Posted by Steve Giddings on April 27, 2001 at 19:34:34:
In Reply to: QUESTION FOR POST MAZE EXERCISERS posted by THOMAS C. GLASS on April 27, 2001 at 19:27:42:
My experience has been quite similar to Anders'. I am a bit over 2 years out. I had intermittent problems with the same sensation of extreme shortness of breath at start of exercise. Typically it took 15-20 minutes to clear. Some days it never did. I noticed my neck veins were up a bit on the worst days. Could be a couple of things. There is increased fluid retention after surgery to the atria. My surgeon started me empirically on spironolactone (aldactone) after surgery and I was told to stay on it for 6 weeks post op. The heart may be somewhat stiff and the sac that holds the heart (the pericardium) is scarred at surgery. It is typically adherent to the heart after surgery and may limit the increased filling that occurs acutely with exercise.
This symptom seemed to wax and wane. I think it went away sometime this last summer or fall altogether. I guess I didn't miss it when it left.
My resting heart rate has taken a long time to come down as well. Prior to surgery (when in sinus) I was in the low to mid thirties (no joke). My surgeon thought it was a sure sign of SA node disease, but I think it was just a lot of adaptation to years of endurance training, as it always responded appropriately to exercise and I could get my max up to a rate appropriate for age. Post op it was 80-90, came down into the high 60's after a couple of months, returned to ~55 by the end of the first year, stayed there quite awhile. Recently it has started to decrease again. It's now ~45.
Bottom line. It takes a long time to recover completely but it does happen.