Painful recovery

[gramlam]

I had my aortic valve replaced on November 25, 2011 at Billings Clinic Hospital, Billings, MT. I have the Mosaic Ultra Porcine Heart Valve. I had looked forward to a painless recovery, as so many promised that I would have, but that has not happened. I have to force myself to wash up and get dressed and to eat so that I take the meds with food. I am getting terrible headaches that start at the back of my neck; my neck has been very sore since day 3 of the surgery. For two weeks, I have been vomiting and suffering with possible migraines that travel from the back of my neck to both of my temples, my eyes, my teeth. The headaches hit when I first wake up either from a nap in a chair or from bed. I see black, then taste and smell blood. The nausea is horrible. My incision is so sore from vomiting that I can hardly have clothes touch it. Both the cardiologist and the surgeon said to take the pain meds that I have, acetaminophen and oxycodone, and ended the conversation. My FNPC said to take OTC prilosec to help the nausea which I am doing. I still have the headaches and vomiting. Now, I am going to ask her for Sumatripton for the headaches and Zofran for nausea and see what she says. I use heat and gentle massage on my neck. I have not been up to reading this forum at length to see if anyone else has experienced headaches. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

[Lynlw]

I'm sorry to hear you are having such a tough time. What meds are you on? I'm not sure why you are having such awful headaches and vomitting, especially this far out from your surgery, I wonder if some of the meds are causing your problems especially with your stomach since i know alot of meds like Oxycodone have nausea and vomitting as a common side effect and other meds can also cause stomach problems and headaches.
Have they at least tried different meds, to see if that helps with the vomitting or headaches? Since it seems like the main problem is the headache and for me at least ocycodone never really helped with them, different pain meds helpwith differnt kinds of pain.

I'm also sorry your cardiologist and surgeon dont seem very helpful, I guess i would try your regular doctor and see if they can figure out what is going on.

 

[kfay]

I experienced the same problem with headaches after surgery. The first couple of weeks afterwards, I had them non-stop, then they slowed to a couple a week. After a several months, they went away for a while. I think for those of us that are prone to headaches, this whole process can make them much worse. I agree with Lyn that the pain meds you are on may be contributing to them. I started taking Relpax (one of the triptan meds) while I was still in the hospital and it did help some, so I would definitely give one of those a try. Hang in there, they should get better with time.

Kim

 

[gramlam]

Thank you for your prompt reply. I am on amiodarone because twice I had Afib. I have 7 days left. The cardio surgeon said to use it up, then don't take it. I plan to stop now as that may be the culprit as well as the warfarin which I have to be on for 2 more months. A side effect is also vomiting and headaches. I was on digoxin for 3 weeks. Stopping that did not stop the headaches. I take very little narcotics since right away I suspected them of causing the vomiting. I am so afraid of them. Since they don't help anyway, sometimes I take 1 for the sternum pain. I will see in a couple of days if stopping the amiodarone helps. I am waiting to hear from my primary doctor on migraine and nausea meds. She is out of town but wants me to text her with problems, so I did. The surgeon and the cardiologist are not interested in me anymore. Happy New Year, and thanks to all who responded.

 

[catwoman]

Since you got a tissue valve, I'm surprised that you were put on both amiodarone and warfarin. My husband had a-fib while hospitalized after his MV repair, so his surgeon put him on amiodarone while in the hospital. It didn't affect the a-fib and he was going to send him home on amiodarone, but because I take warfarin for my mechanical valve, he switched him to warfarin, to prevent any clots while the heart remodeled itself. He was taken off warfarin 7 months post-op. (That's not to say the a-fib lasted that long; he had a recheck at 7MO post-op with cardio, who said the a-fib had stopped.)
My guess is your nausea is from the pain meds. I didn't expect a painless experience with my MVR, and I wasn't proved wrong. I had seen my father-in-law through his 2nd OHS (which was his 2nd MVR, first AVR, quad bypass, more things). I was quite uncomfortable, did take all my RX pain meds once home plus a refill. Then I switched to extra-strength Tylenol or the PM version at night.
The only time I had nausea while in the hospital was in ICU right after being extubated and again as a reaction to the smell of pancakes on the food trolley out in the hall. I warned the person distributing breakfast not to bring me any pancakes, that I would be sick, and she did not believe me. Big mistake! I have always been very easily nauseated by smells and sometimes for absolutely no reason at all. Thankfully, it doesn't bother me as much as years ago. So, I really feel for your problem with nausea.

If the Prilosec doesn't help, I would call the doctors again. At 5 weeks post-op, you should not be having nausea -- unless it is from the pain meds.

 

[Superman]

Have they done blood work to check for Pancreatitis? I developed that after my surgery during recovery and it led to nausea and vomitting. Three weeks out I could barely stand upright without feeling sick. Got car sick terribly too. Felt worse after three weeks than I did after two.

 

[Greg a]

I hope you will soon find the answers you seek to less pain and a further smooth recovery

 

[drivetopless]

Awwee, I'm sorry you are still feeling yucky. Hopefully, they will figure it out. I would suspect the meds are a contributing factor. Your stomach must really be irritated, too.
I finally quit taking the hydrocodeine for pain--just wasn't worth the nausea it caused. Tylenol did just fine.
I had afib, too, and some of the more common meds made me really queasy (digoxin, flecamide) so they put me on alternate drugs.

 

[Bill B]

Amiodarone is associated with headache, nausea and vomiting. Are you still taking it? If so, I would have one more very direct talk with your doctors about this. And as others mentioned, hydrocodone and other opiods often cause nausea and vomiting, so that isn't helping. This much suffering is not a common and acceptable consequence of AVR.

Bill (retired pharmacist)

 

[Michelle D]

I was nauseous until they took me off the pain meds. I wonder if a cortisone shot in your neck would help, I had serious back pain and a few days after my cortisone shot I was amazed that it was completely gone. You may want to consider getting of the hardcore pain meds.

I've been on sotalol for the past year and a half for a-fib it took me a few weeks to get used to it but it is better than amioderone if you need it for the long run.

 

[gramlam]

Michelle, thank you for your help. I was on very few pain meds because of the nausea. My local doctor had me stop the amioderone and that stopped the headaches and vomiting almost overnight. Too bad the surgeon was not on top of my two weeks of terrible pain and vomiting. If I end up with a-fib again, I will keep sotalol in mind. Hope you continue to do better. I certainly am. I vacuumed for the first time in 2 months this weekend. My chest hurts, but I was very slow and did more pushing that pulling.

 

[Allisoninoz]

Sorry you're feeling so rotten two months out. My neck and upper back were extremely painful for weeks after my surgery. I was seeing a physio every few days to work on them. Luckily I didn't get any associated headaches. I would suggest seeing a physio who can work out some gentle stretching exercises as well as work on your neck/back. Remember that our bodies have been put in a very unnatural position for a long time in surgery and it takes some time for them to correct themselves.
Understandably, you must be very down about the pain you're in. Perhaps you need some mild anti depressant to help you through this tough stage. Many cardiac patients need it pre and post-surgery. I love my Efexor - takes the edge of things!
Hang in there