shoulder and arm pain after heart bypass

[Kathleen4]

My friend had a quadruple bypass 4 weeks ago. He's had trouble with pins and needles in his arms and hands. The last 4 days a lot of pain in shoulders and arms which has lead to loss of sleep. He also has a cough. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this.

[BeKind28-]

Hello

I think it would be a good idea to speak with his Doctor or get him to

I had shoulder pain before my op and still do but always best to get it checked out if it is that painful it is stopping him sleeping

Let us know how he gets on x

[Jako999]

If your worried you should always get things checked, you should never mess around when it comes to you heart. The hospital fully understand how scared we are after going through what we have all been through and trust me the mental side is the worst bit.

90% of cardiac pain can only be felt on the left side of the body. It is very very early days I’m 12 months down the line and still nave pains and funny sensation, I thought it would all of stopped long ago.

I had a quadruple bypass and something I didn’t realise is that for most of the surgery, 7 hours in my case, both your arms are above your head and your head is twisted to the side this left me with arm and neck pain for months after to the point of needing strong pain relief.

Hope this helps

[Kathleen4 in reply to Jako999]

Thank you so much. I think he's become demoralised but I keep reminding him he's only 4 weeks post op. I think he's afraid he's going to be stuck like this and unable to do the things he enjoys and work. It doesn't help that he was diagnosed with diabetes in hospital also. So many new things to think about. He's exhausted, in pain and overwhelmed.

[devonian186 in reply to Kathleen4]

It is still extremely early days. It will likely be 12 weeks before things settle down and often many more months before they are in the background, and not a daily worry. It is common for people to do too much at this early stage and take 2 steps forward and then one back. So tell him not to overdo it and eventually thongs will work out. It took 8 weeks after my quadruple before I suddenly stopped taking the maximum allowed dose of paracetemol. He will likely be very emotional at this stage of his recovery, that is normal.

[CyclingTime]

Get it checked but nothing to be alarmed about as we were all very similar to that at 4 weeks. The improvement can be very rapid so lots to look forward to. Make sure he does the exercises from the booklet and the formal ones which you will likely start in 2-3 week's

I am 16 months past a quad bypass now and I have completed 100 mile bike rides in a day, the coast to coast bike ride and I am doing the Rebellion Way in September a 245 mile ride over a few days. So lots to look forward to 😊