Post partum bradycardia /cardiomyopathy

[Fipfop]

Wondering if anyone has any experience of this. Bit of a long one!

I'm currently 13 days post c section. Around 5days pp I started with a tight heavy chest, especially when laying down. By 9 days pp I was unable to sleep because my heart was pounding so hard and there was so much pressure. I checked my pulse and it was 37. I called the maternity unit who told me to go to a&e.

While there my pulse remained between 37-45. My blood pressure also went up to 180/100. D dimer was high so they suspected a clot but ct scan showed no clot. It did show enlarged spleen and fluid on lungs though. Blood tests mostly came back normal except slightly raised bnp levels, which they explained can indicate heart failure but weren't high enough for them to think it is currently. They've ruled out post partum preeclampsia and I'm currently waiting for a echocardiogram, 24 hour ecg and an ultrasound on my spleen. The cardiologist didn't want us to stay in hospital any longer with a newborn and didn't think I was in danger as pulse and blood pressure had improved so discharged us. Since then I have had one more episode where pulse dropped into low 40s and blood pressure is normal but on the higher side for me.

From when I've looked online, I've seen some similarities between my symptoms and post partum cardiomyopathy although no explanation for my symptoms has been given yet. just wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this. It's been pretty scary!

Hi OP,
I've just seen your post and wondering how you are doing now?

Hi @Summer1986 , thanks for asking!

I'm feeling a lot better than I was. 24 hour ecg and echocardiogram came back fine. So luckily nothing lasting. Cardiologist said it's been something to do with the conducting system of my heart but basically said it's one of those things...

My blood pressure is still a little higher than it should be, still getting a bit of pain in my chest and have a ultrasound on my spleen next week to see if that's back to normal.

Glad to hear you are better and your cardiology investigations were all normal

Hi OP I had exactly this too and had similar investigations but nothing came of it. Palpitations and a heavy chest esp when laying down. My blood pressure was really high and not responsive to bp meds so I was being monitored every 30 m which was a pain when trying to sleep in between feeds. I had a 24 hour ecg monitor which also showed everything was fine.

I was back in hospital with a 6 day old newborn with this and I had to stay for 5 days, it was awful, every day I begged them to let me go home!

Ive been fine since then but have suddenly had an episode of low pulse and high blood pressure again (6 month postpartum now). My GP thinks I may need to go on bp meds permanently and I am monitoring my bp atm to see if this persists. Hope you are doing well now, but my advice keep an eye on your bp from time to time.

Thanks @Boshi for replying! You're like the first person I've found to have had a similar experience. Can I just ask, in that 6 months while things seemed normal how was your bp? The docs are happy with mine but it's definitely higher than usual. Systolic seems to be regularly in the 80s.

It's really frustrating not having any answers. My gp quite strongly feels that it's been post partum preeclampsia, although I didn't have protein in urine and I don't think blood tests indicated that. Has anything like that been mentioned to you?

Will definitely keep my eye on things!

Sorry @Fipfop just remembered you replied..!

So after that brief episode my bp went back to normal again (monitored it for 7 days) - no idea what caused it or the dip in my heart rate 🤷‍♀️

Since that first episode in hospital my bp was normal when checked, I thought it had gone and I had the idea it was related to the hormones used for induction. Why is recurred suddenly I have no idea

post partum preeclampsia was mentioned while I was in hospital but it wasn’t stated as the definitive reason, they looked into a number of things particularly a blood clot in the lungs or post partum cardiomyopathy but I guess they never really identified why it happened and if it would recur. Fingers crossed I’ve been fine since last month, I will be keeping an eye on my bp from now on though. Hope you are doing ok 🤞🏼

Same thing is currently happening to me. Waiting on all the tests. Are you okay now? I'm so worried x

Aww bless you, yeah I'm pretty much ok now. I've been through a few other things since and they were investigating to see whether the was an autoimmune thing going on which could have caused my heart to behave as it had but they've not found anything yet. I've also been rereferred to cardiology as they're suspecting pots syndrome. But I haven't had any reoccurring issues with episodes of bradycardia.

Let me know how things go, would like to know if they come up with an explanation for you. It's very frustrating not understanding why it happened to me. What are they looking at for you?

@Fipfop I'm glad you're okay now. Did you go on any meds for the short term? Eg for bp?

I had tachycardia during pregnancy and since giving birth it's gone the other way. Although it does still spike quickly when I stand up. I seem to be going from bradycardia to tachycardia! My bp is also on the high side so I've been given some meds for that and it's starting to settle down.

I saw a cardiologist this week and he's going to arrange an echo, 24 monitor and blood test to see what's going on. I just want some answers, I'm so scared I won't be here for my newborn :-(

I'm hoping it's just one of those 'post partum / pregnancy things' and sorts itself out.

Aww it's so scary isn't it! My gp has told me to assume it was post partum preeclampsia, best explanation to what's happened.

No I didn't go on any meds. My bp was dropping whenever I stood up so they didn't want to give meds and have it going too low.

My pulse can still raise high when I stand which is why they're looking at pots. Don't know if you've heard of it before but might be an explanation if you're tachycardic on standing. Maybe worth mentioning to the cardiologist.

Were the rest of your organs ok? My spleen was enlarged and fluid on lungs too?

@Fipfop I think Pots is exactly what I have from looking online actually. I will mention this.

I had a chest cray and no fluid on the lungs was mentioned. How did they check your spleen? My cardiologist also said it sounds like some kind of pre eclampsia.

I had a ct scan of my chest because I had a raised d dimer which could have meant a clot on my lungs. So had the ct scan and the fluid on lungs was seen as well as spleen being enlarged enough that it was seen in the chest. I'm assuming this all would have been seen on your chest X-ray though!

Do you know whether your bnp was checked with blood test? This is a test for heart failure, mine was raised but not high enough to be massively concerned.

Think what's happened to us has been very similar!

@Fipfop ahhh okay. Yes our situations sound so similar - it's nice to speak to somebody who understands because I've been feeling like the only one 😥. I'm due to have a bnp blood test in the next couple of weeks, I'm really nervous about the results.

Although he did say if I had heart failure he thinks I would most likely be more breathless. Now all of a sudden I feel breathless which is just anxiety 🙈

If it makes you feel any better, my bnp was around 400 at the time. But my gp repeated this 5 months later and it was back to normal. So even if it is raised it doesn't mean permanent damage.

Thank you, that is reassuring to know! X

We’re you diagnosed with pots has it resolved for you heart rate issues as I am going through same

Has your heart rate issues resolved

Hiya, I haven't been diagnosed. The cardiologist agreed that my heart rate rises on standing but didn't feel my dizziness was connected. I am also under rheumatology though and they rolled their eyes a bit that I hadn't been diagnosed so think it probably there is a bit of pots going on.

Heart rate mostly ok, do get flare ups where it rises quite a bit, mainly on standing. But no more episodes of bradycardia or high bp.

Let me know if you get any particular diagnosis, it still bothers me that I have no idea what caused it all! Hope you're ok

Hello!

Sorry to hear you're experiencing similar. Mine djd resolve eventually after a few months. I had an echo and ECG's and everytbjng came back normal. I never really found the cause - but it did settle down.

So interesting to hear others have been through the same thing! I went through a period as well where my heart rate would swing from high to low but I am over 2 years post partum now and it's mostly normal, occasionally a little high but nothing concerning.

I wonder why it happens! Did anyone else have post partum preeclampsia mentioned?

@Fipfop yes - I had post partum hypertension and the cardiologist said to me he thinks it's a form of post partum pre-eclampsia