Before my bypass I was quite fit, walking several miles a day and still going to the gym (as long as I took my meds). I’ve been home for 9 days now but feel as though I’m really struggling and not making as much progress as I would like. Any amount of walking causes an ache in the sternum and I get quite breathless after a couple of hundred metres. I also get some pain in the ribs. Going up stairs is really difficult
I’m wondering what the best way forward is - should I push on and make greater effort or take it easy until I feel better? Any advice/tips etc would be welcome.
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Trevor29
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I think 9 days post op is very early. I wouldn't even think about exercising you need lots of rest and good nutrition to build yourself up. Keeping active as in walking around is good but don't worry about not being able to do the longer walks you used to do before your op. Your fitness level will return but wait until your rehab before trying to increase your activity. Any cough or if feeling breathless gets worse see GP. Take care
I had a triple bypass some 16 months ago. My advice is to keep going - it gets easier but it takes time. The important thing is not to become a couch potato. Measure your progress in lampposts and try to increase the number of lampposts each time. It’s a slow and long road but you will be surprised at how fast things improve. Don’t expect to be at your previous fitness level for a good few months. It’s going to be 6-8 weeks for your sternum and rib cage to settle down so I’m afraid that discomfort will be with you for a while longer yet. Good luck with your recovery
If you have had bypass surgery you have at least 1 blocked arteries. I had 5. I recommend that you watch the film "Forks Over Knives". It will show you that you can clear out your arteries. It is on Netflix, YouTube and a website of the same name. It is about medical dietary research, including a massive study of 800,000 Chinese people. You might find it helpful, I did.
The ideal BP is 120/80. Mine has been as high as 240/140 but went down to 190/100 with treatment in 2016. I still had a mini-stroke in 2017 though. I started a Whole Food Plant Based (WFPB) lifestyle in March 2018. My BP is now 120/80.
The ideal cholesterol is below 5. Mine was 6.5 for years, nothing budged it until this diet. It is now 3.7.
My weight was 14.5st and is now 12.5st, the same as when I was in my twenties.
If my arteries were still blocked my blood pressure would still be up. This means that my arteries must be clearing out.
I really found forks over knives brilliant with some excellent recipes. I know there is scope to improve my diet further and the forks over knives approach means you can enjoy delicious food and not feel you are some sort of extreme diet.
"If my arteries were still blocked my blood pressure would still be up. This means that my arteries must be clearing out."
Jimmy, I just don't think that's correct. Firstly, if you've had a bypass operation then you've literally "by-passed" the arterial blockages, so they could be 100% blocked and it wouldn't make any difference. Secondly, losing weight, reducing stress, cutting down salt, exercising, and taking medication, all these things can significantly reduce your blood pressure without reducing the blockages in your arteries in the slightest.
The official view of both the British Heart Foundation and the NHS is that blocked arteries are for life, and you can't reduce the blockages. I'm not yet totally convinced of that, and I suspect there's perhaps room for some small improvements. I've heard some authorities say the most recent atherosclerosis that you've suffered, over roughly the past two to three years, can be reduced, but older blockages can't be. And I've seen the reports from Dr Ford Brewer, who has used Carotid Scans (CIMT) to demonstrate some reduction in arterial calcification with his strict regime of exercise, medication, and a mediterranean diet. You can follow his account here,
Where as I'm impressed by Dr Brewer's results (and also by his scientific rigour and objectivity) I'm not entirely sure that reducing arterial calcium is exactly the same thing as reducing arterial blockages. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I need to do more investigating.
I had the bypass surgery in 1997 and yes my BP went down. In 2016 my BP went up an I was put on medication. I still had a mini-stroke in 2017. After that, an MRI scan showed that my left carotid artery was blocked. My BP was stil up then, with the medication. I went WFPB in March 2018. Since then my BP has gone down and my doctor took me off the BP medication. My BP remains around 120/80 without medication. That must mean that whatever raised my BP (blocked artery) has been removed.
This is a website of a doctor who has seen these results time and time again: nutritionfacts.org/
"I went WFPB in March 2018. Since then my BP has gone down and my doctor took me off the BP medication. My BP remains around 120/80 without medication. That must mean that whatever raised my BP (blocked artery) has been removed"
The problem Jimmy is that the logic doesn't hold together. This is not evidence that your Vegan style diet has removed the blockages in your heart. Let me give you just one out of a myriad of possible explanations, your new diet is low salt, and it's the reduction in salt that is keeping your blood pressure in the safe range. That's an explanation that fits all the facts, but has absolutely nothing to do with your diet being plant based.
The second point is just because your blood pressure is in the safe zone doesn't mean that you've reversed your atherosclerosis. Blood pressure is not a measure of the degree of arterial blockage. High blood pressure doesn't necessarily mean you have blocked arteries, and low blood pressure doesn't necessarily mean you don't have blocked arteries.
Please understand, I'm not having a go at you Jimmy. It's terrific that you've found a diet that you're happy with and it's even more terrific that your key metrics are so positive. I wish everyone on this forum could report similar success. However, it's simply not true that this good news can be scientifically ascribed to your plant based diet.
"I’ve been home for 9 days now but feel as though I’m really struggling and not making as much progress as I would like. Any amount of walking causes an ache in the sternum and I get quite breathless after a couple of hundred metres. I also get some pain in the ribs. Going up stairs is really difficult"
Nine days after a bypass operation is barely anytime at all!
Your lungs take a terrible beating during a bypass operation, with multiple pockets of micro collapsing within each lung. You need to focus on your breathing exercises to re-inflate your lungs. Walking in itself is a superb breathing exercise but the objective is to work up to 30 minutes of brisk walking over about six weeks, after nine days you should be aiming for more like ten minutes of brisk walking. I suspect your immediate aspirations need recalibrating a bit, you're probably over reaching by quite some margin.
Your sternum will be sore until at least six weeks after the operation, it'll probably take eight weeks (or even a bit longer) before it's sufficiently healed for you to return to a more physical job.
You should have had a leaflet laying all this out. If not here's the version from Guys & St Thomas's hospital.
Jimmy and he's "Forks over knives"...please please give it a rest.Things have moved on since that book was written. I'm starting to think your being paid to advertise it
Things have moved on since the invention of the wheel but we still use them.
My wife and I have benefitted massively from this lifestyle and I want other people to be able to have those benefits as well. It is proven to work, See: nutritionfacts.org/
You, ChappyChap and one or two others have complained and/or debated my promotion of "Forks Over Knives" and a WFPB lifestyle. My advice to newbies to watch the film, etc. have received a lot more "likes" and positive comments than that. If I gave it a rest, a lot of people may never become aware of something that could give them massive improvements in their health.
Also, if I was posting wrong or incorrect information I am sure that the administrators would have said something by now.
"if I was posting wrong or incorrect information I am sure that the administrators would have said something by now."
Jimmy, that's just bordering on the ridiculous, you can't seriously say that just because the administrators haven't objected to your posts then that proves you are correct. That's totally bananas!
As long as we're not abusive or breaking the law then the administrators will let us bicker away to our hearts content, spouting whatever twaddle we want!
And the simple fact is that the British Heart Foundation, the sponsors of this web site, do not recommend the plant based diet that you advocate. The BHF, and the NHS for that matter, both recommend a Mediterranean style diet that contains modest amounts of meat, fish, and diary.
I have no idea which diet is the best, so I'm not saying you've made the wrong choice with a Vegan diet. But just because a diet is optimum for one person doesn't make it right for everyone. So for anyone thinking about a plant based diet and planning to watch the Netflix film "Forks Over Knives", then also take some time and watch "The Magic Pill" or "The Paleo Way", also on Netflix. These documentaries argue almost exactly the opposite point of view, and they're also able to cite lots of convincing research!
The bottom line Jimmy is none of us have the undisputed answer, and there may not actually be one single right answer. It might be that diet is extremely personal, and what's right for one person may be wrong for someone else.
Again I agree, none of us have the undisputed answer but the Mediterranean and Vegan diets are getting publicity where WFPB isn't. The trouble with that is that Vegan diets are being promoted as healthy but a lot of Vegan products are junk food. My own daughter admits to being a Junk Food Vegan.
Well if that's what it taks for Admin to interfere, lets test it! I personally think your continued attack of anyone you dislike or who disagrees with you to be very irritating and totally undermines the good will of the forum.
What on earthh is the harm in suggesting a diet that clearly works for some people?
If you actually believe that Admin would allow Jimmyq to post the details if it was harmful in any way - you are sadly mistaken and if you also believe Admin would allow anything - you are again, sadly mistaken. Being judgemental as you are, is not helpful what so ever and does you a disservice since you propably are a decent person, just wind it in a bit and live and let live.
We are all recovering or soon to recover and are only making suggestions that "we" have tried with some evidence of success. No one is making money from sales or promotions just trying to be helpful when someone comes here to ask for ANY assistance. Have a glass of the milk of human kindness, it makes you feel good and does give some folk hope.
I would take it easy and don’t push yourself too much. I remember it was very difficult to walk for quite a number of weeks but it will gradually improve as the sternum breast bone heals. Don’t fret, it will improve you just need to give it time.
I can only say that my hubby was exactly the same as you - anxious to start 'acting normally' and frustrated at the slow rate he was recovering. At 9 days post quadruple bypass, he was getting out of bed on his own and getting dressed without too much help from me.
We looked at things he'd done on a day by day basis and if you do that you'll see you're progressing. He had the quad bypass mid November last year. He's walking 3 or 4 miles a day now, eating much better and has had a 24hour BP monitor fitted to check his BP (Sky high at docs and hospital end through the roof at cardio rehab!!) Apparently 'white coat syndrome'. His BP without any BP medication is 123/72!!
For me, Chappychaps advice and guidance made all the difference. I had no idea how long it might take before hubby could walk without too much pain and didn't realise how much of a battering the lungs took (makes sense now though!).
All the very best. You'll get there before the nicer weather comes and start to enjoy life again xxx
Hi Trevor, I had my bypass in March 2018 and remember that the first 6 - 8 weeks was the worst. As long as your able walk as much as 15 mins first and then build it up. I was up to a mile around 8 weeks. You have to listen to your body and be careful. It can take up to 2 years for everything to heal properly. Have you been offered cardio rehab? This will give you more information and meet with people in a similar way. Now at nearly a year my sternum is still sore, I still hold my chest when I sneeze and sometimes feel I don't have the strength in my arms to reach and other things like taking lids off things. People heal in different ways but don't overdo it and it will pay dividends. Best of luck xxx
You do have to push yourself a bit,a little bit more often , than nothing.I thought the breastbone was the worse bit, i live in Cornwall and found a heart rehab club,where we meet once a week for exercise and chat. If you could find similar you would benefit and help your fitness.
Hi Trevor,i had a quad bypass and aortic valve in 2015.It took a year to heal and now i play bowls twice a week {6 hours) go to a heart gym workout,once a week and work 10 hours a week at 68 yrs.Dont rush it do what you can.Better to make small progress.Try to join a club,Good luck John,
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