Sandi's Posts

Episodes of Irregular heart beats are not unusual after open heart surgery. Many people on this site have commented on feeling some irregular beats in the post op period, including myself. I was told that if the irregular heartbeat does not cause symptoms such as dizziness or fainting, and the irregular beats don't last more than 15-20 minutes per episode, I could "wait and see if they disappear on their own". Luckily, none of my episodes lasted longer than 5-10 minutes, and they disappeared as everything healed. Sometimes, medications can control the irregularities, and sometimes more technical treatments are needed. Hope you lose your irregular beats soon !

Hi Sandi, I am now 12 days post op from AVR--had a prolonged episode of a fib with rapid ventricular response on day 2 and was treated for 18 hours with an amiodarone drip and sent home on a boatload of meds (most of which I've been able to stop over the last week). As Marie says--not unusual to have irregular beats but electrophysiologist is a good idea.