sleeplessness after bypass

[booboo4157]

my father is 77 and had a double bypass 3 weeks ago.  He has not been able to sleep but an hour at a time ever since, even at night.  He was always a good all night sound sleeper and took naps during the day.  do you know what the connection is and why?  Thanks

[smilingheart]

one of my friends was sent to the hospital recently  and i leant that water was removed form the heart or the lungs.am not sure but one of them definately.he is a heavy drinker and smoker.can that be the cause.

[mrwjd]

Addendum to the previous comment:  I am a sound sleeper always, and still sleep soundly when I do.  I slept in the daytime and also through the night immediately post-surgery, but don't sleep daytimes at all now, although sometimes I sleep from sunup to about 7:30 when it's time to take the kids to school.  I am not especially tired, which makes me think I don't presently need the sleep I'm not getting.

This didn't happen immediately post-surgery; in fact, I think I slept extra then.  I would say the all-nighters hit their peak at about five or six weeks, when I was forgetting to go to bed about twice a week.  It has definitely leveled off, and may be decreasing--which would be too bad, because I've become used to having the extra time!

Anyway, I'll let you know if I find out anything.    

[mrwjd]

At 2 mo. past AVR, I finally realized my cardiologist was asking me, at least during the last two appointments, whether I am sleeping less than before.  I've been telling him no, I don't think so.  But when it dawned on me that this was going to be a regular question, and so probably was not just random, I paid some attention, and indeed I am sleeping quite a bit less than before.  In fact, there have been several nights I have not gone to bed at all for no better reason than I didn't feel that tired and wasn't watching the clock, and was surprised when the sun came up.

I plan to admit next month that I was wrong when I said no, and ask him why he asks.  If I learn anything, I'll post it here.  

[Cleveland Clinic]

Sleeplessness is difficult to ascribe any single problem.  In your dad's case it is most likely related to the early surgical recovery and the sleepless nights that he had at the hospital. As you know, after surgery the nurses check on patients almost constantly, waking them up routinely.  The normal sleep routine gets highly deranged after this course of event quite quickly.  We see this here constantly.  Some patients even develop acute dementia (delirium).  Resuming to the original sleeping habits is they key to improvement.  He will have to retrain his internal clock to sleep at night and be active during the day.  Make sure that he does not take any naps during the day.  He may also need a sleeper medication such as ambien or lunesta which may help retrain his sleeping schedule.  I would start with behavior modification first and then consider the meds second.