Heart Recovery time after V-Tachs and a Stent.

[Rogue9]

Hi,

I am a 51 yr old male, and I don't drink, smoke etc., I am overweight but I do exercise,
and just a few moths ago I could do a mile in 10 minutes. 2 miles in 22 minutes on my elliptical machine

I have high blood pressure and been having heart problems for the past several years. I have been seeing a doctor. Recently, I was hospitalized with a heart that was V-taching very badly. (No Pain)(I could walk, talk etc)

While I was in the hospital, I was informed my injection fractions were in the 20's. Additionally they found my RCA artery was 95% blocked (Why this wasn't detected  earlier I have no idea, I had been doing yearly stress tests, echograms etc for the past 4 yrs). A stent was inserted into my RCA artery to open the blockage.  

In order to get the V Taching in my heart under control, the doctor put me on Mexiletine 200mg, and Acebutolol. In regards to the stent, I take Plavix 75mgn, Diovan 80 mg, Aspirin 325 mg and Furosemide 20 mg. (Some of these meds make me feel very tired, particularly the Mexiletine.)

Four weeks after my hospitalization, I started working out on my elliptical 3-4 times a week and currently I do approx 1.7 miles per workout. (My doctor said don't push it.) I usually average 11-12 min miles  I do have some pvcs while at rest or exercising, but they don’t bother me. (Strangely, when I touch my medicine bottles and/or just prior to or after taking my meds, pvcs will occur.)

I am now eight weeks post stent, and I still have reduced ejection infractions, (actual number unknown) and my electro-cardiologist  thinks my injection fractions should have recovered after 8 weeks to normal and he wants to load me up with a pacemaker and a defibulator, (This doctor wanted to do this post stent, right after stent surgery)

My cardiologist is unsure about this because he thinks that the blockage may have been my root problem all along. He has also seen me get my ejection infractions up to the 40s  4 years ago after a prior hospital stay due to my exercise regime. (The RCA blockage had not be detected during that stay.)

My question is how long would it take my heart to recover from this event? 8 weeks seems like a short time for a recovery from this type of event. Any other thoughts/comments would be appreciated.

      

[Rogue9]

Hi!

Jerry_NJ thanks for the reply and the bump! I guess what I am asking is how long does it take your ejection fractions to return to normal after a major heart episode which included the following a)v-taching and  b) a stent to open up a blocked artery. 4 weeks? 6 weeks? etc...

TIA  

[Jerry_NJ]

I can't help much, but seeing your post slipping off the first page I decided to give a simple input.

I do not know anything about a stint helping to improve the heart EF, but if that's what your doctor tells you, great, wishing the best.

Just a guess, but I believe a stint in rather minor surgery (by this I mean minimal cutting) so recovery in 8 weeks seems reasonable to me, but again I don't have any specific knowledge on the matter.  I can say I was doing very well 8 weeks after my open heart surgery to repair a mitral valve.  I'm not saying all inside was fully healed, but I was back to normal... well I'll never get back to the good old days before surgery, but I believe I was walking and doing other things in a normal way.  I haven't yet gotten back to running, but that's for other reasons than the surgery.