Hi. After 2 heart attacks and seven stents things were going well but over the last few weeks I am experiencing severe tiredness and get breathless after doing the smallest activity. I was told 1 year ago that I have left ventricular systolic dysfunction with ejection fraction of 38. I recently had a perfusion test my cardiac nurse emailed me to tell me that it was good news the perfusion was normal. My GP is arranging a sleep clinic session to see if my sleeping is causing a problem as my partner has said I stop breathing during my sleep. Was just wondering if anyone else is suffering from fatigue and weakness.
Thanks
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Nomoney2018
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That's exactly what I'm feeling. Everyday I wake up and I'm still really tired. I feel breathless a lot of the day. Currently off work as a nursery nurse as was struggling to do the job. Am waiting for appointment with cardiac nurse and for the sleep study. I just want to feel normal and feel refreshed after a nights sleep instead of feeling so tired.
I was speaking to somebody the other day as we were waiting for someone to turn up. He had recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea after going to the doctor with similar symptoms. The clinic found he stopped breathing up to 100 times per hour. The body then kick starts the breathing but this outs a strain on the heart and his is slightly enlarged. Since being given a special pump with a mask he has been waking refreshed instead of feeling like a duvet day.
He is also trying to lose weight as on the border of obese as this apparently can ease the symptoms.
My partner says I stop breathing and snore loudly. I'm not over weight and I don't smoke or drink.
Hopefully the sleep clinic will help would love to wake up feeling refreshed. I have 2 cousins who have sleep apnea and both have to use a mask. They say the mask is amazing.
When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and got my machine it was amazing, I closed my eyes, and then opened them and it was morning... Complete blackout unconscious for about the first 4 nights I think. After that sleep became more normal but I was a lot less fatigued.
I don't ever remember being especially breathless on mild exercise, OK some, I was overweight, at that time I was 130Kg. I often used to have to sleep in my car over lunch if I had had to travel that day, and I was generally very fatigued. Since I have lost 30Kg I rarely use the mask now.
I would point out something else, the back end of last year I was again suffering huge fatigue and at that point breathlessness on walking up hills (flat was OK). The breathlessness was like exercising while having the flu, heart racing, sweating profusely, but not getting enough air. It was only made worse in Dec when Beta blockers were added into the mix, then my heart rate remained low and I just became dizzy and faint on exercise. The real cause of that problem was B12 deficiency.
So, worth getting checked for B12, especially if you have any other weird symptoms like pins and needles, fuzzy thinking, or bad memory. It is a test that very often gets forgotten if something else seems to be the cause...
Thank you I will talk to GP about b12. I am on beta blockers. Just feel do tired even after a nights sleep and find myself zoning out staring in to space.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can have many causes. These can be medical conditions like pernicious anaemia or Crohn's disease, or dietary. It can take some years for the deficiency to develop if you make a massive diet change (e.g. become vegan). Meat, fish and dairy are good sources. Vegetarian primates get B12 by eating unwashed fruits and roots. But in no way would I recommend pulling a carrot out of the ground and eating it unwashed!
How's you? like you and Nomoneý I feel like crap in the morning. It never used to be this bad but over last month I'm waking up feeling as if I have serious jet lag or I've been beaten up! What with constant very painful pain in Upper middle back due to the angina..well I've just had enough mate! I still sitting alone at times and think why? why have I ended up with this dreadful kind of Angina when I never drank smoked and wasn't overweight and very physical job..I'm even worried about my job now as people are starting to notice I'm not right! especially when I'm in constant pain.
Don't know about you but I'm sick of it now and still waiting to hear a date for my referral to a London hospital.
But one..one positive note!I went and got my tattoo done today and it gave me a real buzz that I desperately needed.Ive got a few lol but until I came off the blood thinners I couldn't do sod all.
I'm still on Asprin and was warned by some that I will still bleed
I wouldn't be without my nitrate or GTN spray. Just want sleep and to stop waking up feeling more tired than before I went to bed.
Good luck everyone
I often do wonder if you have a "dodgy heart" as many of us do, it leads to apnea instead of the other way around i.e. apea leads to cardiac issues, in a long run, which is a conventional line of thinking in medicine. Body is a sensitive "machine", if something goes wrong in one system, something else in other systems goes wrong as these systems are all interconnected and work in tandem.
I know a guy, who told me once "oh, I got apnea and got CPAP machine", I said, "oh, really", followed by the same guy saying, "oh, they found I got COPD" then the next, "oh, apparently, I had CVD with advanced, leaky valves" then next, he got an oxygen mask! It seems these conditions could be connected in more ways than one.
He is really struggling to breathe right now and is always cold, wearing a thick coat even in a warmer weather. . . I also have a longstanding apnea, but I often wondered if it's all related. Fatigue is so common amongst people with vascular/circulatory problems as I do. It's a miserable disease as far as I can tell.
All of your comments and suggestions and then there is Diabetes which apparently also goes hand in hand. I have been doing shifts for most of my life and wonder if that has anything to do with it. Spoke to the doctor pre HA and triple bypass and he said tiredness and poor sleep patterns was par for the course with Diabetes. After losing nearly 7 stone I now take no meds at all for Diabetes and control it with diet only and exercise. Now I go to doc about poor sleep and continued tiredness and he tells me it is par for the course after heart bypass surgery - so either way, I guess I have to live with it. Was prescribed sleeping pills but did not help so came off them some time ago. Keep us informed about your sleep patterns and advice for I am sure many of us will be interested.
A low carb lifestyle will help with diabetes, talk to your doctor about it, they should have a diet, or rather a lifestyle change, that was actually on TV not long ago. A man who had been taking medication for diabetes for 17 years, now doesn't take any and his blood sugar is way down.
I don't know whether getting used to the tiredness and pain is a good or bad thing. I find if I accept it, at least I can concentrate on other stuff. I sleep a solid 6 hours (unless my wife doesn't have her apnea mask on) and when I wake, the pain in my joints and extremities is worse than the rest of the day (banging head too) but it returns to the 'normal' level within 20 mins of being upright. The tiredness is like a fog and my my breathlessness can come on sat down but, 'you can't have angina'. I have come off the statins for two weeks to see if that is the cause of some of the stuff and lowering the doses of others. Will let you know if it's of any use.
Hi, I take ticagrelor and aspirin. Have been on ticagrelor since the HA in September 2017 and of course the aspirin and all the other meds they give you.
It was ticagrelor that made me very breathless, I couldn't even finish a sentence without a big breath. Since changing to clopidogrel I have been fine and do exercise with lightish weighs and lots of walking, even up hills, which I got tired just looking at before.
I will talk to cardiac nurse about that. The cardiologist has said I should take ticagrelor for at least 3 years and may be even longer because of the large area of stents. If it is ticagrelor that's causing it I'll ask to change. Thank you.
I had that problem with ticagrelor; felt like asthma so was changed to clopidogrel. Been back and forth to GP for months now with severe breathlessness; gasping with mouth wide open whenever I do anything. He thought it didn't fit the pattern for angina( Plus no pain at all) so wrote to cardio who wanted me on some really strong angina tablets with possible horrific side effects. In the meantime, purely by chance, my clopidogrel was stopped on April 1st. 2 1/2 weeks later all the breathlessness completely went. Haven't been breathless since and actually feel normal for the first time since my HA. Breathlessness is not listed as a side effect of clopidogrel but it's too much of a coincidence. It apparently takes 2 to 3 weeks to clear your system. I'm not taking the angina tablets until I've spoken again to my GP next week.
I was suffering the same breathlessness and fatigue, very frequently after my heart attack, one year ago. I had a seven day holster fitted recently and guess what, I had only one episode recorded. The cardiologist report thought the result was insignificant , so the result he thought was good.
It does not feel like it when your chest feels like, it wants to explode and feels like you have run a marathon.
I have looked at the American website of heart studies, it’s manic with post heart attack symptoms.
I believe there are more studies needed around heart attacks, paying particular attention to the after events.
If the symptoms we feel is part of the healing process at least if we know ,we can expect it.
It’s when they say your heart is a good as new or it’s fixed and these horrible symptoms come, the pain stabbing in the back sensation etc, it makes you feel that you are not getting better and it’s happening again.
It’s important to reduced your workload as cardiac rehabilitation suggests, if possible.
A dear friend of my family didn’t and thinking he was okay, only two days post his heart attack, he was found in his bed, by his father.
Everyone heals at different rates. Even though we have had the same illness, it’s not a one size fits all. My old GP always said listen to what your body says, only you know. It’s true. It should not be someone telling you, it’s all sorted off you go....it takes time.
Still get on with life, for me it heightens my priorities, we get one shot at life and I am off to enjoy it. This heart attack will not rule or define me.
My bucket list, is made daily, it’s what ever I want it to be 🤗
Way to go... your so right we only have one life so enjoy everyday to the best of your ability. After 2 HAs and a pulmonary embolism my GP told me I'm lucky to still be here. Many people don't survive one HA let alone 2. They give so many meds to control the disease a tablet to give me more energy would be amazing. Not going to let this disease rule my life I control it,it doesn't control me.
Have you had your vitamin b12 folate and D3 and ferritin checked? If they are low it caused problems. If you take metformin for diabetes or a PPI to protect your stomach from Asprin etc you should be checked. More info on Pernicious Anaemia Society forum.
Youngest son has epilepsy and about 2 years ago developed sleep apnoea, now uses a mask and is generally a different person! There’s more to all of these ‘illnesses’ than meets the eye!
Hubby had quadruple bypass and then a stroke last year, he is slowly improving but still gets very tired. He’s been better since his metformin was stopped and his b12 deficiency addressed.
Hi. Your family has been through alot. I take D3 medication daily as I had severe vit D deficiency and omeprazole daily because of all the other meds. Hopefully get it sorted soon. Seeing cardiac nurse soon and I have a sleep clinic appointment to go to.
We are all different and what resolved my issues with my feelings of "stopping breathing" at night which jolted me awake sounds a bit too simplistic...but, after a year I have switched my Bisoprolol from morning to just before bed and the difference is massive for me and I have not had a gasping event (that I am aware of) since.
I will try that I normally take my bisoprolol in the morning. Thanks for the advice I hadn't even thought that this could be causing the problem. Thank you.
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Breathless and struggling. 
Fatigue 
Pre Angiogram Symptoms
Breathless and not being taken seriously (IMHO) 
