POTS after surgery help!!

[kbennj]

Well I had my hysterectomy July 13th.  I fainted in the hospital 3 hrs after surgery and almost fainted again today, which is 8 days post op.  I tried to go on a walk but it left me so weak and faint I could barely get to the house. I had to stop in my neighbors yard which I sat on a retaining wall in the lawn till my hubby brought the car over to drive me home.  Luckily my 6 yr old son was there or i would have never gotten any help.  I tried to get my legs up above my head but with my inscission it hurts.  My neighbor brought out water and I am now home in my recliner with my feet up.  I also took my toprol xl which was only an hour early, but i felt i needed it for the heart rate.  
I was so scared!  And still am.  Is my POTS going to get worse now that I had surgery?  I also have a MVP, I sure hope there isn't something else wrong with my heart that the surgery made worse.  Man that was frightening.  I wonder if I need to up the toprol now that I had surgery?  I have been having more heart palps, chest pain, anxiety since surgery.  I had a hell of a time with the pain meds and found out I can't take vicodin, percocet, codine type meds.  Talk about heart palps!  I also got very nauseated from them.  Maybe I just need to give myself some more time to heal.  Maybe being down has reared up the POTS?  Has anyone else had problems with their pots post surgery...?  Thanks Kathy

[AireScottie]

Anesthesia for a surgery 11 years ago made me incredibly sick.  Also, hospitals seem to like to dehydrate you before procedures, which is not good.  My most recent procedure I made the nurses put in a saline drip, and even then they were trying to decrease the flow.  I kept having to explain that they could either use a couple bags of saline or explain to the ER why my heart stopped during a simple procedure. Even epinephrine used to do dental work can be a problem.  I also can't use any kind of narcotics, muscle relaxants or other sedatives.

[Mshorty880]

I have had 2 surgeries in the past year and recovered much slower than average due to my pots. My most recent surgery was 10 weeks ago and I would still not consider myself to be completely recovered. It was a lap choly, which has an estimated recovery time of 1-2 weeks. My dysautonomia also became increasingly worse after the second surgery than it had been following the first procedure.

So sorry your going through this!

[halbashes]

I wouldn't necessarily worry about the hysterectomy causing a permanent increase in Dysautonomia symptoms, as some Dysautonomia patients actually choose to get a hysterectomy to improve their symptoms.

On the other hand, I would expect recovery from any type of surgery to take longer in a Dysautonomia patient.  I would recommend staying in good contact with your doctors to see what you can do to help your recovery.

I hope you feel better soon!  Keep us updated!

[Heiferly]

I think many patients experience a "POTS hole," or a major symptom flare, after surgery.  You're not alone in that.  That being said, it certainly warrants a call to your doc to update about the changes in your symptoms in case any med adjustments need to be made until your body recovers more.  

I'm sorry you had such a scare, but it sounds like you did all the right things!  Water and that recliner may well be your best friends for a while now.  If the toprol is your biggest helper in terms of meds, you may be right to ask your doc if a temporary dosage change would be appropriate too.  Basically, rely on all the things you already know that help you when you're symptomatic, and try to minimize other triggers such as heat.  All common sense... I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new.  

I had a very minor gynecological surgery last year and it really sent me reeling, so I can only imagine what you're going through.  :-/  I hope it's at least a small comfort to know that it's "normal" to have a POTS flare after surgery and that things should return to status quo as you recover.  Sending gentle hugs your way!