This is my first post here so please excuse me if I do not quite have the hang of this and should have posted somewhere else. Just tell me and I respond accordingly.
My question is simple. How many stents can you safely have ? I have had 2 heart attacks, the first one in 2004 and I had angioplasty with stenting and got 4 stents with another 3 being added within the first year when the results were questionable. The second attack was then in 2007 when I got another 3 in the same artery and 1 in a different artery. So with 11 stents in 2 arteries at the ripe old age of 58, I am fit and excercise 5 days a week and actually feel quite good, but whenever I tell people I have 11 stents, they always say they have never heard of that and look very suspect at me as if I am going to drop down dead in front of them.
Anyone else ever heard of this many or do you have more ? Please respond.
Hence my UserID, my kids call me the Legoman.
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legoman58
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Evening legoman, 11 stents wow. Didn't think you could have so many but obviously you can. A quick look at Google gets me to the US, the Texas heart institute says 10-15 if you think three main arteries then that's amazing what they can do.
You are a fantastic advert for heart surgery, recovery, exercise hat's off to you
Hi legoman.. I've been beaten! I have had 9 stents, all in places I couldn't have a bypass, some of the more peripheral vessels, a forked one, a v long one, and a new one to replace a blocked one. Like you, I've been accumulating them after three HAs.
You sound very well and positive. So encouraging for people to read. Keep it up.
PS your message is in the right place!
Hi Legoman, welcome. I have had 7 stents fitted, including the left main stem,which was totally occulded. Was only discovered by accident when having another stent fitted, lucky me! Isn't it great that we have these wee miracles to allow us to get on with our lives. Not so long ago conditions like this would have meant CABG. I wish you well.💜
Well my father has just had his original stents replaced from many years ago, he has a few more than you. He has no hope of a bypass now so they just keep stenting. The latest stents don't create the problems of the originals.
Thanks for the replies guys. MarkT60 - may I ask how old your Father is and how old his original stents were ? Please don't take it the wrong way, but it's nice to finally hear of someone with more than me.
Cutting back the drinking and cutting out the smoking is a must. When I had my first heart attack at the age of 44 and had 4 stents, I was lucky because there was no real muscle damage as the blood supply found a back door but I still totally changed my lifestyle. No drinking, no smoking, daily excercise and if it didn't come out the sea or the ground I didn't eat it. I lived like a monk. Took a year playing with meds and 3 more stents to get it totally right but finally felt good. Then at the 2 year mark I had another heart attack and couldn't believe it. This time there was lasting muscle damage. After everything I had done I thought. But after I got over the "Poor me, Poor me, Pour me a drink moment" I then suddenly thought it was a good job I had changed my life otherwise I may not have been here. As I have said elsewhere on this forum, everything in moderation, but the smoking is a total no, no I think. FMW62 - Thanks for your post.
Hello there - I remember nursing a patient a few years ago who had about 15 stents! There isn't really a definitive number that's 'safe' or 'unsafe' to have - it's very unique to the person and how big/long their arteries are and how their heart is functioning. Remember that stents are absolutely minuscule so don't take up much room!
Chris_BHF - Thanks for that. Really appreciated. As I said at the off of this, at 58 now and starting my journey at 44, I really can't do more than I do, and life in general is pretty good. 5k treadmill sessions 5x a week, eating and drinking properly and trying not to stress out to much really works. Yes I get tired occasionally and do get a little angina now and then when I over do it, but all in all I think I am fitter and healthier than I have ever been to be honest. (hope I'm not tempting fate there). It's just peoples reaction when I tell then I have 11 stents. So thank you for your post. I can now say well some people have more. Cheers !!!
I thought I was a rarity. Like you, I have 11 stents. I have had 2 NSTEMIs (minor heart attacks) and 10 PTCIs (angioplasties) - my first for 3 stents when I was 36, a month before my wedding. I am now 59. I find myself a little SOB sometimes, but I do jog 2 or 3 times a week but my HR shoots up with very little exertion so I tend to be very careful. My normal resting HR is from 58-62. Using my Apple watch to measure HR, my jogs of approx 4 KM over 35 mins has me 50-60 percent of the time 170-185bpm.
Thks for that Fullmj. Good to know ones not alone. And keep up the good work. One thing though. I think your HR during exercise is to high. I have always been told your max should be 220 minus your age. So mine at 60 yrs old is 160bpm. And to get the most out of a cadio workout and still burn fat, so long as you are 50 -75% of that max you are doing fine. Just be careful. Easy to over do it when those endorphins kick in. Good luck.
I’m so sorry for this late reply legoman58. I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I don’t know how many stents one can have - logic states until there is no more room. I had another 2 stents fitted last Nov. Let me explain the reason for this. You may find it interesting.
I was one of the first to have the then new Cypher stent fitted. All singing all dancing DES. I can’t remember time frames but it fractured (the reason why it was discontinued - it was prone to fracturing). To sort this out, the Cardiologist inserted a bare metal stent to support the Cypher. More than a decade later, it was 100% blocked. It was so complicated, there were two surgeons working. One through my wrist, the other through my groin. They tried all sorts of tools to get through the blockage that through the years was now like “concrete”. After over 3 hours, they made progress and inserted another stent (DES) inside the bare metal so that in cross section it looks like a Swiss roll. They placed another one in a new area of disease.
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