I had a heart attack at 50 . They found clogged archery but said it was not to bad. On the 25 / 1 / 2019 I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water as i walked back into the front room BANG I hit the floor . The paramedics where called where they put a monitor on me and said we are talking you to bri . I thought this was strange as i live 3 minutes away from swindon hospital. On arrival they took me straight into operating theatre. Put a stint in and then to ccu. The very next day I suffered anotherheart attack. They took me back to theatre. On the Monday I had test done and they said part of my heart muscle is damaged. And I was in the severe catogary. I'm at home now and dont no what to do since I've left hospital don't no who to turn to its got me right down.
Don't no what or who to turn 2 - British Heart Fou...
Don't no what or who to turn 2
How did you find the care at BRI ? My husband has been there for 8 weeks needing heart surgery which they can't do, ITU was great but the wards are a shambles !
I could no fault bri the team was really good. The people that took over my care where very professional and took the time to speak to me about every thing that was going on.
You were lucky, certainly not our experience 😕
Is he stil in bri .go speak to the person in charge his name is not james
Yes he's still in, we have spoken to numerous people but it doesn't change the attitude of the staff, it's exhausting.
I found the BRI Heart Institute outstanding however I was readmitted to a BRI ward some months later and was totally appalled. It is hard to believe you are in the same hospital. I was frustrated and angry by the time I left and it felt really unsafe - it is actually hard to find out who to speak to. Try asking for the ward sister as a start.
In the 8 weeks my husband has been there he's been in both BRI and BHI, the latter was marginally better but the lack of communication and joined up thinking is worrying and dangerous, the BRI has real problems with patient care, basically they don't care ! I've spoken to numerous people from Consultant secretaries to Staff Nurses and Sisters but end of the day nothing changes.
There is talk of moving him to Southmead which is even worse !!!!
Agree with you there - was taken to Southmead and was pretty horrified. To the extent that the next time a paramedic was called he told me he was calling an ambulance to take me to Southmead and I said hand me the paper which absolves you of the responsibility and I will sign it I am not going there. Being fair, some departments are excellent but far too many "need improvement" as it says in the inspection report. For a five year old hospital it's disgraceful.Taken to BRI and spent another three days there. I think the problem isn;t that they don;t care they are severely undertrained and incompetent as a result. However, talking about it doesn;t help when you are at your lowest ebb and worried about your relative. The only thing you can do is to keep up your questions to everybody you can speak to - often they will sort you out to shut you up.. I know this is no help but I really know what you are going through - it;s just awful it is this poor a service.
It's actually very helpful to know it's not just us experiencing these problems, our Cardiologist at Yeovil was shocked to hear of the issues we have had.
I was an inpatient at Southmead 2 years after it opened, it was dreadful !
If we have the energy a formal complaint may be on the cards !
Apologies Les5 for rather hijacking your thread with Bantam. Will move to a private conversation. Hope you are feeling better!
That's fine I hope I dont go to southward. And I hope all is better in the future for u
Hello Les5, how awful for you. I am so sorry to hear of your heart attacks. It sounds very frightening. Could you call your GP ?
Try the BHF - this is from the website:
The Heart Helpline is open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. The number to call is 0300 330 3311.
I don’t know your circumstances, but friends and family can really help.
I hope you manage to get some rest tonight.
Best wishes
Sara
Thank for that I just feel I dont no what to do . I was told my local hospital would contact me. But sat at home things are up in the air. Have spoke to the wife and it seems impossible to have a conversation with her as it seems to provoke a argument. She says im on edge all the time
Without wanting to offend you! You probably are on edge. And your wife may also be scared.
Perhaps admitting that you are both under real pressure and that this is new to both of you and that this hard to get used to and to accept what has happened to you both was dramatic might help.
Instead of talking could you just sit and watch some simple tv together?
Take care, it’s all so hard at the moment. But it will pass.
Hello to your wife! My husband had prostate cancer last year and I was scared but I also had to support him as well. It’s all a big change.
Take care Sara
Hello Les you have been through a very scary time so you are bound to be on edge and maybe angry. Sometimes the people close to you, like your wife don't know how to help and this can lead to frustrations on all all sides. I think you should go and see your GP and make a list of things you want to ask. Someone from your local hospital Physio Rehab team should contact you but this cannot take a couple of weeks. As you were taken to bri they should be telling your local hospital rehab team you are now at home but sometimes this is overlooked. You can ring your local hospital and ask to speak to someone from the Cardiologists physiotherapy team. Going to rehab will give you the chance to get questions answered as well. The heart is usually damaged after a heart attack and lots of people on here have serious damage but do get back to living a decent life again but it takes time. Don't give up and try and be positive as it's very early days for you. Like speakeasies says you can ring a Nurse here as well
PS I also have some serious vascular disease going on - so I do understand how this stuff can feel. I’m also just a little older than you- seems to young to be ill!
Hi a lot of good responses here. I hope you start to feel better soon.
It takes time, my experience of BRi was fantastic, I spent 4 days in ICU then about 6 in CCU. All great. Rehab does take time to filter through but that will help a lot.
You will be both angry & confused & to an extent your wife too. But rely on the professionals who are trained and experienced. Go to your GP with list of questions, ask about local support groups, I went to an anxiety one, it was great . You should also get appointment for cardio follow up clinic too.
Set your small realistic goals to build up on.
You will live a relatively normal life again, just be patient.
Remember we’re the lucky ones, we survived & unlike many folks out there our arteries have had a full check up :-).
Ps I was 46 & went into cardiac arrest, I was out cycling. The shock of it as I had no risk factors either.
Take care
Hi there, I am so sorry to hear of your episode although I have just had the same thing happen to me 3 weeks ago. The good news, I am told is that it is dealt with so we need to take it easy and rest a lot which I find very difficult
we’ll have to keep our fingers crossed and slowly get back into it. I am 48 years old, female, eat healthy and regularly go to the gym. No one can tell me why I had the heart attack and I am sure you will agree its so traumatic. We have no choice other than live with it and pray it wont happen to us again. Hang in there-
So very sorry to hear of your bad experiences which must be very frightening. Am just wondering if you have a cardiac nurse. I found mine hugely helpful when I came home after a stent. If you haven’t perhaps you could ask the hospital or surgery. All the best for your
recovery.
I had a heart attack and was taken to BRI as blue light job and straight into operating theatre. I encountered a few people from Swindon who had been taken there. I think it is because Bristol has the Heart Institute and it runs its cath lab 24 hours a day. I found the care outstanding but, like you, once you are discharged it feels like you are on your own and is miserable. Go to your GP and ask what happens next. I got an appointment with a cardiac nurse about six weeks after the 100% blocked artery heart attack stent. I was also told I have heart muscle damage, a faulty valve, another blocked artery and a large aneurysm, severe heart disease..... as I had no warning this left me so shocked and in the state you are currently in. I had no idea what to do: follow up is really lacking. As is the communication between various medical services (GP couldn;t see the discharge letter and had no idea I'd been in hospital). But it does get sorted out and you will come back from this. You need to rest and relax. A year on life has got back to relatively normal although I get very tired. Walking is good - when I started the daily walk I was lucky to be able to do five minutes - I do 40 minutes at a time now. These first few weeks are unreal and you feel weird all the time. Diet and exercise are the best things to work on as it means you are helping yourself and BHF website has answers to most things. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Thank you for the reply . It has been good to see other people on here that have the same problems. What to do with all that effect once you leave hospital . Its been such a traumatic time for every one. I have found this site very rewarding my wife has said it has made me and her feel a lot better. I have started to think positive. I no I will still have days I feel down its a long road but I'm still here. I wish everyone the best and a speedy recovery.
Just from my experience alone (I'm the wife with a husband who's been through roughly the same as you!), i just felt helpless and hopeless and I guess he perceived my offers to help as nagging!
No good getting into arguments as that'll send your BP up and put strain on your heart.
As everyone is saying, you'll get there in the end but it'll take time.
As one poor bloke in the hospital said to me, 'there are plenty worse off' and looking around the wards, there certainly were.
Hang on in there, talk to the wife and let her know how scared you are and you'll find everything works out in the end.
Good luck xxxxx
As a number of members have already described, there is a good chance of making a long term recovery from this. Your heart is a muscle. It's damaged but it can recover. That takes time and at first gentle exercise.
Your GP and the cardio team should be able to put you in touch with rehab courses. Courses can commence 4-6 weeks after the event, depending upon circumstance.
The fact that your case was described as "severe" may mean that the cardiologist has to reassess things in the coming months. They will be in a position to best decide what course of further treatment may or may not be required.
The worry is the hard part. This is all new to you and very frightening. We all understand.
Please talk to your GP and ask for advice on rehab courses and local support groups.
I had a heart attack 5 years ago, damaged my heart muscle and prolapsed a mitral valve. Rehab courses restored me to reasonable shape. After a year or so of making do and a bout of flu, the valve had to be repaired and then replaced. There were some further complications. Now 19 months since my last op, I am hail and hearty and able to do most things that I'd like to. I'm not running marathons but I am leading a fairly full life. It did take time though and I have to be sensible - no hiking on the hills in the mid winter, and no chasing fitness targets just for the hell of it!
Recovery does take time though.
Best of luck!
I would go to go and insist on seeing a cardiologist urgently or even a thoracic surgeon I had heart attack went into hospital got all tests done 2 weeks later triple bypass your heart always has a bit of damage with heart attack you need more investigations.
Tell your wife I get tired and snappy at my husband who is the nicest man and has worked really hard to help me. We;re now at the stage we joke about things and I say to him "be nice to me or I am cutting you out of my will" but I do feel really badly about being so short tempered. He once asked me if besides the stent if they had given me a sense of humour bypass at the same time..... the best thing he did for me was to drag me out for a walk every day - he managed to lose more weight than i did to start with. We go to the local park on my exhausted days as it is flat and each circuit is 600m and I can judge easily how far i am going. Don;t push yourself but don;t get lazy either. DO the rehab - I hated it but there is no doubt it makes a difference and I still go twice a week to rehab classes in the local sports centre I still loathe it but it makes a huge difference. Keep reporting in on this site as to how you are doing - it cheers everyone to know there is a better time ahead.
I will . Its been good to see what other people's say on here and the support is brilliant. I hope to help some one in the future. Like many people on here have done for me many thanks les
When you have a HA your heart is damaged, but it wont stop you leading a normal life.
Take care
C
After my heart attack I felt as if I was just dumped. IT took weeks for the cardiac rehab team to contact me and when they did I got one face to face appointment which told me nothing I didn't know and a couple of phone calls. They refused to even let me try exercise rehab because I'm in a wheelchair and they have nothing for wheelchair patients. I then had awful problems with drug side effects; no help with that either and my GP at one point refused to change anything. I ended up having to stop one tablet until I saw the consultant weeks later for another angiogram. He was furious I'd stopped them but I was having serious hallucinations. My GP has finally taken control but getting to speak to the hospital or consultant was impossible. I also felt like you; totally on my own , very anxious and on edge. It does improve I can assure you but what they really shoudl do is give you time with the consultant to explain and ask questions before you are discharged. MY consultant said"But I did speak to you when I did the angiogram". Yes he did but I was sedated and barely remember it.
Les sorry for your experience. Changing diet to mostly plant based is a good way forward on reversing heart disease. And there are other things than can help
So sorry to read your post. My husband had that experience 30 years ago. The heart attack left him with 1/3 of heart muscle dead in his left ventricle but he is still here and that old heart is still pumping though it needs a pacemaker now to help it. He helped himself by daily walks. At first to the gate and back but gradually a little more and that helped. So think positive!
Thank you I walk every day to build myself back up. Just feel tiered all the time . But am thinking positive. Upward and onwards. I wake up in the morning and don't think what sort of day im going to have to day . I think now let's see what the day brings. One day at a time x
Les I look forward to reading about your progress.
Hi, l was very saddened to hear about your experience at the BRI. Two years ago they saved my life twice after being in Weston hospital and nearly dying of undiagnosed severe sepsis and septic shock which led to severe endocarditis an destroyed my heart valves. Once they transferred me to the BRI l had an emergency op to repair my valves and this failed with my aortic valve so 5 weeks after the first op they rushed me back to theatre to have an aortic valve replacement and rebuilt my heart with medical mesh and put in a pacemaker in a 11 hour op. l was in the BRI for 92 days and the care l recieved was outstanding, from my hero Consultant to the personal touches from all staff including the catering and cleaning dept. l felt truly looked after and liked which gave me the strength to fight for my life and recovery. My family and friends all felt the same, our oldest Son works with Quantum Physics and probability in health and safety and he was delighted with my care plan. So sorry you didn't have my experiences. They have offices called" above and beyond" inside the main doors they could help you with patient concerns. Take care Sue.
"They found clogged archery but said it was not to bad. "
This happened to quite a few patients/people.
It always amazes me how "perfect" they could deal with emergency care whilst simple preventative care is seriously in short supply. Seems like the contrast is almost beyond belief.
It is shocking when a major illness hits you out of nowhere, especially after a consultant tells you "all is well'. I heard that, too. I had strokes and I was in my mid-40s.
Wishing you a good recovery. Thinking of you and your wife. Sara
I was lucky to find real support in the team of doctors that are looking after my husband, who has a heart condition, I hope you are as lucky to be near professional and compassionate people. Don't hesitate to ask them for help and advice anytime you need it... Don't give up! God bless!
I live about 5 minutes walk from the hospital. Have seen 2 different consultant . 5 weeks apart the first one was really good. When I see the second one she told me to stop using gtn spray .join rehab classes . Stop some of the medicine I'm on. So I asked her if she had read my notes as i had only been out of hospital for a week. She did not no I had been in as i had bad chest pains .they found a clot . She did not no . Told her had been for a ct scan . It seems that she had not read my notes . Started to back track on my medication and gtn spray. Once I told her I had 50% heart muscle is damaged. I now have some one from the heart outreach looking ather me . But still have not answering any questions or dont no how to.
Hi LesSorry to hear your story.
I am new to this group first posted last night.
I came out of hospital yesterday after having a heart attack on Wednsday, blue lights to the hospital, it took them 24 hours to take me to surgery I had a stint put in. Nothing was really explained to me and I was sent home the following afternoon with lots of new tablets.
I have come yo my daughters as I was nervous being on my own. We have sat and chatted about what has happened, but as suggested we have also sat watching TV just knowing we are there for each other.
Yesterday my anxiety was bad which created more pain, the best thing I did is post on here and I have been given same amazing advise. All I am thinking about is 1 day at a time and to do the best I can to improve my life style.
Be kind to yourself, don't be to hard on yourself we can't change what has happened.
Good luck to you and your wife 💜
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