Fit as a fiddle til 51 when the bad genes from Mum and Dad kicked in. They both smoked and Dad had TB & Rheumatic fever as a lad, so he was suddenly carried away by a heart attack aged 51 and she ended up with a teflon aorta ten years later. I was surprised as I was a cyclist and kept very fit, stopped smoking 20 years before and then I got angina at the same age that my Dad had died. A quick stent and a few statins and I got through the next 18 years to age 70 when the blood pressure went through the roof and now I am just getting it under control with the help of Kings College Hospital Cardiology, on Amlodipine 25mg and Losartin 25 mg. seems to be working, but a lot of kind of mental side effects, somnolence and fatigue and weird aches and pains around the body. Trying to press on cheerfully and keep active.
play harmonica with a good heart - British Heart Fou...
play harmonica with a good heart
Hello padraig2nd
Welcome to the forum, we are a merry band of Hearties, with lots of different heart issues but all trying to cope with the health problems we have. Being diagnosed with a heart problem is a scary place to look into, and can play mind games with us. I had Aortic valve replaced and bypass done 4 years ago, and it took a while to get my head round the fact someone had held my heart in their hands. But now I look on it as a gift. We end up on quite a few pills and these can take a while to settle down and give us all sorts of side affects. From what you say you are doing everything to help yourself so that’s great.
Remember you are now a member of the Hearties family and if you ever need to talk someone will be along to listen and if it’s a question someone will try to help.
Take good care Pauline
That’s very thoughtful, thanks Pauline
Goodhealth for the future
What a really nice welcoming post 🙂
I am fairly similar to you but a bit younger. My Dad died at 55 when I was 16 and I have found it very sobering to have gone through exactly the same thing as he did, but what keeps me going is the almost miraculous way I have been treated compared to the misery he endured before finally having the HA that did for him. I never smoked and kept myself fit but as you say the genes seem to catch up in the end. I have also had a load of troubles with my eyes this year which has been as much of a shock, so it's been a bit of a shit year all round to be honest, but at least I am still here and enjoying life, never bored specially with picking up the 6 string late in life. I am not religious in any way but in the very remote circumstances that my lovely old Dad happened to be looking down I would hate him to see me wasting the second chance I have that these two little bits of platinum that were stuck in me! Keep the blues alive!
nice to hear from you. that is a great point about the infinitely better deal we are getting from health services, than our parents or grandparents did. My life has been dramatically extended by health science, so when I woke up this morning on day two of the new antihypertensive [Losartin] and found the side effects had gone, I felt like a new man.
I sympathise on the bad genes because I have that problem. I have literally had everything my mum had all my life but all a few years later than her; a breakdown, a very dangerous pregnancy - almost full organ failure, arthritis, fibromyalgia and now heart. Dad's family also had heart problems; 13 of my paternal grandfather's brothers and sisters died before 50 of heart failure. Grandad was the only one to get past 50. I remember him being terrified before that birthday. Dad just had angina and prostate cancer. Both parents smoked as did I. No GP has ever asked about family history until a young, newly qualified doc through 111 who jumped on it immediately and got me an emergency appointment which my GP promptly decided wasn't necessary. Had the heart attack before I even got the appointment date.
Makes you wonder doesn't it? I had a "well man" check at 55 and my cholesterol was then 4.9, and the nurse practitioner who did it was aware of my family history. Her words were that they like it to be under 5 so that score is fine. No mention of the fact that where a history is present it should be under 4, or any other advice whatsoever, just a "clean bill of health" huh!
Hi LG, Unlucky, but I have been on statins for 15 years and no GP nurse or cardiologist ever said that lipids under 5 were nothing but a good thing. Both father & mother had bad cardiac histories too. Less than 4 has never been mentioned as a target
As far as I can remember from my continued research and interest, those of us with a family history of heart disease should ideally aim for a score of below 4. I could be wrong but I am sure that is the advice, it's certainly something I would not be happy about should it creep over 4 now.
padraig, good work, good to see someone aware and taking care of themselves, but yes, there's always those darn gene things which will out. Talking of genetics, if your Mum had as you say a Teflon aorta it's worth discussing with your doctors the need for aortic monitoring, especially as you are having trouble with high blood pressure. At 70, you should already have had an AAA echo scan (if not, ask) but if your mother's aortic problems were thoracic then you should be screened for your aortic valve and ascending aorta, too. Aortopathies do run in families.
Hi CliffMum’s problem was claudication due to her Abdominal Aorta & Iliacs being gunged up. The op gave her a new life. Thx for the tip
Hi and welcome to the hearties, faulty gene here as well, my dad passed away in a car park age 62 the same age I am now, he never smoked or drank and was not overweight, the rogue gene gave me arythmogenic cardiomyopathy which resulted in after a few years of waiting a transplant in July of this year, new heart is doing well, again I am not religious but I think my wee daddy was watching over making sure I got one before my 62nd birthday, my two grown up sons and brother are now getting tested I hope so much they have not inherited it as well, the side effects of the drugs have been pretty bad and blood pressure went from so low to very high, now started on amlipodine, lowest dose it has mad a difference, as you say medicine has came on so much in recent years, I can't thank the NHS enough they have been amazing, even though the pandemic, and this forum is a great help as well, it's lovely just to be able to rant, ask questions or just receive lovely encouraging replies, take care char
Thx to thanksnhs a million times
I will echo that. They have not only fixed my heart problems but also fixed both eyes and hopefully prevented very serious future problems with them. Makes you wonder what sort of state a lot of us would be in in later life without the NHS, if we indeed got there at all!
yes indeed, Happy New Year
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