weak spells

[Bill Murrey]

I had quadruple bypass surgery in Jan of 2000, and had no major complications during surgery and recovery.  I started exercising and within about 4 months had worked some jogging into my walking.  I was doing about 2 miles a day and really enjoying it.  Then along about May, after a couple hard days of exercise I would “crash” for a day or two.  (Weak, tired all day)  This would happen every so often and then started happening about once a week.  I started to back off on the exercise, thinking I was pushing to hard.  Well, the weak spells kept coming until now, I’m not exercising at all and I’m having weak spells about every other day.  Sometimes they wipe me out all day (or two) and sometimes I’ll have alternate periods of feeling ok and then weak through out the day.  At times it feels like my heart is very weak too, just a general weak feeling in my chest.  I haven’t felt ‘good’ in a long time.
My primary doctor and my cardiologists seemed to think it was a normal part of recovery.  I went to another cardiologists and he is doing some tests, (having got the results back yet) and he put my on an event monitor.  Strangely, they just put my Father on the same monitor because he has heart rhythm problems.  
My question is, has anyone else experienced this, and does anyone have a clue as to what it is?  I haven’t had any chest pain but my thighs hurt sometimes.  I was taking atenolol, lipitor and amitriptyline and had been taking them for about a year before my surgery.  The second cardiologist stopped the meds about two weeks ago, but my symptoms did not change.

[Cleveland Clinic, MD]

Dear Bill,
Weakness is one of those symptoms that can sometimes be hard to pinpoint the source.  It could be part of your recovery or due to your medications as your doctors have investigated.  It could also be due to another problem such as a viral infection. I would keep working with your doctors to find a cause.  It is also possible this will clear up on its own and not need any additional work-up.

[Paul V]

To Bill,i had triple by -pass last year, i too was getting weak spells, are you on a beta -blocker?, i was and this was the culprit, also lipitor can cause this. Relax, try not to center your attention on your feelings concerning your heart to much, and also, you may be pushing yourself to much, to soon.

                                       Good luck,

                                                Paul