Irregular heart rate

[Andy3560]

Hi there,
just joined the forum and was wondering what experience others have had with an irregular heart beat.

I had a mechanical valve replaced in Sept 2009 (aged 34) and have since had recurring irregular heart beat which seems to have been settled more recently when being taken off Bisoprolol and put on Soltolol.
Have any others had similar issues and is it likely to be an ongoing medicated symptom?

many thanks for your anticipated replies

 

[OldNick]

My wife developed an irregular heartbeat, but has never had heart surgery of any sort. Our cardiologist placed her on Atenolol and magnesium oxide, which slowed her pulse significantly, and the problem seems to have mostly gone away. The down side is that the slow pulse drags her energy level down significantly.

 

[nngbwh]

I have no symptom on irregular heart beat . Just want to drop a quick note "Welcome aboard".

 

[Mentu]

Andy, welcome to VR. I guess we are both approaching 6 months after surgery. Especially, during the weeks just after the valve replacement, I had an odd heart beat which my Cardio said was probably due to the drug I was prescribed (metoprolol 25mg 2 times daily). Since then, as time has passed and I exercised more, things have settled down. Perhaps, my body has also become more used to the drug. If you have already seen some improvement by changing drugs, it would seem that you are going in the right direction but I would suggest that you still keep your Cardio informed if the arythmia continues. If you don't say anything, they will assume everything is ok with you.

Larry

 

[karen14]

... If you have already seen some improvement by changing drugs, it would seem that you are going in the right direction but I would suggest that you still keep your Cardio informed if the arythmia continues. If you don't say anything, they will assume everything is ok with you. Larry

Hi Andy3560, welcome!
I agree with what Larry stated here, especially since you're so new out of surgery. And to encourage you, I have heard that it DOES take time for the heart & valve to adjust itself.

I'm a year and a half after surgery now, and had heart racing right after surgery. So the surgeon put me on metoprolol as well. After being on that for some time, I noticed "flutters" in the heart occasionally; nothing significant, but noticable. I also found that when I went off that drug for a Treadmill test, I felt 100% more energy (but still an occasional flutter). Wild. So lately, I've been wanting to get off of it...

However, it was explained to me by my primary care provider that being metoprolol is a beta-blocker, that if I were to have a heart-attack (God forbid), it would save my heart muscle from damage. Without the drug, a cardiac arrest could damage half or all of the heart beyond repair, turning it to mush, so-to-speak. I found this quite interesting! As for myself, I will discuss this with my cardiologist when I see him again soon too.

Anyway, again, welcome! Best wishes for you, ~karen14

 

[Gail in Ca]

After my surgery in '09, my heart rate was fast for many months. It finally slowed down and beat regularly until this past Jan, when it started to beat irregularly all the time, but it especially bothers me at night.
I asked my cardio about it and he said not to worry about it. That was in January. So I'm going to bring it up again in April on my next recheck. It's driving me crazy at night. It just doesn't seem normal that it would just start to beat irregularly after doing so well for many months. I'm not liking this new development!

 

[debster913]

Hi, Andy--

Welcome! I'm 34 myself (valve surgery almost 4 years ago). I've been dealing with arrhythmia since my surgery--all caused by the surgery itself. This is fairly normal--in my case, I had V-Tach and now have A-Fib. I had a V-Tach ablation in December '08, and was recently diagnosed with the A-Fib a couple months ago. My cardio explained that the A-Fib is from the scar tissue at the site where I had my repair. It's a pain, but usually the rhythm probs can be treated with medication. I've been on everything from sotalol to Toprol to Coreg, now it seems that Multaq is the best at treating my rhythm issues.

Best to you, and see you on the boards!