Scad scared

[Scad17]

Hi all. New to this forum and feeling pretty bluergh. Had a Scad heart attack aged 47 in April 17, feel like I'm grieving the loss of my health and fitness. Weight gain, lack of motivation and fear of reoccurance. Life sucks sometimes.

[Milkfairy Heart Star]

Hi Scad17

Many of us when confronted with our heart condition share your sense of bewilderment. The loss of our former lives and the future we thought we were going to have.

Do you know about support group Beat SCAD?

beatscad.org.uk/

[Scad17 in reply to Milkfairy]

Hi. Yes I am signed up to Beat Scad and have found it helpful.

[JoanyB in reply to Scad17]

Just had a thought Scad17. If you don't want to join the Facebook support group then you can be put in touch with other 'Scadsters' in your area by email. I think there must be a way to do this on the BeatSCAD site - one of the charity Trustees puts a message on the Facebook page asking if anyone is willing to do this (no names - just the general area of the UK are mentioned). Every so often areas will have meet-ups of around half a dozen (more or less) where we exchange our 'stories' and offer support to each other. In fact there is one in York in a couple of weeks time and a 'non-facebook' lady is attending that I have been exchanging emails with and who found a previous meeting a great help.

[Killoch]

SCAD, I've got 5 stents, after having 3 heart attacks and my first was at 47 too. I am approaching my 5th anniversary of my 1st heart attack and there's not much that I cannot do. I have difficulty with pain in my legs when walking uphill or if it is too hot or too cold but I have done everything that I used to do before my MRI's and plan to do more.

Being so young when we had our attacks, especially (for some reasons Males) tend to react so differently and there's an almost temptation to put your life on hold and not evoke another attack but the reality is we could get run over by a bus!

You'll probably not believe it when people try to reassure you but you're probably healthier now than you've ever been and with the right diet, exercise and tenacity, there's no reason to fear that which you cannot control. I do fully get your feeling of grieving and I'd be lying if i said it won't last long, took me 4 years to accept that invincible me could have died. Well I will die one day, but not today and hopefully not for a while yet!

Just take it one day at a time and don't be hard on yourself. As to your weight gain, I fully get that and it happened to me and the lack of motivation was tragic for me but then I discovered that I cannot tolerate beta-blockers and they changed my medication and within months, I was euphoric again. It's early days for you but give it time.

[kizza67]

I'm 51 and had a scad last July I had an appointment with a specialist in Leicester last week and she's taken me off some of my medication and said they don't scan scad patients as a matter of course anymore as in the past more often than not they were healed this didn't really help me feel better as I would have liked to know for sure. I would love to be the old me even though I do all I used to do I spend so much time scared it will happen again. What medication do you take and have you had any follow up appointments

[JoanyB]

Hello from a fellow ‘SCADster’! So sorry you are feeling out of sorts at the moment. SCAD is a pesky type of heart attack with there being no known cause (yet) and no definite protocol for treatment, and therefore no sure way of preventing a recurrence. Just remember that the rate of recurrence is around 10%, so there is a 90% chance that yours was a one-off! You say you have lost your health. Does this mean you have ongoing problems? Because, if you don’t, it is possible to regain your health.

I am assuming you are female (as only a small number are male) and you are in the right in the age range of a typical SCAD patient (and probably peri-menopausal or in the menopause).

May I ask if you had any stents and what meds you are on at the moment? Also did you do Cardio Rebab back on 2017 as it is great for getting confidence back in your body and also help with the mental side of things.

I also need to lose about 20lbs and am struggling. I go to Phase 4 rehab follow-on exercise classes but some days I admit I really have to force myself!

I don’t know how much information you have managed to find out about SCAD. Milkfairy has mentioned BeatSCAD, which is the charity helping to support SCAD research and get ‘the SCAD message’ out there. There is also a website for the Leicester research unit where you can find information and, through your GP or cardiologist, get a referral to a SCAD expert. This may depend on the follow up and support you are receiving from the hospital. You can also register to help with the research which takes the form of questionnaires at the moment. There is also a closed Facebook group full of others like yourself where you can get support and answers to your questions. The only thing to be aware of is that by its nature the main people who post are newbies and those that have problems so it can be a little skewed - there are nearly 500 in the Group and I would say that most of them don’t post!

Apologies for the rambling post! Hope it helps a bit. Let me know if you have any questions.

(And this is where I have to admit to having had 2 SCADs! First 3 years ago when I was only told the mechanics of what had happened to my heart, the second 20 months after that and, as is usual, it was much milder. And that’s when I was told the proper name of what had happened so in a way I’m glad I had the second!). I am fine though and probably much fitter than I was before

Best of luck!

These are the links to the websites:

scad.lcbru.le.ac.uk/

Patients & Family: Interesting Links: scad.lcbru.le.ac.uk/content...

SCAD Survivors Support Group

NHS Referrals: scad.lcbru.le.ac.uk/node/53

Get Involved: Register: scad.lcbru.le.ac.uk/content...

BEAT SCAD UK SITE

beatscad.org.uk/http://beat...

[Milkfairy Heart Star in reply to JoanyB]

Superb response as ever JoanyB.