Coughing After Heart Surgery

You May Experience Sleep Issues

Many people complain of having trouble sleeping for some time after heart surgery. You may experience insomnia because of:

• Effects of anesthesia

• Changes in your daily routine

• Stress from personal concerns

Normal sleeping patterns typically return in two to three weeks. Until then, try these tips:

• Take enough rest breaks in between your normal daily activities but avoid a daytime nap longer than 20 minutes.

• If you have pain, take your pain medication about 30 minutes before bedtime.

• Arrange the pillows so you can maintain a comfortable position and decrease muscle strain.

• If you feel anxious or nervous, talk to your spouse, partner or a trusted friend. Get your troubles off your mind.

• Avoid caffeine in the evenings.

• Listen to relaxing music or a guided imagery audio program.

• Ask your partner to give you a back rub.

• Take a relaxing shower.

• Follow a bedtime routine to let your body know its time to relax and get to sleep.

• Its OK to sleep on your back, side or stomach. You will not hurt your incisions.

Causes Of Cardiac Coughing

Congestive heart failure causes excess fluid to build up in your body. That adds to your blood volume and can ease the strain on your heart.

When this fluid builds up in the alveoli in your lungs, it’s called lung congestion. The cardiac cough is your body’s attempt to clear out the fluid.

Causes of lung congestion include:

• Worsening heart failure
• Your prescription heart medication not working as effectively as it should
• Not taking your heart medication as prescribed
• A side effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, a type of medication commonly prescribed for heart failure

The cough from ACE inhibitors tends to be a dry, hacking cough. If it’s bad enough, you may need to switch to a different heart medication.

If you suspect this side effect, let your healthcare provider know right away. Don’t stop taking your heart medication without their approval, even if you think it’s triggering your cough.

You May Feel Like Youre On An Emotional Roller Coaster

Recovering from open-heart surgery involves physical and emotional healing. The recovery process uses emotional and physical energy.

If you feel upset or emotional in the weeks after your operation, dont worry this is a normal reaction. Many patients report these feelings up to three months after the operation:

• Mood swings that may include depression, fear, anxiety, loneliness, helplessness and anger

• Crying easily for no apparent reason

• Lack of energy or motivation

• Getting easily frustrated

• Having good days and bad days

• Feeling more emotional or sentimental than normal

Even though you may feel drained physically and emotionally, its important to follow guidelines for good self-care:

• Get dressed every day

• Walk daily within your limits

• Get plenty of rest

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Managing Pain After Open Heart Surgery

Managing your pain is an important part of your recovery after heart surgery. In addition to keeping you comfortable, pain control can help speed your recovery and reduce your risk of developing certain complications after surgery, like pneumonia and blood clots. Your pain level should be managed to the point that youre able to get up, walk around, cough and take deep breaths after surgery.

After heart surgery, you need to be able to move with some degree of comfort to aid the healing process, Dr. Tong says. Keeping your pain level manageable will help make sure your recovery stays on track.

You may leave the hospital with a prescription for pain medication and detailed instructions on how to use those medications to manage your pain.

People are often apprehensive about taking narcotic pain medications because of the risk of addiction, Dr. Tong notes. That is a healthy and very reasonable fear and an important conversation to have with your doctor. There are safeguards in place to stem opioid abuse and protect you from abusing medications. When it comes to prescription pain medication, for most people, its a matter of listening to your body. If you need it, take it. If you dont, dont.

If you have concerns about bringing narcotics into your home, or if you have a history of substance use disorder, be honest with your doctor. Theyll be able to discuss your options with you and determine a pain control plan with you.

Sneezing Coughing Movement Are More Manageable For Patients

Open heart surgerya serious but highly successful operationcan make everyday actions like coughing, deep breathing, sneezing, laughing, getting out of bed and even the hiccups uncomfortable for patients right after surgery. Open heart surgeries require dividing the sternum to allow access to the heart, so the breastbone and chest area need extra support for up to three months following the procedure.

One of the ways patients have been able to reduce their discomfort after open heart surgery is with the use of a heart-shaped pillowfilled with firm stuffing, that can help provide comfort, reduce pain and protect the surgerys incision site.

But how can a non-medicated pillow help with pain?

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Wearing Certain Types Of Clothing Might Be Hard During Surgery Recovery

Usually in discharge, they tell you to wear button-down clothing for a while, but what they dont tell you is that your skin is super sensitive and wearing tight clothing even a couple of months after might be hard. For women, wearing bras might be tough. Try to find comfortable sports bras you can unclasp or undershirts. I tend to wear bras now that dont have underwires and have a t-shirt cotton feel.

Heart Pillows For Electrophysiology And Cardiac Cath Lab Patients

Patients who undergo procedures that open the sternum, like coronary artery bypass grafting, valve repair or valve replacement surgery, receive the larger, firm heart-shaped pillows, but Genesis cardiac patients with different types of procedures receive a different type of heart pillow.

A generous group of Genesis volunteers sews and donates smaller, softer heart-shaped pillows for patients who experience procedures in the Cath Lab or Electrophysiology Lab. These colorful pillows can come in solid colors or wild prints and patterns. The volunteers happily use whatever type of fabric they can find. These heart pillows prop up patients, provide comfort and offer a personal touch.

Each year, an average of 3,500 heart pillows go home with Genesis cardiac patients including the firm postoperative pillows and the soft ones made by volunteers. For cardiac patients, Genesis heart pillows offer a huggable memento that lasts long after scars heal.

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When To See A Healthcare Provider

You should contact your healthcare provider if:

• You have heart failure and are coughing
• You start coughing soon after a change in heart-failure medications or dosage adjustment
• You aren’t diagnosed with heart disease but have a cough and other symptoms that could point to heart failure
• You have lung disease and develop a new type of cough or worsening cough

A cardiac cough can easily be mistaken for a cough with a different cause, such as a cold or allergies. It’s safest not to make assumptions about the cause and to it get checked out.

Do not attempt to self-treat a cough with an over-the-counter cough suppressant or other drug. The active ingredients in some of these, like pseudoephedrine, can raise blood pressure and worsen the symptoms of heart failure.

Surgical And Postoperative Treatment

The surgery was performed through a median sternotomy. For CABG saphenous vein grafts and/or the left or right internal mammary artery graft were used. During anaesthesia and following surgery, all patients inspired oxygen at a concentration of 4080 %. The pericardium, the mediastinum and occasionally one or both pleura were drained, usually less than 24 h after surgery. Postoperatively, patients were artificially ventilated with a positive end-expiratory pressure of 510 cmH2O. After extubation, all patients received pain relief according to their needs, following routine postoperative protocol. The patients were recommended to use 1 g paracetamol four times daily for as long as needed after discharge. Postoperative routines, early mobilization, breathing exercises and chest physical therapies have been described elsewhere . The patients performed hourly deep breathing exercises from the first postoperative day until discharge and patients randomized to the intervention group in the main study performed home-based breathing exercises 2 months postoperatively. Demographic and descriptive data were collected from medical records.

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Is All Coughing A Sign Of Heart Failure

No. Theres a host of reasons you may have a cough.

Irritants or allergens like smoke, mold, dust and pollen can cause you to cough. Certain medical conditions like a cold, flu, pneumonia, acid reflux and sinusitis can also make you cough.

But if youre experiencing heart cough symptoms or have been diagnosed with asthma or bronchitis and your cough doesnt improve with treatment, you should talk to your doctor about heart failure.

Its important to check in with your doctor if your symptoms of cough arent improving after the treatment youve been recommended, says Dr. Jacob. You should be your own advocate. If you feel that you continue to have a cough that isnt resolving you could ask to be referred to a pulmonologist or cardiologist to get another opinion.

Effect Of Different Thoracic Anesthesia On Postoperative Cough

Zhenzhu Chen, Qinglong Dong, Lixia Liang

Department of Anesthesia, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University , , China

Contributions: Conception and design: Q Dong Administrative support: Z Chen Provision of study materials or patients: L Liang Collection and assembly of data: Z Chen Data analysis and interpretation: Z Chen, Q Dong Manuscript writing: All authors Final approval of manuscript: All authors.

Correspondence to:

Background: The objective of the study is to retrospectively analyze the cough status after double lumen tube and spontaneous respiration thoracic anesthesia, to compare the degree of influence of anesthesia and surgical factors, and to investigate whether spontaneous respiration anesthesia can reduce the incidence of cough.

Results: The probability of cough decreases with the increasing of postoperative time . The probability of cough is similar between group SE and group SB . The probability of cough in group T is significantly higher than other groups at any time point . In group T, the symptom of cough is the most severe, the scores of physiological, psychological, and social parts of LCQ are the lowest, and the VAS score is the highest , but all these are similar in group SE and group SB . The duration of antibiotic application, the days of chest drainage tube indwelling, and the days of hospital stay are all lower in group S than in group T .

Submitted Apr 18, 2018. Accepted for publication May 15, 2018.

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Coughing After Heart Bypass Surgery

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When To Call The Doctor

• You have chest pain or shortness of breath that does not go away when you rest.
• Your pulse feels irregular — it is very slow or very fast .
• You have dizziness, fainting, or you are very tired.
• You have a severe headache that does not go away.
• You have a cough that does not go away
• You are coughing up blood or yellow or green mucus.
• You have problems taking any of your heart medicines.
• Your weight goes up by more than 2 pounds in a day for 2 days in a row.
• Your wound changes. It is red or swollen, it has opened, or there is more drainage coming from it.
• You have chills or a fever over 101°F .

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What Its Used For

If you need surgery, it probably means that several of your coronary arteries are blocked and the blockages are widespread. The most common symptom of coronary artery disease is a type of chest pain called angina. This pain is usually described as a squeezing, pressing or burning pain in the center of the chest or just below the center of the rib cage. The pain may spread to the arms , abdomen, lower jaw or neck.

Other symptoms of blocked coronary arteries may include:

Some people mistake these symptoms for indigestion.

Some people with coronary artery disease do not have any symptoms. For them, the severe chest pain of a heart attack may be the first warning that blood flow to the heart has become critically low.

Sometimes, the location of the blockage makes bypass surgery the preferred treatment. If your doctor recommends surgery, he or she has probably considered other options. These can include drug therapy, balloon angioplasty and stents. The most likely factors pushing your doctor to recommend surgery are evidence that you have widespread coronary disease, or symptoms that you are experiencing that cannot be controlled with drugs.

You May Experience Memory Loss And/or Brain Fog

There are a couple of things that can cause memory loss and brain fog after open-heart surgery. If you were put on bypass, it can cause these issues. It is also called pump head. Post-operative cognitive dysfunction can also cause memory loss. Both of these are usually short-term but can have the possibility of long-term effects. For the first six months, I really struggled with memory loss and brain fog. As time went on, it started to get better and I started to regain my memory and wasnt so foggy-headed.

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Blog Post by A.W.About this Blog

In this blog I will follow my everyday journey of living with familial hypercholesterolemia . I am sharing my own experience with this inherited disorder, and how I manage it daily from what literature I read on the topic and what my doctors say to how I live my life . This is solely a personal account that might or might not offer some insight on what to expect when diagnosed with this condition. This blog does not offer advice, in any way, to anyone suffering from this disease.

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Reasons To Call Your Doctor

If you feel any of these symptoms, report them to your doctor or nurse:

• Palpitations or a heart rate greater than 120 beats per minute when you are at rest, or a change from a regular to an irregular pulse.
• Increased fatigue or shortness of breath at rest.
• Temperature greater than 101 degrees more than one time, or chills for 24 hours.
• Excessive redness, swelling, soreness or drainage from any wound site.
• Swelling in your ankles and hands with a weight gain of two or more pounds in one day or five pounds in one week.
• Abnormal pain or other symptoms that do not go away with your medication.
• Pain in the calf of your leg.

How To Cough After Surgery

When you feel the urge to cough, brace your incision if you have had a chest or abdominal surgery. Take your hands or a small pillow and hug it to the wound with gentle but firm pressure. Bracing helps support your incision and reduces stress on the site.

If you don’t have a pillow, you can use your hands to brace the incision. The pillow is mainly for comfort.

Even if your incision is not on your chest or abdomen, bracing may help with pain control. Crossing your legs can also brace the incision if your surgery was in the genital or rectal areas.

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Tools To Help With Your Recovery

Breathing treatments are medicines that are inhaled. They help to open the airways so that you can breathe freely. They also aid in removing mucus. You will be given the treatments that fit your specific needs.

The incentive spirometer and Acapella® tool will help you to keep your lungs expanded, remove mucus, and aid with coughing. Your doctor and respiratory therapist will decide which of these tools is best for you. You will be taught how to use either an incentive spirometer or an Acapella® tool, and your care team will continue to assist you with using it properly.

What Is Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery

Coronary artery bypass surgery is a procedure that detours blood around a blocked section of one or more coronary arteries. It is also called coronary artery bypass grafting or CABG .

Coronary arteries are the blood vessels that supply the heart with oxygen and nutrients. You have several coronary arteries. They are named for their location. For example, your doctor may speak of the left main coronary artery, left anterior descending artery or the right coronary artery.

Coronary artery disease is any illness that damages these arteries. Coronary artery disease is often called “coronary atherosclerosis.” Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of arteries caused by the buildup of fat and cholesterol. This buildup is called plaque. Plaque can decrease the amount of blood that reaches the heart. The plaque can tear and cause a blood clot. The clot can block your artery and stop the flow of blood to your heart. This can cause a heart attack.

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What Are The Symptoms Of A Cardiac Cough

The symptoms of a cardiac cough vary depending on the specific cause. Possible symptoms include:

• A wet cough that produces sputum that may be slightly pink due to blood
• Heavy wheezing, or a whistling sound that happens while breathing, accompanied by coughing
• Shortness of breath while engaging in activities or lying down
• Paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea
• A bubbling feeling in the chest due to fluid buildup in the lungs
• A long-term dry cough that doesn’t get better when treated

If you’re showing signs of a cardiac cough, you may also have other symptoms of heart failure such as fatigue and swelling.