Hit a road bump..!

[AmyR]

Last evening i started of with the skipped heart beats or PVC's, they have happened to me before but yesterday they started happening very often and lasted for almost 2 hours. I started getting panicky as soon as they started and may be that is what made it last so long. Just to ease my mind in went in to the ER to get my ECG and blood tests and as expected the PVC's did not turn up during the ECG . Blood test showed potassium was at the lower limit but the docs said it was okay. Did you guys have these PVC rallies during recovery? also i have read somewhere that as the heart is recovering back from the dilation it causes these PVC's. Is it true? Any info regarding this would be appreciated. Thank You.

 

[ski girl]

Amy it's not a bump in the road, it just IS the road. I think most of us have this, or a-fib, or something else weird that they can fix easily in the hospital. Don't be worried!

 

[pellicle]

The road to recovery is a rocky one

but as it happens I like rocky road

 

[ski girl]

Ha ha pellicle now I see why you need to save calories by drinking dealcoholised wine! ;-)

 

[Agian]

How do you know they're PVCs? They might just be palpitations.

 

[pellicle]

Ha ha pellicle now I see why you need to save calories by drinking dealcoholised wine! ;-)

hey! (and I'm just eating pavlova at the moment)

 

[AmyR]

again- I can feel the skipped beat on checking my pulse.

 

[AmyR]

A quick question. How often would the skipped beats occur for u guys and how long did they last?

 

[pellicle]

some days quite a few ... often I don't notice it, but when hanging on the couch and doing my pulse I notice them now and then.

less than just after my surgery

 

[lubdub]

Hit a road bump..!

The road to recovery is a rocky one

but as it happens I like rocky road

Hmmm - love rocky road

 

[lubdub]

Hit a road bump..!

A quick question. How often would the skipped beats occur for u guys and how long did they last?

Hi Amy,

I had bursts of A-Fib and skipped beats for the three or four weeks if recovery, then things started to settle down. By the time I started rehab they were under control - the metropolol helped me.

 

[AmyR]

Thanks for the reply guys. I was having a lot of them this morning they are reduced to a few now. Just trying to keep my head off them so as not to get anxious and again have a burst of them. any specific precautions or feelings u can include with this?

 

[dwhist]

I got them before and after surgery. Especially at night when I am in bed and hear valve clicking. I tend to skip every 3rd or fourth beat. Doc looked t EKG and was able to pinpoint the PVC's as not an issue. I fogot what he said, but it had to do with where the PVC originated from.

 

[tom in MO]

Right after I got home I paid attention to my heat beat a little. I have a scope and listened to it for the first couple of days at home, plus I could hear it at night in bed. It was irregular sometimes. I am kind of simple minded sometimes and since the three 20+page booklets on post-op activities didn't even say to check your heart beat, I thought it couldn't be a big problem. So I put the whole issue aside and stopped listening, since I didn't want to worry. If I felt like I was getting better, that was good enough for me.

 

[AmyR]

thanks guys... the issue is these things make it to a point where i feel them.. like a normal rythm and suddenly a bang in my chest... i dont know what it is but hope its benign... it getting onto my nerves. I spoke to the doc over thee phone and he said it happens and just increased the dose of one of the tablets.

 

[Oilman]

I can relate to what your feeling also, I am 7 months out and still experience the PVC & PAC. I have had them before surgery, but not near as noticeable as now, I also have had a good bout of AFIB before my replacement, but haven't seen AFIB since. Sometimes the PVC's feel like they can take my breath away, I really hate them, but my GP seems to think I just need more time, and my cardio says they are harmless. I find that I get more of them while sitting at rest or just when lying down, having a mechanical valve makes it easy to pick up a PVC. When I'm up on my feet moving around or even riding my bike, they seem to stay in check, I think the fight or flight syndrome helps bring on more too, so I've tried to really relax at the times that I'm prone to experience them the most. I know its easier said than done after a ordeal like this, but like others has said, this is the road to recovery, its a new road, and I'm glad to be on it. I recently tried a BB change that made them really increase so I went back to the one I used for 6 months, that seemed to do just fine, at one time we increased that dose but found I felt more lethargic and dizzy at times. I hope you find a decrease with time, cause I know what you are feeling and it's not fun. Take care.

 

[clay_from_nj]

PVC's here, 10 months after AVR. Doc says they are nothing to worry about, but sometimes they do come in flurries that cause symptoms, mostly I think that just feeling them stresses me somewhat. I've found that exercising helps a lot, walking two or three times a day, and cutting back on caffeine seems to have eliminated the worst of them.

(I should add, diagnosed via Holter monitor, 48 hours.)

 

[AmyR]

oilman and clay.. It is nice to find people who are feeling the same. the med does make me lazy but gets me a good sleep. they happen even now but i tend to ignore them. i do not check my pulse anymore. So yeah i do not really get the anxiety in hence avoiding the full blown PVC's. Good health and hope these PVC's stop stressing our daily life.

 

[kimcdougc]

I had pvc's and afib after my surgery. Change of medication and "not stressing" over it all helped the pvc's. They seem to have disappeared. Afib is gone also. Take a deep breath and try to not notice them as much. Good luck with it all.

 

[AmyR]

Thanks Kim. I also feel better after the change of meds. Just one question how long did they last post surgery?