18 mo post bypass surgery still unable to do weight bearing excercise

18 months after triple bypass my husband is unable to do light weight bearing excercises.  He can speed walk for 1 hour with no difficulty, but everytime he trys upperbody strengthening exercises, crunches or using the snow blower, he feels fine at the time but the next day he experiences dizzyness, sometimes tingling down his left arm, is lithargic, has inflammation in lower left chest, and these symptoms continue 1 to 4 weeks.  He never had a heart attack.  We are very concerned as this doesn't seem normal as everyone he speaks with who has had a bypass doesn't not have these symptoms and are able to use a snowblower are back at the gym lifting light weight.  What do you recommend?  Is this a question for a cardiologist or another type of specialist.  These symptoms are causing him to be depressed now since it is over a year since the surgery.  PLEASE HELP.

[Darcy Green Conaway, MD]

I would definitely to return to the surgeon to discuss this. Most people are back to reasonable physical function fairly quickly and certainly after a year he should be close to his normal function. There is very good literature in depression being associated with worse outcomes in patients with heart disease, so please have this looked into further!