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Sternum healing after surgery/ how long the pain lasts
How long does it take for the pain to subside from open heart surgery. It is 8 weeks since I had a surgery for aneurysm repair and still have soreness and mild pain.
Pain is not continuous to impact my activities. I feel it as soon as I get out of bed and at times randomly. Just want to get a feel of the average time it takes to heal.
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I am 1 year and 8 mos out, and sneezing is not fun. Its not the sternum per se, but more of a internal soreness.
It took a very long time. I had a septal myectomy at that time. I have since been diagnosed with a thoracic ascending aortic aneurysm (taaa) of 4.7cm {almost 2 inches}. I was not comfortable touching my sternum for months. I remember being so careful doing everything in my day-to-day life. My extended recovery went into the COVID era.
It was actually about two years til I could tap my sternum bone and be ok with it. It has been almost 7 years now and I try to forget about my open heart surgery of 2019. I am sure this isn't a normal experience but it was my experience. I healed very slowly. The whole affair forced me into disability retirement with my employer because of how long my recovery lasted.
So I have autoimmune disease as well and consequently I believe my immune system really provided a slow response to pain, healing and overall recovery. I ventured into a new definition of normalcy?
Other men have been much more fortunate than I have been. I remember waking up and feeling like I had a concrete truck sitting on my chest going back and forth. I could feel this pain while taking tremendous amount of pain relievers.
No amount of pain relievers in the hospital took away my pain and after 6 days I was sent home and took very strong pain relievers for another week. That was in addition to my daily pain regimen for my chronic pain/illness. It consisted of Tramadol, Tylenol and Lyrica and it still does to this day.
I will never ever let anybody crack open my chest again! Even if there is an alien inside my chest because when it hatches the pain will be the same as if I had heart surgery. I can and have endured pain in my life for long extended periods. The pain from my open heart surgery was horrendous and off the charts. I couldn't endure it again!
Thanks for letting me share.
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2 Reactions@rlhix
I totally understand. Please read my comment about this and you will see how similar we both are.
It took me about 4 months to be 'pain free' after surgery but I had a complication with severe pericarditis which slowed my recovery. ...well, it didn't slow my exercising (that progressed fine) but the chest pain was there for longer as a result. So hang in there... it will get better! I'm 2+ years out from my surgery and back to doing anything I want to do physically.
@medman24
Yes, I am in the exact same zone you might say, as you described. My CABG x3 was on Dec 10. 2025 Not quite 6 months. I still have mild pain in mid sternum and occasionally over my right chest. (and yes, the getting up in the mornings) My vitals are super, finished my PT (worked that hard) and walk each day plus my own gym work. I feel that I overdo my gym work at times and the pain is a little worse for days. My cardiologist just told me that it be a few more months to get past these pains. I do what I want pretty much but just going to have to be patient for heavier lifting and hard yardwork. Plus I live in the South and the heat is already becoming typically unbearable. So I will pace myself and continue to let it heal up better. Overall, pretty pleased given what this surgery does to our bodies.