My father-in-law had a triple by-pass about a year ago. He now has two blocked arteries and one had to be ballooned, aside from this he has chest and back pains, which are not related to his heart. His cholesterol has shot up despite a healthy diet and exercising with a group of heart patients. He is now on cholesterol medication for life, but he is very concerned about the pain as each time the pain shoots he thinks he is having a heart attack, has been and is going to several doctors. Any help/guidance in this area would be appreciated.
mld,
thanks for the post.
There are alot of causes of muscular pain and weakness after bypass. Given the focal weakness however, this is likely neuromuscular in origin.
Under general anesthesia, you lose the ability to compensate and position yourself to relieve muscular stress, such as rolling over while sleeping. Further, sometimes patients need to be put in positions that can stress the outflow of the nerve roots that innervate the upper extremity. Either, can cause muscular injury or nerve injury.
Other possibilites could be stroke related during bypass or exacerbation of prior injuries from positioning.
It would probably be reasonable to start with some xrays and a good neurologic exam to define if the problem is muscular or neurologic in origin. Treatments would depend on which it were.
hope this gives a start