Post-Heart surgery spasms HELP

[ali772]

At the beginning of this year I had open-heart surgery, to repair a leaking valve. Only about 4 1/2 months later (mid to late April) I began to experience left-sided twitching and spasms, particularly within my left hand/arm and foot. I underwent a MRI scan and everything (psychologically) seemed to be fine. I believe it's a nerve within one of my ribs that has been 'pinched' or affected in some way during the recovery process. But it's now September, and the twitching still remains. I think I've tried everything to stop this twitching (by regular massages, osteopathy, exercising etc.), but I don't know what to do anymore. All the twitches are doing now, is making me restless and upset. Help?!!?

[ali772]

Thank you for your two cents and to everyones advice and suggestions! After a month of posting my "cry for answers" I know theres something neurological that has definitely been disturbed on my left side. And when I find an answer I will let you all know, but thank you so much for just a simple reply. Thank you.

[ali772]

Thankyou for your reply!
Neurologically yes, that seems to be an accurate reason. Presently the twitches have settled down a lot more. I see my new cardiologist in the next few weeks, so I will discuss a Neurological examination and see if there's anything else the cardiologist can suggest to get to the bottom of these twitches!

[achillea]

You describe one-sided twitching of a hand and a foot after surgery that does *not* involve nerves controlling the movement of hands and feet.  This is a problem you should take to a neurologist tin order to find out what is going on.

[ed34]

After my bypass surgery, the nerves in my chest started to join back together and I think they were very confused at first with the signalling and interpretations by the brain. One minute my chest area felt very hot, then very cold, then itchy, then painful, then numb. This went on for months. Sometimes the are felt like water was running down it. These are sensory nerves and are the nerves that are cut for heart surgery but these are not connected to muscle, so won't cause twitching etc. The only other nerve I know of that can sometimes be damaged is the one controlling the diaphram for breathing.
So, I don't think you need to worry about it being from the surgery.

[skydnsr]

Just my two cents, but this problem doesn't really sound like it's necessarily related to the heart surgery.  The onset of it was late after the surgery, and the symptoms you are having aren't typically caused by trauma to the sternum or ribcage.  Dr. Anitha gave you some good feedback, above, naming some of the possible causes.  I would start with my PCP.  If the PCP can't give you any answers, then I think the next step might be to consult a neurologist.  Good luck.