Anyone have trouble sleeping after heart surgery? Tips?

@sweeney03 It's common after ANY surgery. Surgery is a unique and a novel experience whose effects can vary and those effects can last a long time. Insomnia is but one such effect.

If you see your doctor about this, and there's no reason not to that I know of (about you), ask for a short-term prescription for zopiclone or a similar soporific, maybe five tablets that you would break in half and take for two or three nights running with a couple of tablets in reserve in case you get another week of tough sleeps.

I had an angiogram and three months later a catheter ablation. Same entry point, the groin, and both were day surgery. I spoke to my GP and he prescribed three tablets of zopiclone. That worked well enough that by the end of the week I was okay.

It's just anxiety over your health. One other remedy, at least for me and many others, is to commence a self-education process of reading medical journal research articles about your health. Become informed, feel more in charge, be able to converse on a higher level with your health care providers.

Hello and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect, @sweeney03
May I ask how long ago your surgery was, and what you had done?

The reason I am asking is that if it was recent, and open heart surgery, where your sternum is cut open, the answer is a bit more detailed.

Open heart surgery requires adjustments in sleep positions for some time after. It takes several weeks for the sternum to heal, so sleep is impacted by the surgical wound healing.

There could be other reasons you are having trouble sleeping after surgery, such as long term effects of anesthesia, if your surgery involved general anesthesia.

Time and healing provide wonderful results, and depending how far out you are and what you had done the answers may be difficult to provide you with an answer to your question.

Can you share what you had done and when?

Along the lines with the comments on this thread, start writing down how you are feeling both physically and emotionally. If it is physical pain, it helps to note when it happens, when it hurts, kind of pain. Also, if you find yourself up at night and not able to sleep write down your thoughts and feelings. Be open with your feelings as it becomes helpful for your recovery. Maybe your notes can help you describe things with your doctor with greater clarity.

Welcome to Connect! As previous discussion participants have written, heart surgery is a traumatic event for both you and your heart. Finding a comfortable sleeping position is a challenge, at first I slept in a recliner. How long ago was surgery?

Hi Sweeney, Ive been down this road before and my particular problem was anxiety mostly. I had a pretty sick Heart that would have bouts of tachycardia which is a fast heartbeat. It was something that at the time I felt was giving me the age old question What's next. But as for your particular situation it could be that or just the normal after surgery feeling of something is different. Can you elaborate on what type of surgery you had? I myself have been thru a full range of problems with my heart so maybe I can help. all the different types of problems can bring different feelings so there is no general reason for sleep problems. let me know if I can be of help.
Blessings

I had open heart surgery in 2022 to repair an aortic aneurysm. When I got home, I still had trouble sleeping and my PCP eventually prescribed Trazodone (25 mg, I think). It helped; I wasn't on it very long.

I had open heart surgery for removal of fibroelastoma on 6/2/26. Just the past couple of nights I’m finally seeing improvement where I’m not waking up every 2-3 hrs. I can fall asleep but don’t stay asleep. Part has been that even tho tried to sleep elevated, I would eventually slump down and something would hurt. Pain indifferent areas but was told all normal. Feel like this past week may have turned a corner. Two nights ago and last night had decent sleep, night before not so much. Initially sleeping 3-4 maybe 5 hours but in segments. As I feel better sleep gets better.

I had a double bypass Oct 2008 while the Phillies were winning the World Series. I was 56 yo and in pretty good shape in appearance. Had four days in the hospital and came home on Halloween. It was a beautiful day and I was so happy to get out of the hospital. There was little pain but I can't describe how exhausted I was for the next 5-6 weeks. I started rehab first week of Dec and I couldn't walk on the treadmill because its slowest speed was too fast. The first couple weeks I couldn't sleep more than a couple hours at a time but I think it was related to the anesthesia and pain pills. I was constipated for 11 or 12 days. The good news was the procedure was a success and it's still working. I attribute it to I was pretty young and I ate very heart healthy and exercised with the help of the rehab. It takes a while to get over the major surgeries. I've a couple others, a kidney robotic and two spine surgeries. They all had lengthy constipation. The spine surgeries left me with chronic pain requiring 40mg of Oxycodone a day. I had a hip replaced a few years ago. The pain had gotten horrible and the surgery was held up by the hospital being inundated by Covid. After the surgery I was pain free and could get up the 11 steps to the bedroom. Amazing. Now I'm needing a shoulder procedure. Probably replaced but I really don't want the lengthy rehab. Summed up, if not sleeping bothers you check with the doctor about a pill to help.

I had a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) quadruple on July, in Ontario, Canada. I was told that my post-op med included opioid and Tylenol to address the pain, and melatonin to help me sleep. I asked to be off the opioid; it was halved initially and then the Nursing Practitioner stopped it. The Tylenol was also stopped, with the option to "take when I can't tolerate the pain, I will ask for it." Melatonin was discontinued as well as my sleep pattern was about the same, with or without melatonin (not saying I had continuous uninterrupted sleep each night; I had to wake up and pee a few times each night). Each of us has a different pain tolerance level; what worked for me may not work for others). My post-op problem involves the swelling and pain onmy right leg harvest area for the artery grafts. I was in the hospital for 12 days post-op then 15 days in a rehab center until the swelling and slight pain was almost gone. Pain meds and melatonin was not helpful with that; that's what I thought and my care team agreed.