Hi all I just need to moan really so sorry 😔 . It’s taken me a while to start feeling more like myself since a&e, admission and then stent.
The last few days I was starting to feel a bit better, less weird pains maybe just a couple of pinching pains a day, a bit more energy than last week etc, so I started to get on with more normal activities as I’ve been guilty of bubble wrapping myself a bit because of anxiety.
so I set myself tasks, chores, more heavy duty cleaning and just generally more activity, went and did the weeks shop in Morrison’s, started small walks started with 10 minutes every day and felt quite proud of myself and haven’t needed my spray was going to up to 15 mins tomorrow.
I don’t know if this all sounds pathetic now, I had a phone call from cardiac rehab today and she said to me that they would expect me to be doing better than ‘that’ by now 😔 she is sending me an exercise video to follow and wants me ready for the gym in a few more weeks! I get puffed out still climbing the stairs or doing the hoovering😢 I’m not trying to avoid exercise, I just have naff all stamina and need to build it back up and feel like even with my efforts this week it’s not good enough, even though I have only been ready to start normal activities this week. So between that and last weeks session where he heart physio told me I might need the other one stented I’m feeling a bit down. I was proud of myself today and now feel like I’m pathetic 😕 sorry for the moan x
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Forestdweller
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The NHS are in a difficult situation. On the one hand they don't want to discourage anyone and they recognise that for many patients, just staying minimally mobile with a bit of cleaning, shopping or gardening is the most that's likely to happen.
But the hard fact remains that if we truly want to put the brakes on the relentless advance of our heart disease, then it will generally require a pretty fundamental shake up of our life styles, and that includes a MINIMUM of 150 minutes of moderately energetic exercise per week.
Now what constitutes "moderately energetic" will vary from person to person, but it's far more than a spot of dog walking for example and is certainly going to make you breath too hard to be able to sing a song. What's more those 150 minutes don't include warm up and cool down periods. So in total it's a substantial commitment that many people are going to struggle with. You don't have to get to this level immediately, but you should be tracking towards this.
However, it's delivering on tough commitments like these that can really make the difference in terms of both more years and also more healthy years. In other words, you won't find any bigger incentive to dig deep and get the job done.
Whilst I agree with your reply to forest dweller I am now feeling even more hopeless about the future because having mobility issues due to MS I am never going to be able to exercise anywhere near enough to improve my chances.
Exercise is a key factor amongst life style changes, but it’s not the only one. Having done all you can with exercise there’s still other equally critical initiatives such as quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy BMI, eating a healthy diet, drinking to moderation, and managing stress.
Not saying it is but have you had your medication reviewed lately. I take a concoction of pills and only last week asked could I either stop some or reduce them. The compromise we came up with was to reduce the Bisoprolol from 6.25mg down to 5mg. Doing it a bit at a time with a pill cutter and have already noticed the difference as I have more energy & not as lethargic as I have been.
You didn't mention how much exercise you did before your Stent? Don't take this the wrong way but if you were not used to regular exercise of the type that has been mentioned, you are obviously going to struggle a bit? Don't think you are pathetic, just build on what you can do - walking is the best way to start you can just build it up as you go along and increase both the duration and the speed. Before you know it you will be up to a brisk pace and it will make you feel much better after a while. It is a real bummer that you cannot attend Rehab but it is what it is unfortunately, at the end of the day you are always left on your own to a certain degree, once Rehab is over. Good luck, just keep getting out and enjoying the fresh air!
Try to stop worrying, because that will harm your health.
Exercise is important, and if you are used to a fairly sedentary lifestyle, 150 minutes per week of cardio sound daunting. Instead, try and do a little something everyday. Don't stay still for more than a few hours, get up during every TV ad break and walk around a bit.
Now, while exercise is important, it isn't as important as what you eat. This will have a far bigger impact on the rest of your life than how much exercise you do. I won't tell you what to eat, but try Googling Dr Wheat Belly, Ivor Cummins and Dr Eric Berg. See what they have to say and make your own choices. It is working for me.
It must have been quite the slap in the face to have the 'expert' disdaining your progress. That 'expert' needs a review of bedside manner - there are much better ways to encourage a Heartie than to be so disrespectful of efforts made so far.
Too, you've been told you may need more stents so the 'expert' should have taken that into consideration, that the need for more stents might be responsible for your current fitness rather than 'lack of progress'.
I think the best response here so far has been from ThatWasUnexpected
That is what it felt like to be honest, a bit disheartening, I did moderate exercise before all this happened along with an intimidate yoga class ( which I had to stop because i was not feeling ‘right’ ) I thought nothing of big gardening projects like cutting massive hedges and working all day like that.. gradually my fitness seemed to decline and so stopped doing so much , then I needed the stent and it all made sense, why I was so worn out all the time. My fitness deceased very gradually over a few years because I was told I had CFS and needed to pace myself.. so I’m almost starting from scratch at this point.
Don't let the physio push you into what you are not ready for. Listen to your body and build up gradually. You probably do need to do more but do it at your own speed with heir advice not their bulllying. They are doing that for the right reasons but for some people that approach just doesn't work. I'm disabled; walking is impossible so I do what I can.
First of all, you're not pathetic!!I just remember my husband after his quad bypass.He started cardio rehab but because of 'white coat syndrome', his BP shot through the roof when he attended the gym. Consequently, he wasn't allowed back in there even when our GP wrote a letter (bit like school!!), saying his 48 hour monitor showed his BP was perfect!!
Long story short, he did miles on the exercise bike at home (after our GP dropped Bisoprolol to 1.25mg, we started walking briskly round a local park with hills. Very difficult at first as he hills were making him really breathless but that all improved day by day. I made sure I went with him and carried GTN spray (without his knowledge)!.
He too thought he was a failure but 2 years on, he's not looking back!
I agree with Sunnie2day, a bit of encouragement wouldn't have gone amiss!!
Good luck and hope you feel much better soon. xxxx
Hi Forestdweller, I have read the replies you've received .
Some are not correct, you must not push yourself beyond your capabilities.
A lot depends on your previous fitness and how badly damaged your heart is.
Some people may have been fit prior to their heart attack and had a mild one.
Others like me were quite fit but have had a massive heart attack (stemi) and are lucky to be here .
After my heart attack in May I had 5 stents in the LAD and have extensive damage with an ejection fraction of 20% to 30 %. I tried to hard with getting back to some kind of fitness and ended up back in hospital with fluid on my lungs.
I came out of hospital about 6 weeks ago with what was described as a week heart and prescribed 120mg of Furosemide a day plus all the other drugs.
I was told to rest, rest and more rest.
Climbing the stairs was considered to be my exercise.
In the past 2 weeks I have started to walk again outside, started off very slowly and can now do about 20 minutes.
So don't feel bad about yourself, if you feel you are doing as much as you can, then build up very slowly.
As the last reply said, if your being bullied, then tell them to read your replies from people who have been there
Thank you, my heart is not damaged and LV function is good, but I have a moderate blockage in my LAD that they think may be causing the problems , i was told I would feel better after they stented the rca as that was severe, but I don’t really feel any difference. they felt the LAD could be left as it was. But now they are saying it might be why I’m still not feeling that great.
I definitely feel that maybe if I had supervised rehab I might be doing better. It’s worrying trying to do this on my own while clutching the gtn spray!
Hi I am 9 weeks post transplant, yesterday was the first time that anyone from rehab has spoken to me via video call and like yourself I was told I should be doing a lot more, I am in Scotland, I was scared to do too much without supervision because of my sternum wound, but she said that I should be hoovering, changing bed, and ironing by now, I live alone and my son was helping out with those things, I have been walking as much as I can weather permitting 🙄, but had no idea how to progress as I had a congenital heart disease I have never been very fit I am now 62, the physio had gave me a link to the Bhf re hab stuff and told me to start at level 3, I will check it out later, the hospital won't let me drive yet because of my sternum so I am still quite scared in case I do too much char
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