Good afternoon all,
I have only just found this site which is a shame but I'm a 29 year guy who had open heart surgery at the age of 25 due to Endocarditis which happened all very quickly! I admitted myself into hospital and had the operation within a week! I now have a metal Aortic replacement valve and will be taking warfarin for the rest of my life. (MY GP was a idiot!)
I struggled tremendously with panic attacks and anxiety attacks for a good year after surgery I would assume this was because of the speed everything happened and I had no time to come to terms with this massive life changing event (I thought my heart was stopping!! crazy I know!) I still suffer with anxiety but I have now come to terms with it and control it without the need of tablets or therapy (I was never given the option by my GP anyway as they are hopeless)!
I just wanted to share my story so if anyone feels panic attacks/ anxiety or even depression there is a way of coming to terms with this and I am here if anyone would like to talk about it!
I had no one to talk to when I was going through this alone so I just want to put my hand out for anyone else who maybe in a similar position to that I was in.
P.S I now do everything that I was doing before my operation as well. Play football, go the the gym, have a few beers. (my anxiety hit me hard for social events for some time but just face it head on )
Thanks for reading.
Have a great day everybody
Hi
I am really interested in your post .It all must have been a massive shock to you .
Kind of puts my situation in the shade but I have still been diagnosed with Heart failure , taking various meds including a so called dirty mechanism called Amiodarone am waiting to see if I will get the horrible side effects .
Anyway way I am not depressed as such but I am anxious about my future .I would be really interested how you cope with the anxiety .
Hey,
I cope by remembering that I am now in a much better position than I was in before my heart surgery. every second of every day is precious and you must enjoy it. Taking every day as it comes and appreciate the small things as they are the things that mean the most to me nowadays.
I suffered massively in social environments I.e going shopping (tonnes of people) which triggered my anxiety. By the way I had never suffered with anxiety before my op. It may just be me but as I knew what triggered it I just kept forcing myself to get into th we situations and deal with it. Some days were worse than others but eventually my mentality changed due to this.
Regular exercise helped me massively as this was a release of all anxiety and was just “me time” even if that means walking around the block a few times.
Another trigger of anxiety is that I can now hear my heart tick. (The valve opening and closing) when ever I couldn’t hear the click I used to panic and think my heart was failing- This is
Something I do struggle with the most but everything gets better in time if u tackle things head on. This may not work for everyone but worked for me. Get yourself out there what you were doing before surgery (consult your doc First if it’s something mental like sky diving)
I used to wake up in the middle of the night with bad panic attacks as I used to dream of my heart stopping.
You just need to occupy your mind. I.e I go gym and play computer games and have time with friends as well as alone time . It’s just an escape but with that comes the knowledge that you are well and healthy because nothing bad has happened.
Anything else you want to know
?
Thank you you are right life is precious no more time wasting I know that .
Night times are the worst for me wake up and then can't get back to sleep ?
Night times used to be horrible for me so you are not alone so don’t worry
I used to wake up sweating and in a panic
Do u do any physical exercise?
It got better for me once I started to exercise. It took me a while to get into it as my mentality wasn’t right but as soon as I did the nights got better and now I sleep very well.
Routine also helps massively . Go to bed at the same time Every night . Exercise releases serotonin and this helps massively with mental health
You are an inspiration after what you have been through and pulled yourself through even with the lack of support something that seems to mentioned by many people lately. Well done and for thinking of others on here.
Thank you Nathan. forums like these need to be promoted more as I could have done with this a long time ago. Just speaking to other people and knowing you are not alone is awesome !!!