Had the above procedure done at St.Thomas on 10th December 2020.
I am, as of today, Sunday 27th March 2022 still feeling rubbish, feeling tired, get out of breath at the slightest exertion. Feel like walking through treacle. Blood pressure up and down like a yo-yo, I feel that I wish I had not had the procedure done.
My medication is ATORVASTATIN 40mg, AMIODARONE 200mg, RIVAROXABAN 20mg, LISINOPRIL 80mg, DOXAZOSIN 2mg, ASPIRIN 75mg, BISOPROLOL 10mg, OMEPRAZOLE 40mg daily.
Any advice would be appreciated.
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lancers87
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Hi Lancers, the recovery time from these things is an extremely personal thing, some bounce back quickly, some much more slowly. What's 'right' is what is right for you. However, you have a number of commonalities with me (I had a single bypass, stent, a couple of other cardiac repairs, a new aortic valve and, oh I forgot, an aortic dissection repair!), but the meds have a number of aspects in common. I found entirely by accident which meds were doing what to make me feel, as you say, like walking through treacle.
You're on a pretty standard cocktail post-cardiac.
Bisoprolol at 10 mg is a fair dose. It's for blood pressure and to reduce the pumping force of your heart to protect it and elsewhere. But beta blockers are a renowned med for making your legs go heavy as a result.
Atorvastan at 40 mg is also a decent dose. I had to come off it at 20 mg as my legs just went to jelly. I can just about cope having gone back on it at 10 mg. Very common to have jelly legs, or pain, some doctors don't believe this, others know it's much more prevalent than the 'trials' show.
Amiodarone 200 mg is the standard dose - I assume you had A-Fib after (or perhaps before) your op. Amio also has a beta blocker effect, and will slow your heart down, exacerbating the beta blockers. Have they said yiu can come off this eventually?
Lisinopril is a BP med (an ACE inhibitor), though it's not unusual for it not to do very much - it's the first step, after beta blockers, on the stairway.
The fact that in spite of all of these you BP is very variable suggests that you and your docs have not yet found the correct meds regime for you.
I know a fair number of people who have found Spironolactone a magic BP drug (I'm on a similar one called Epleronone), as it acts differently to the others.
The other thing is experiment with taking the meds at different times of day, such as before bed instead of morning. I found I had a BP spike in the morning when my meds from the previous morning were running out. I moved my BP meds to the evening, and now my BP is much more even over the day.
You should be offered Cardiac Rehab classes. Very important to do these, and if you're not offered you should ask - you meet their acceptance criteria.
Whatever you do, don't accept such a poor quality of life. Keep working with your doctors until you get a solution, and don't accept 'there's nothing more can be done'. If needed, ask to go for specialist hypertension clinic (you need first to have been on 3-4 meds and ineffective), and also you,can see a Lipids specialist re your cholesterol and statins.
Best of luck, and remember, if you don't tell your docs, they won't know.
Many thanks Cliff for your quick and informative reply. I did go for cardio rehab, found it useful/ helpful. I now have a regular regime, exercise that involves a walk that takes in easy, then hill climb, then a slow down.I take onboard your comments re Doctors and working with them to find the right combination of drugs. Unfortunately, as with the rest of the country, trying to get to see a doctor is nigh on impossible. I did have a phone consultation with my cardiac team, I genuinely accept that things are difficult due to covid but the Doctor kept being interrupted so kept apologising but I felt like he was patting me on the head, go away.
Anyway, you have given me some hope, so thanks again, take care.
Many thanks for reply and info. Already found the side effects of AMIODARONE interaction with sun and deposits in eyes.Unfortunately as said in a previous post getting to see a doctor face to face is nigh on impossible. Even to have a phone consultation with the cardiac team is difficult. In January had eco scan, February had 36 hour heart monitor. March had a call from cardiac team, told me everything was fine. I had already come to the conclusion that the medication was to maybe to blame.
During the consultation, he was interrupted at least twice talking to colleagues about other patients.
Anyway, I appreciate your time to reply, in the fullness of time things will settle down.
I am also taking Bisoprolol, Rivaroxaban and Amiodorone. You are on a high dose of Bisoprolol and that can make you breathless. I was also advised not to take Atorvastatin with Amiodorone, but we seem to get medical combinations that interact with one another.
Maybe have a chat with your Cardiologist, as Amiodorone can also add to SOB. Did you start it just prior to your op?.
I was prescribed it prior to a cardioversion, and that plus bisoprolol 6.25mg make me out of breath. Your cardiologist needs info re blood pressure, and heart rate as anyone of these can add to feeling out of breath. I would go direct to your cardiologist rather than your GP, as most GP's have little knowledge of Amiodorone, as it can only be prescribed by a cardiologist.
Afternoon Jbeans, I do appreciate the time people take to tell their reactions to medications being taken for the same procedure as mine.I had the cardioversion after the op whilst still in hospital.
I have mentioned in previous post my saga with doctors and blood pressure problems.
Before the op I had always had a disposition for high blood pressure since 1980s.
The medication was 50mg Atenolol 30mg LISINOPRIL which controlled my problem well. After the op, I started back at square one, 5mg of LISINOPRIL now up to 80mg still with problems.
My apologies for rant, feel a bit sorry for myself from time to time, as before the op I had no pain, no real problems. Now I feel rubbish most of the time.
Alan, what I did was to work with my GP, to adjust the meds, one at a time, slowly. Your GP is best placed to manage meds 'tuning', and less difficult to get hold of than Cardiology. If they need Cardiology advice, the GP will write to them and will get a quick response.
To test if the statin is causing problems, you will know by 2 or 3 days after stopping, and it's a long-term med, so there will be no risk in that period.
Again, response to reducing beta blocker dose will be quite quick. You should never stop beta blockers cold turkey, always very slowly and with agreememt from your GP. Maybe 10 to 7.5 as a first step. After all, if your BP is still high, they wouldn't seem to be doing much.
Don't forget that Spironolactone should be trialled in the case of resistant BP, and if it works would show your high BP was due to a particular cause. It's an often forgotten member of the armoury.
Remember - quality of life is not optional. Keep on at them! An ex GP I know retired and had a heart attack soon after. He commented to me that his heart was now fine - it was all the meds he was on made him feel rubbish.
Again, many thanks for your experience. Unfortunately our local practice is very protective of the Dr. Even ringing first thing in the morning, all appointments are taken. I have to wait to see if the practice contact’s me.
How this for a slap in the face, you can’t get through to make appointment by phone, now you have to wait 3 days to respond for repeat prescriptions by email.Not to ask for appointment by email, what are we supposed to do.
Grrr. I have to say, I think in some cases the Covid reason is by now past its sell-by date. My surgery is doing pretty well, not pre-Covid normal, but they have adapted, e.g. a queueing system so you know what number you are. We have found ringing just before lunch and not on a Monday or Friday is best. If and when you do get through to them, ask them when is the best time to call.
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