normofthenorth
Well-known member
A month or two ago, somebody posted a link to a university study on post-OHS (or post-AVR?) A-fib, maybe at Duke University, that gave numbers I found surprisingly high. Something close to 50%, can't remember exactly. I also saw another study, maybe done here in Toronto, that showed that post-OHS Magnesium supplementation cut the rate of A-fib down, maybe in half. Definitely Mg, not Potassium (K), in this study.
Me, I had a brief episode in the CICU maybe ~1 day post-op. (I was told, I didn't notice.) Then at home, 3 wks post-op, I took an ambulance trip to the ER at "my" hospital for V-tach (~150 bpm) & A-fib. I'd had a bug, cough and fever for a week, then it faded, but I suddenly felt like garbage, dizzy, a bit nauseous, weak as a kitten. I'd been eating more Boost/Ensure garbage than real food for days. Eventually I gently collapsed onto the bathroom floor, HR ~150.
After a few hours of thinking and preparing, we called the ambulance. By then I could walk down the stairs and down the walk and into the ambulance, but still HR ~150.
At the ER, they started with a short of Calcium Channel Blocker (CCB?), which brought my HR down. At that point they said that the A-Fib had become A-flutter. (Just what IS the difference??) Then they gave me a Rx for Metoprolol (2 x 25mg/d), double the dose that I'd been on in the hospital post-op. I probably should have stayed on it, but the resident cardiologist at the hospital had a better idea and had taken me off it, probably a mistake. My blood sugar was also somewhat high in the ER (like 9 instead of <4.5), but nobody seems to think that the BS was my problem.
I stayed on the Metoprolol until ~3 months post-op. Then a 48-hour Holter showed no A-fib or other problems, so I dropped the Metoprolol, and also the Warfarin that I'd been on for the 3 months post-op.
I felt lots of heart beats post-op, including lots of PVCs. I don't think I ever actually felt the A-fib, I just felt like #$%^&.
Me, I had a brief episode in the CICU maybe ~1 day post-op. (I was told, I didn't notice.) Then at home, 3 wks post-op, I took an ambulance trip to the ER at "my" hospital for V-tach (~150 bpm) & A-fib. I'd had a bug, cough and fever for a week, then it faded, but I suddenly felt like garbage, dizzy, a bit nauseous, weak as a kitten. I'd been eating more Boost/Ensure garbage than real food for days. Eventually I gently collapsed onto the bathroom floor, HR ~150.
After a few hours of thinking and preparing, we called the ambulance. By then I could walk down the stairs and down the walk and into the ambulance, but still HR ~150.
At the ER, they started with a short of Calcium Channel Blocker (CCB?), which brought my HR down. At that point they said that the A-Fib had become A-flutter. (Just what IS the difference??) Then they gave me a Rx for Metoprolol (2 x 25mg/d), double the dose that I'd been on in the hospital post-op. I probably should have stayed on it, but the resident cardiologist at the hospital had a better idea and had taken me off it, probably a mistake. My blood sugar was also somewhat high in the ER (like 9 instead of <4.5), but nobody seems to think that the BS was my problem.
I stayed on the Metoprolol until ~3 months post-op. Then a 48-hour Holter showed no A-fib or other problems, so I dropped the Metoprolol, and also the Warfarin that I'd been on for the 3 months post-op.
I felt lots of heart beats post-op, including lots of PVCs. I don't think I ever actually felt the A-fib, I just felt like #$%^&.
