Post heart surgery

[Suebedoo]

Hi everyone. My husband had heart bypass surgery 19 weeks ago and initially recovered really well but for the last 8 weeks or so has felt nauseous and been sick almost everyday. The doctors surgery isn’t much help and it’s beginning to have an adverse effect on our relationship. Is this normal?

[Pollypuss]

Sorry to hear this . Yes I had feeling sick and diarrhea for two months after my triple bypass. The hospital tested me for ages to establish which drug was to blame and thought it was statins. Anyway I went for my 3 month post op checkup and the cardiologist took me off all drugs apart from aspirin. It took about a month to get all of them out of my system. When I had the sickness and diarrhea I took anti sickness pills and Imodium which helped a lot. The local surgery really wasn’t much help but my cardiologist was. They kept saying they hadn’t come across this but constipation from the drugs is more usual. The up side of this is that my stomach won’t tolerate junk food and I can only live on a healthy diet.

[Grayjay]

It could be due to the Anaesthetic from the OP. Apparently it takes about 6 months to get out of the system. Detox as much as he can, i.e drink plenty of fluids, exercise etc.

[Hidden]

Can’t offer any info myself, sorry, but in terms of getting more help - where I had my heart op, there are a couple of specialist cardiac nurses. They are brilliant. They’re my first call if I’ve got Q’s, many of which they answered in the early months. And if they can’t answer or think something is a concern, they involve the Dr’s and book me in for a consultation or test.

Do you have access to similar? If they didn’t give a first-contact cardio name like a nurse, maybe phone the ward or hospital to ask who you’d contact for Q’s. I don’t find my GP has much he can usefully advise, its usually too specialist.

Or ask pharmacist if any of the meds have interactions or possibility of nausea etc. They may suggest alternatives that you can discuss with the prescribing doctor.

And finally, relationship impacts are common around major surgery, you’re not alone. It’s often a big shock to recover from, you may each be traumatised in your own way. It’s hard to be either spouse when someone is recovering! Best tip I ever heard, was if something gets tense, start from an assumption that there has been a misunderstanding between you. It’s easy to assume the other person’s somehow ‘at fault’ (being surly, grumpy, passive etc), when it’s more likely we just haven’t understood what the other is thinking/worrying when they behave like that. As the “heart patient” half of my marriage, I know I often found it hard to cope with symptoms & anxieties, & was hence sometimes hard to be around! But it does get better. All the best.

[Suebedoo]

Hi all - the cardio people just keep referring us to GP. He is waiting for appointment with rehab which was delayed due to a mix up and then Covid. We keep trying to go down the medicine causing nausea route but GP again is not that helpful. It’s a bit puzzling. Thanks for the advice re the relationship. I’m actually a trained counselling and am usually pretty level headed but I’m flummoxed with this set of problems

[alheart]

Hi Sue

Really sorry to here this

Had an AVR and double by-pass

5 years ago

Yes I was sick a few times but not as long as your husband

Mine was a clash of drugs that I was on that my particular body didn't like

Once discovered easily sorted

Please phone your surgery and ask to speak to your GP and explain all

If not response then speak to the Cardio team that approved the by-pass

.also try the BHF helpline

There is no way that you should be feeling like this or your husband suffering like this .

Hope you get it sorted and quickly

Take. Care

Alastair

[Suebedoo in reply to alheart]

Thanks Alastair

[Handel]

If yours is anything like mine then I can say that my husband finally opened up (he never has in nearly 50 years of marriage!!) and told me he felt scared after his quad bypass. He wasn't sleeping well at all and felt nauseated every meal time. I could understand where the grumpiness was coming from. Being scared made him feel sick I'm sure.

For a while, the only thing he could eat was beans on toast. I got a phone appointment with our GP and asked whether the cocktail of drugs he was taking could be a problem. This was soon sorted out and the only pills he takes now is a very low dose of Bisoprolol, 75mg aspirin and Omeprazole 40mg (he is at risk of ulcers). Once off a good few drugs, his nausea went and hasn't surfaced again. He had his quad bypass in November 2018.

Hope everything gets sorted out for you both xxxx

[Harleychick1957]

My husband was sick every day following his triple heart bypass, it was a tablet that he was taking that caused it, sorry can’t remember the name but he eventually came off it and the sickness stopped.

[Suebedoo]

Thanks. I think it’s probably the bisoprolol that he is on that is causing the sickness but it’s hard to get anyone to listen. I’ll get him to push the GP again tomorrow