irregular heart beat after mitral valve replacement

[nabat]

I had a MVR with a mechanical valve 4 months ago. I never had irregular heart beat before surgery, but ended up with a-fib after surgery. My heart became regular again with Amiodarone and metoprolol. I stopped taking these two drugs about three weeks ago. My heart rate now goes down to 35 bpm and slightly irregular when I am in the upright position and resting such as sitting down or standing still. I am fine when moving around or in a lying down position. Can you tell me why. I am 55 years old and not very active. I do not walk regularly.  

[Jerry_NJ]

I had MV repair about 10 months ago. I have suffered from AFib for about 8 years with relief listing a bit over a year at a time following Electrocardioversions.  In addition to MV repair I also underwent the maze procedure, the "short form" I think.  I was in sinus rhythm following surgery with a bit fast HR of 80+ at rest for about a month when I went into AFlutter.  So, it seems the maze isn't effective form the posts I've seen on this forum.  As for very slow HR, don't have any experience there, I've never measured anything below 55, and that only rarely when I was in Sinus and taking Toprol or Metoprolo, now on 100 mg twice a day...and still running in the 80-100 range. With long rest periods it can drop into the 70s.

I look forward to what is learned at the Cleveland Clinic (one of the best heart hospitals I understand).

[DodieRosie]

Have you gotten a 48 hour or event monitor? I had a mitral valve repair (for severe regurgitation) and a maze procedure (for a-fib) two months ago and it left me with rhythm problems. I had a complete AV block a few days after surgery. When that resolved I was in a-flutter. Next I had sinus tachycardia so I was put on topril xl. My rate runs about 100 beats a minute on the meds. I noticed about a month ago that my heart rate would slow down about 20 beats and I get a very strong irregular hearbeat while I was sitting up or standing still. Lying down or activity will almost always alleviate it. My ekg and holter monitor revealed that I am having a competing junctional rhythm which is where the heart is fired out of the AV node instead of the sinus node. I see an EP in Cleveland Oct. 6 so I'm not sure what all this means. Maybe this is what you are experiencing because typically the junctional beats happen when people have bradycardia which 35 bpm would be. Perhaps you should ask your cardiologist to look into that.