Meds after bypass surgery

[Thumpie]

My husband is 12 weeks after bypass surgery and has developed shortness of breath, what sounds like fluid on lungs, sleeps 12-14 hours at night and then during the day, is constantly tired and depressed and his BP is high (155/101. I am looking at his medicines and have found Toprol has many of these same side effects as well as amiodarone. I would like to discuss this with the doctor and I wonder if there is another med that will do the same job. Everything I read is both of these drugs are highly dangerous. We are just about at our end to try to get him some help. I have looked at just about everything.

[CFS56]

No the shortness of breath is not normal after bypass, especially if he has fluid on his lungs.  You need to get that checked out immediately. His BP should not be elevated.  If his heatbeat is irregular, do you know if he is still in afib?  That as well as the medication could cause shortness of breath and fatigue.  You need to go either to his cardiologist or to the cardio thoracic surgeon that did the bypass and insist that someone address your concerns.  If they will not I would find another cardiologist.  Good luck.

[Thumpie]

My husband never had a fib until after by pass surgery. He was fine after surgery for one week and then we were back in the ER with a fib. They readmitted him and started him on the amiodarone. His heart went back in a regular pattern within hours. They sent him home with amiodarone and coumadin. We were told that he would be on the amiodarone only a short time and after 13 weeks he is still on the med. He started cardiac rehab after the surgeon released him at 6 weeks. He did really well until he went into a fib again and the cardiac would not let him exercise. The doctor told him to rest for a couple of weeks and changed his c oumadin to Pradaxa.. He has progressly gotten worse and worse with the symptoms of foggy memory, shortness of breath, weak, sleeps all the time, depression, BP is up, irregular heartbeat. I am so concerned for him because this is just not him. I cannot tell if it is connected to the bypass surgery or if it is the meds he is taking. He is a diabetic but his sugar seems to be under control. The cardiologist just doesn't seem to be doing anything. I wondered if this was normal after bypass surgery.The shortness of breath is a new development in the last two weeks and now he is coughing a lot like he has fluid on his lungs.

[CFS56]

Another thought...the toprol is a beta blocker as Jerry said.  That is pretty standard after bypass surgery.  But some people who have asthma, copd or some other lung disorder will experience shortness of breath while taking it.  It can also cause fatigue, especially at higher doses.  My husband recently had to reduce his dose by half.  That is something that you should talk to his doctor about.

[CFS56]

I would definitely get your husband to the doctor asap to find out what is going on.  Did he develop afib after the bypass?  Why is he taking the amiodarone still?  My husband had bypass and had afib for a couple of days after the surgery.  He came home on the amiodarone but was taken off about 2 weeks after getting home.  Some depression is pretty normal after bypass, happens to a lot of people.  Does the hospital that did his surgery have a rehab department?  My husband went through a 12 week cardiac rehab program that worked wonders.  I would highly recommend it.  But first you need to get him to the doctor to find out why he is short of breath.  Is there any redness or drainage around the incision areas?  Has it healed properly?

[Jerry_NJ]

Beta Blocker drugs (Toprol and its generic substitutes) are generally not considered dangerous.  But they do have side effects and if they are severe, then one can't take them.

Amiodarone, on the other hand is a very powerful antilogarithm and is usually closely supervised, in my knowledge introduced only in a hospital stay, usually a few days.

All this said, I don't associate bypass surgery with hearth rhythm problems.  Is this an additional problem?  And what is it diagnosed as.

Keep in touch with the doctor.