Angiogram advice

[Anne2410]

Hi my husband is going for an angiogram/stents on Wednesday is there anything I should be aware of afterwards? Thanks

[Only58]

I had one last Wednesday. I think it might be quite a personal thing, I didn’t feel at all unwell although I had had a heart attack over the bank holiday weekend, so my experience is just my experience.

Tell him to go to the loo before he goes down ( they will probably tell him to do this), they Cath lab staff were all very nice and went round and introduced themselves , but then generally got on with there jobs and there was a lot of jagon going around that your not really involved in. Mine took about an hour because they found a blockage and put a stent in, but tell hi. Not to get hung up on how long it takes.

I found it quite claustrophobic and could easily have paniced(I’m prone to that), so decided to try and concentrate on what was going on - watched the monitor tried to work out what was being said - of course I know a lot of people would rather just lie there and wait for it to be over, but it is a really amazing process and if you are not squeamish it’s very interesting. At the end they asked if I wanted to see the before and answer and for me that was really helpful as there was a very obvious difference in the blood flow( not that I can feel any difference!).

Asterwards I had to stay in bed for 4 hours and had a headache from dehydration and the contrast median, this was elevated by drinking lots of water and some lovely tea , of course then you need the loo..... still as a man that will be a lot easier than I found it.

Good luck.

[blueshark in reply to Only58]

If this is his first 'experience' then all you can do is be there for him. I had same procedure done last month; like the other respondent I don't 'feel' any better but I should do as my artery was 99% closed, so I dodged a bullet!

It's not the end of the world, far from it, just encourage your husband to treat it as a 'new start' and to take the advice of the medical staff. If he needs to adjust his lifestyle, diet etc then encourage him and take the opportunity to join him and moderate your own diet etc, join him for some exercise. If he already has a healthy regime and the medics tell him to carry on as he was, don't stand in the wings telling him to "take it easy", encourage him to keep fit as he was before the procedure. Good luck!

[Anne2410 in reply to blueshark]

Thank you. He is s very fit 58 year old who all his life has watched his diet and exercised so been a bit of shock for us.

[blueshark]

Likewise Anne. I'm 59, don't smoke (not for 30 years anyway), don't drink, exercise regularly (run, cycle, scuba dive).

The one thing I learned was that heart attacks are indiscriminate but, if the consultants are to be believed, I am thankful for my fitness level; I could have suffered a far worse fate.

On a positive note (and he must take all the positives) I have been told I will regain my fitness level AND feel fully 10 years younger. Every (very) dark cloud.......

It is what it is; what he does about it and how he approaches it will matter greatly but if he was/is a fit guy, just encourage him to be positive and he'll be fine.

[Anne2410 in reply to blueshark]

Thanks

[Helen_BHF]

Hi Anne2410 the BHF has some information on coronary angiogram and what to expect. You can download the booklet here: bhf.org.uk/publications/tes... Hope this is useful