Hi ,Looking for advice from others
My husband aged 50 had a heart attack recently . We live abroad so advice is limited .. He went into VF and was defibrillated 10 times and then 2 emergency stents fitted .. Home within 2 days on numerous tablets , follow up in 6 months !! and no cardiac rehab . Any advice gratefully received , when he can start exercising etc ? Thanks in advance ..
Where r u living now
I too had heart attack abroad no cardio or any advice but just carried on living normal but walking eating healthy but after three half yrs went to gp in Uk advised me do echogram where found out had hf which I never expected now had to have mri and have an apt with hf nurse so my best advice is for u to see his local gp who will help giving the correct advice and treatment
None of us are qualified so can only relate our experiences and we are all different. Post stent I was as weak as a kitten. (Do not underestimate the impact of the drug regime and sometimes drugs need to be changed!) I built up my walking as advised on the flat by 3 minutes a day for the first week. As you feel stronger keep on gently lengthening the walk. Cold and heat are the enemy so take care. After 6 weeks a gentle exercise regime can start. If you can go to a gym find a trainer explain the situation and get a warm up regime. It’ll be fine but one must keep moving.
Thank you everyone for your replies ..
We live in Spain and the emergency treatment was amazing but the after care a little lacking ..
We have a Gp appointment next week so hopefully we will receive more advice .
I appreciate it is an uncommon scenario , there is lots of advice online after heart attack and stent insertion but not so much about being defibrillated and whether more time to rest is needed .
The drug regime is also taking its toll as you mention ..
Thanks all X
I live in Spain also and as you say there is no rehap here. I only had one stent put in but I have been walking however I feel worse then before I had the stent put in as I feel very weak a lot of the time.
When I saw a cardiologist before I had the stent not one of them spoke to me or asked me any questions nor did the answer any of mine. They just kept on doing what they were doing and that was that. The nurse gave me the paper and that was that.
I have an appointment with a cardiologist next week. I just hope he or she is a bit more communicative then the others I have seen as I have a few unpleasant symptoms I need sorting out.
I think the best thing is to take thing easy and walk further each day a little more time and distance.
Here in the US there is no cardiac rehab with stents . The only rehab is for bypass surgery. The main thing with stents is to make sure you don,t lift anything heavy for 5 days is what the hospital told me. You don't want to rip the artery open that they went through to put the stent in. You will bleed out if you rip it open. I played it safe for a week, then did normal routine.
With stents you shouldn't lift anything for 5 days. They go in through your artery for the stents, you don't want to rip the artery back open , and bleed out. I waited a week before lifting , then went back to normal activity.
If you can take an interpreter with you it might help you get some answers. Many Spanish doctors can speak English, but not all. Some hospitals insist that you bring someone with you or they will provide one for you, for a fee of course, payable up front.
Having said that the Spanish healthcare system is rated at no 7 in the top ten by the World Health Organisation. The UK is 18th (used to be in the top ten) and USA 37th.
The BHF has a useful publication 'Living with heart failure' . Don't be put off by the title - it is a very useful reference source and you can download it and save it on your computer for future reference. It covers a lot of topics.
I think there was a post 'Hf ' by Yasyass about 4 days ago and there is a link to this document in it.
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