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Vertigo, Headaches & Vision Problems After Heart Valve Surgery... Can You Help Mandy?

Written By: Adam Pick, Patient Advocate, Author & Website Founder
Page Last Updated: May 11, 2025

I just received a very interesting email from Mandy about heart valve surgery, vertigo, headaches and vision complications after heart surgery. As you can read below, Mandy is asking for all of our help.

Heart surgery patient struggling with vertigo, headaches and vision problems

Mandy With Her Two Children

Mandy writes to me, "Hi Adam, I had valve replacement. I am 34 years old. I am doing really well but I am having some vision disturbances and periods of vertigo. At first it was just vision disturbances and I wrote it off as ocular headaches. Then, I started having difficulty walking straight with these vision disturbances. I looked on-line and found transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) as a possible cause. I do not take Coumadin anymore because I have a bovine valve. My question is... Did you or any of your readers have similar experiences and if so what has been done? Thanks! Mandy"

While I do seem to have more headaches after my aortic valve replacement, I did not experience vertigo or vision loss during my recovery. However, I have met several patients that experience similar issues during their recovery.

In fact, I just received an email from Geoff Beale who writes, "I had a mitral valve repair. Starting that week I had blurred vision from time-to-time that would trigger a headache."

Geoff, patient with vision problems after open heart surgery

Geoff Beale - Having Vision Problems After Surgery

To further understand these post-operative complications, I just did some quick Internet research. Unfortunately, I did not find any clinical reports which connect heart valve surgery to vertigo or vision problems. That said, I will send off an email to one of my contacts at The Cleveland Clinic to see what he thinks.

In the meantime... Perhaps you can help Mandy and Geoff? Did you experience vertigo, headaches or vision disturbances after heart valve surgery? To leave a comment, simply scroll below. In advance, thanks for your help. Or, scroll down to see over 200 patient comments.

Written by Adam Pick - Patient & Website Founder

Adam Pick is a heart valve patient and author of The Patient's Guide To Heart Valve Surgery. In 2006, Adam founded HeartValveSurgery.com to educate and empower patients. This award-winning website has helped over 10 million people fight heart valve disease. Adam has been featured by the American Heart Association and Medical News Today.

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