It may also be a fleeting thing that will disappear on its own.

Try not worry - it might make things worse.

Take care.

 

[bvdr]

The heart is very touchy so soon after surgery. It doesn't take kindly to having been disturbed. Heart rate and rhythm irregularities are extremely common this soon out and often just fade away. It also may take weeks for your heart rate to lower back into a more acceptable range. I had atrial fib before surgery and it didn't change with surgery but I am kept in sinus rhythm the majority of the time with a pretty high dose of flecainide.

The monitor should show what is happening. One off beat every few minutes probably wouldn't warrant any treatment. Let us know what your results are, OK? Good luck and I hope your report is a good one.

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Hi Folks.
Once again I need your support and advice. I'm 2 1/2 weeks out of aortic valve/root replacement surgery (mechanical, St. Jude) and for the past 3 days I have been experiencing some serious skipping of heart beats. I'm talking a skip every minute or two. The funny thing is that when I wake up in the morning everything is fine. Then, it progressively gets worse throughout the day. By the late evening time it improves again. I've also noticed that my resting heart rate is in excess of 100 bpm and gets up to 110-115 when sitting. I talked to the cardio and he put me on a heart monitor for 24 hours. It was almost painful to keep that log, but I did it. I probably won't hear anything until Friday. Anybody have any experience in this area. It is downright worrisome. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
T

Been There, Done That !

You're right, 'skipped' heartbeats can be 'uncomfortable and disconcerting' but are usually nothing to worry about. If you don't have a stethoscope, I recommend that you get one so that you can actually hear what is going on. I was able to accurately predict what the monitor would record. Some doc's hated that.

The most common cause is either Premature Atrial Contractions (PAC's) or Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVC's). As long as they are not sustained and not every other beat, the Doc's will YAWN and either tell you to 'live with them' or put you on a Beta Blocker to try to control them. CAFFEINE can be a trigger for these types of arrhythmias so cut out the Coffee, Tea, Cokes, and Chocolate. STRESS is another trigger, so just relax (yeah, right!)

A high resting Heart Rate can last for WEEKS after surgery. This is pretty common. As long as your resting HR does not exceed 120, the Doc's don't seem to get too excited. Again, they may put you on a Beta Blocker to help control the rate.

The usual cause for an elevated resting HR (>120 BPM) is Atrial Fibrilation. If you are in atrial fibrilation they will also want you to be on Coumadin to prevent clot formation.

As you can tell, I had some A-Fib events following my surgery. They always corrected back to normal sinus rhythm (NSR) after about 3 hours, with and without intervention or medication. My PCP and I reached an agreement that I would just 'ride it out' for a few hours and if it did not resolve by morning, I was go to the ER. I never had to go to the ER (after the first time when they basically let me lay on a gurney hooked up to a monitor for 3 hours). My episodes first occurred while in still in the hospital, with two more episodes at 5 and 6 weeks post-op.

You did the right thing getting it checked out. The monitor will tell the Doc's what type of arrhythmias you are experiencing. Then they can prescribe an appropriate treatment plan. If they thought you were in immediate danger, they would not have released you to return home.

As we like to say, "Heart Disease isn't for Sissies!"

'Hang in there, it's a bumpy ride, but you'll get there'.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[Karlynn]

What everyone else said! But wanted to compliment you on being a very good patient and calling the doctor about it. A lot of people just wait and worry.

 

[Barry]

Well, with me it turned out that what you're describing turned out to be chronic atrial fibrillation, and, like you, the tachycardia got worse over the day. I wasn't conscious of it, but when I was on a halter monitor I would sometimes get close to 200 beats per minute in my sleep!

They figured that it'd probably been going on for a long time and was unlikely to respond to electroshock. Tried Amiodarone (very toxic weird stuff, read up on it before you decide whether to try it) but it didn't work. They've slowed things down with beta blockers, but then had to put in a pacemaker so that I wouldn't go into bradycardia.

Now, here's the weird part: Upon reading that, it sounds like a scary worst-scene scenario. Actually, it doesn't amount to diddly-squat. There's only been one time that I've been conscious of what was going on - and that was very weird and creepy. But you'd be surprised what one can put up with when one's not even aware of it! And since I'm already on Coumadin for an artificial valve, it's not like I had to begin dealing with Coumadin for atrial fib (atrial fib can throw clots, so they often put you on Coumadin for it).

 

[T-Money]

Update

Update

Hi Again.
As always I want to begin by thanking you for sending along your experiences and knowledge. It turns out that I had some PAC's (Premature Atrial Contractions) and as the always wise ALCAPSHAW mentioned the doctor's did not seem to concerned. I ended up being told to stay off the caffine and take a little more of my metropol (beta blocker). I was also instructed to call them in a week and let them know how I'm doing. In some ways it almost feels reassuring that the Doc's are so ambivalent on the matter. At any rate, I hope I never have to use one of those Holter monitors again because I was having skipped beats every few minutes and whenever you experience an 'event' you have to click the button and make an entry into the log. Needless to say the 24 hour period from 1 P.M. on Tue. to 1 P.M. on Wed. was spent sleeping or making journal entries. I feel like things are going to be OK. Thanks again for all of your support and advice. Your the best!!!