{"id":208,"date":"2007-09-26T21:28:14","date_gmt":"2007-09-27T02:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/09\/26\/numb-hands-and-feet-after-heart-surgery\/"},"modified":"2025-05-10T17:19:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-10T22:19:41","slug":"numb-hands-and-feet-after-heart-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2007\/09\/26\/numb-hands-and-feet-after-heart-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"Numb Hands And Feet After Heart Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every once in a while, I receive an email that triggers a distinct memory from my heart surgery recovery. As you may have read in my story, I had a double heart valve replacement at the age of thirty-three in Los Angeles by Dr. Vaughn Starnes<\/a> at USC.<\/p>\n

Following my heart valve surgery, I experienced some challenges with my body temperature. I write about this in my book, The Patient’s Guide To Heart Valve Surgery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Sometimes I would have severe nightsweats… Especially the first few nights following surgery. At other times, I would find myself struggling to stay warm – almost to the point where I had numb hands and feet after heart surgery.<\/p>\n

Amongst the pain of a split sternum, this was a subtle issue. However, my numb hands and feet after heart surgery continued for the first eight weeks following surgery.<\/p>\n

One day at my cardiac rehab center, I asked one of the cardiac nurses, “Are my hands and feet going to be numb from now on?” To learn more about cardic rehab, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Donna looked over at me and said, “Are you taking Ibuprofen?”<\/p>\n

I nodded my head up and down, and said “Yes!” as I peddled round-and-round on the stationary bike.<\/p>\n

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\nMe at Cardiac Rehab<\/div>\n

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“How many?” Donna furthered her inquiry.<\/p>\n

“About twelve a day,” I responded as I huffed and puffed on the bike.<\/p>\n

“Well. There you have it!” Donna said.<\/p>\n

Donna went on to tell me that heavy intake of Ibuprofen can alter body temperature. Sure enough, as the pain from my surgery decreased, so did my intake of Ibuprofen.<\/p>\n

Guess what?<\/p>\n

So did my numb hands and feet after heart surgery!<\/p>\n

Related Link:<\/p>\n