High heart rate after surgery? Worried . . .

[Olive]

Hello,
This is my first post. My husband had an aortic valve replacement done Oct 29 (On-X valve) and his aorta was replaced up to the arch with a Dacron graft.
He is 33 (congenital bicuspid valve).
His recovery was complicated by a lot of fluid in the lungs so he is on lasix.
His heart rate is very high all the time (ex. 140 at rest). So he is now on high (I don't know how much) doses of beta blockers; but it is still 110 at rest.

The nurses/doctors keep saying that it is just because his heart is "stressed" after the surgery, or it could be a side effect of the lasix, etc. but I am so worried.

Have any of you heard of this? Any thoughts?

Thank you all so much. Your site is very helpful.

 

[Michelle D]

My heart rate has decreased since the surgery. I was around 90 bpm on beta blockers and gradually came down to 60 bpm still on beat blockers. I also had fluid issues and my heart rate seemed to come down as the fluid dissipated.

 

[Country]

olive,

i am 23 and i just had the same exact surgery! i had an anyerism in my aortic root and they replaced up to the arch with the graft and put in a st jude valve. at rest my heart rate was about 120, right after surgery. and if i got up to walk it would spike to about 150bpm!

my heart rate has since calmed down from those wild times! i am also on 150mg of metropal per day. it is nothing to get to excited about, as long as the docs are treating for it.


i was more worried about the fluid build up in my paracardial sack, that the docs drained on day 5..

i hope the best for your husband.... he is not alone. feel free to ask WHEN you have more questions!!

 

[pat45750]

Hi Olive
I was in and out of a-fib which had my heart beating around 115 and not in rhythm. It is not unusual. The heart is trying to get back to normal. I am still fighting the battle of a-fib at 3 months post op. I stayed in the hospital 8 days while they tried to get me in rhythm. It is not unusal to have many kinds of problems for weeks to months after surgery. As long as the doctor is aware of the problems and treating it, you should feel things are OK. If your husband is not feeling well and things seem worse, don't hesitate to call the doctor or even to the the ER. I was told if I was over 130 beats per minute, go to the ER. Each doctor might have a different guidline.

Pat

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Welcome Aboard Olive!

As you can see from the above responses, an elevated Heart Rate following OHS is fairly common.

As I recall, the nurses at my hospital weren't too concerned unless the HR was above 120.

Is you husband still in the Hospital?
If so, then his HR and other vitals are being monitored and hopefully treated appropriately.

You may want to ask about having an ElectroPhysiologist (Cardiologist who specializes in Heart Rhythm issues) see him since his numbers are on the high side of what we usually hear from members.

'AL C'

 

[Marguerite53]

Hello!! I just want to welcome you to this wonderful community. I do not have anything to say about your husband's situation as mine was very different. BUT, I can still say hello, thank you for joining us and please know that you will get lots of support here. Feel free to ask us anything (and you may start new threads as often as you wish, on new subjects). We recently had a heart surgeon join our forum, but for the most part, we are just non-medical people with years of accumulated experience. We are best at helping you formulate questions for your husband's doctors.

This can all be very scary and confusing. We know!! You are really being a wonderful, loving partner by coming here and voicing your concerns and looking or answers. You are a wonderful advocate for your husband! GOOD JOB!!

This is often very difficult on the spouses and close family, so while you are taking good care of him, take good care of yourself, too! Recovery is a long road, even for those of us who have no complications. But it is a road worth traveling, so hang in there!

Best wishes.

Marguerite

 

[Shobu]

Hi Olive. I had an On-X valve as part of my second OHS in June this year. Definitely had elevated HR in hospital post-op (120 bpm+), and they had me on bystolic (a beta-blocker) and digoxin to bring it down. It is 4 and a half months now post-op, and I just got off the beta-blocker, (was off of the digoxin a while back) because of some other side effects, plus my resting heart rate was in the mid 50's. Took about 2 months for my HR to get fully under control. Now my resting HR is in the mid 60's and we are watching to make sure it doesn't go back up or that I develop any other arrhythmias.
As I have heard other members put it, as well as my own cardiologist "we cut you open, stopped your heart, cut into it, restarted it, and sewed you back up. You're heart is going to be pretty unhappy about the whole process for a while."
Good luck.

--Dan

 

[Olive]

Thank you so much everyone. Sorry it took me so long to respond. My husband was able to come home on Sunday night and so I've been pretty busy taking care of him and I was also having trouble getting my pw reset
I will post more later, have to go into work for a little while.
Thank you again.

 

[ks1490]

I had the same concern at first - my pulse after surgery was higher than pre-surgery and it actually increased during the first week after surgery, it "settled down" after a couple of weeks. My five-week recovery period after surgery ironed out alot of issues and allayed alot of concerns, I just kept a dialogue going with my cardio throughout and rode out the bumps.

 

[Eva]

Glad to hear that your DH is home now. I hope it has gone down a bit by now. My HR was in the high 90s at REST for many long months I was told it would go down but did not believe it. Now, it is in the high 70s-mid-80s at rest....at last. So, it will go down.

Keep us posted whenever you can. We understand you had a lot to do when you hubby went home.

 

[Julian]

Freakin' high heart rate is annoying and scary. I've did some searching on this site and found people have had a huge range of arrhythmia and rate issues. I'm dealing with these issues myself as I'm typing this. I'm 16 days post op and range 75-120 at rest, mostly in the 85-95 range. The doc just upped my metoprolol from 25mg 3 times a day to 25mg 4 times a day just 2 days ago. I woke up this morning feeling kinda weird and about an hour of being up my heart started racing between 96 to 120 along with some light pounding. I've notice that my faster heart rates and slightly pound heart occur shortly after I wake up about 8AM to 9AM till about 12PM and than it usually chills out all day after that. I'm thinking because I'm without the metoprolol longest while asleep. This can be scary, annoying, and frustrating all at the same time. I'm glad I'm not alone but frustrated that any of us have to deal with this. Well, here's to better days! Cheers!

 

[GaryR]

I have a similar issue, my heart varys from 75 to 115 over the course of a day.

I'm not on any medication for this and am 6 weeks post op. I'm told by my doctor, surgeon and a surgeon who's a frind from Cleveland that this is normal and I have noticed my heart rate dropping back to normal, and is normally better after a busy day or some exercise.

 

[Pat J]

I'm 6 weeks post surgery and was told I couldn't go to cardiac rehab as my rsting rate was over 100. Cardiologist said not worry and continue with rehab.

 

[Heart Of The Sunrise]

I'll jump in here. Pre-surgery my HR was well below 100. Often below 80. Since surgery usually between 100 and 110.
I am on 50mg of Metoprolol twice a day. Here are the daily numbers since being home from the hospital in sequence:102 105 108 109 104 119 105 105
The last 105 was taken after my second 20 minute walk of the day today. I usually do (4) 20 minute walks per day.