Hi… my (reasonably mild) HA was about six weeks ago. I was told that during my recovery I would have ‘good days and bad days’… a bit of a woolly expression. Anyway, what do other people call ‘a bad day’?
My experience is that sometimes, like yesterday, I can go for a long walk, eat normally, sleep, feel great etc. Other days, like today, I feel rubbish… weak, a bit wobbly, a bit nauseous… generally washed out and not interested in doing anything but sitting on the bed. Is this what others feel? If so… why does it happen? What causes it? Is it all the drugs? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but when I feel like this I’m so lacklustre but don’t understand why… 😢
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Brown_Rabbit
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Don't worry its normal, I have been told its lack of oxygen going to brain , hence tired, week feel sick, just one of the joys of having HA, I put it down 5o cocktail of drugs I'm on, think I'm the doctors guinea pig. :/, anyway just donwhat your body tells you too.
Thanks… that’s kind of scary though… lack of oxygen going to the brain I mean! Right now my oxygen deprived brain is saying… “have a lazy day doing nothing” which is more or less what I’ve been doing, less a short walk earlier. Plus theres a horrid metallic taste in my mouth… it never rains but it pours I guess 😁 I shouldn’t really say this, but I’m sort of glad I’m not the only one who feels like this sometime; I thought I was just being a bit of a misery!
Hi Brown Rabbit. I would like to think that everyone has good and bad days whether they have Heart problems or not, so, I really wouldn't worry about it too much unless they become more and more frequent obviously! 😊😊
Well yes, I guess you’re right, but these ‘bad days’ feel like a total wipeout and that’s not something I’d really experienced before, well not since several years ago, after a few months of chemo…. Then I used to feel utter exhaustion and ‘cantbebothereditis’ too. Maybe it’s ‘just’ the general insult to the body that cancer or a heart attack would cause… in which case it’ll probably take me a while to recover my usual activity level 🙂
Aww that's completely different then. Well I'm so sorry to hear that. I really am. Yes, it probably will in that case then. I hope you soon feel better. Take Care x
Hi Brown_Rabbit Its been 5 years since my mild HA and It took me around 2 years if I am honest. The main thing is diet and fresh air steady walks. I think it is also mental trauma that we have been through in terms of shock. Now I've just purchased a Bowflex max cross trainer and I am working out great. I am actually getting much fitter than I was; completing the 14 minute sessions; in fact I did 3 intense workouts in one day! (These are high intensity programs on the Bowflex). I see no reason now why I cannot be fitter and far better than I was.
The body is great at healing but in order to heal the mind also takes this process. Positive Mental Attitude... Give yourself the time.
Sometimes and it is true; THE MIND IS A BIG PART OF HEALTH. Possible 60- 70 % That is why Drs give placebo's because if you believe in your mind it normally pans out.
I wish everyone all the very best in getting better! Love life in all its forms as nature has a way of healing. It truly does start with the mind. God bless you all. Tommy
Don't worry Brown_Rabbit as you can see your not alone the cocktail of drugs threw me over the edge as well, good days, bad days etc but good to see your exercising. Tend to find you feel fitter body wise but not so stomach wise if that makes sense.
If it'slack of oxygen that means your heart is not pumping adequately. Given that the MI you had was "mild" it does not seem likely. You can buy Oximeters which measure the oxygen level in your blood in the same way as they do typically when you have your blood pressure taken. providing the reading is in the high 90s you are OK.The meds certainly do make you feel lethargic, Bisoprolol in particular in my case. It can be a problem getting the combination of pills right. There does not seem to be any doctor who owns your problem, and they all have their own ideas.
But if you take the meds as prescribed, you would expect the results to be the same.
If you have a good GP it could be worth trying to see him/her to discuss the meds.
Bisoprol is ruining my life, yet I am affraid to stop taking it, since after being fitted with Pacemaker I was tld my life depends ion it. I feel constantly sleepy so I am affraid to drive (or even walk because I am affraid to trip, and hurt myself) I live in small village and feel completely isiolated. It is giving me a headache, but worst of al
it is so debilitating that it is giving me depression, making living like this pointless. I am positive person affter complex and difficult life, I am not
use to feelin like I want to stop living. I lost will to fight back. It is nearly impossible to see GP, and on the phone they are dismissive, and keep tellin me I must take it, or else sort of thing.
The NHS cardiologist assigned to me wants to reduce the bisoprolol from 2.5mg to 1.25 and then stop it. This is because of the side effects.Bisoprolol slows your heart by reducing the amount adrenaline and noradrenaline your body produces. Clearly the slower your heart beats the less blood gets pumped around the body so the heart works less. Unfortunately some of the blood is used to keep the brain working well. Hence the mental issues.
I really sympathise being in the same boat.
You should have a NHS cardiologist why not contact his/her secretary and get a call from him
Thank you very much Richar, for your response to my (quite chaotic) post about Bisoprolol. I was not too bad on 1,5mg when it was first prescribed it, but since it was incresed I feel like a Zombie, unable to function, unable to take care of most basic daily tasks. It is so difficullt to speak to anyone, at the moment, I did call BHF helpline and they were quite concerned when I mentioned all my symptoms and told me to call 111. I am reluctant to do that since I fear they will ask me to go to AE again. I will see how I feel tomorrow.
Presumably a cardiologist. I think that the norm is to start with 1.25mg and increase to 2.5.
I certainly felt zombie like on 2.5ng. The cardiologist did tell me to reduce to 1.25 but I started getting chest pains so increased it. You need to talk to him. I don't think that A&E is the right place.
The low dose 1,25 mg Bisoprolol was prescribed when I was diagnosed with arythmia in 2019. Last October I was admitted as an emergency to hospital, when I suddenly began passing out, and my daughter called 111 who ordered ambulance.
In hospital I was told that my heart rate was dangerously low, and I was fitted with pacemaker. It was all rather chaotic, since my procedure was not planned, and they had trouble fitting me in for the op. On discharge from hospital I was prescribed the larger dose of Bisoprolol and I was given the new prescription for 2,5mg to be taken twice a day, on discharge. I never had a chance to discuss this wuth any doctor.
Since then I stopped taking it twice a day as I was half asleep all day, feeling terrible, then after talking on the phone to GP, I decided to take 2.5mg once a day. Even this seems to affect me on some days very much, but I persevere since I don't want to pass out when I am alone.
I must add that I am often very sensitive to side effects of many other medicines.
I have a telphone appt with a cardiologst on the 3rd of June, but this have not been very helpful in the past, since I am not sure who I am talking to, I have never met "my" cardilogist in person, it is all very superficial.
I am sure I am not alone in feeling, that during Covid we are not getting a proper standart of care. My GP surgery is not very helpful, either, it is almost impossible to get face to face app.
How are you coping with feeling like a Zombie, Richard?
I'm not a doctor, but the whole purpose of Bisoprolol as I understand it is to reduce the load on the heart by slowing the pulse rate. The NHS website cautions about taking it if you have either low heartbeat or low blood pressure. It does not sound surprising if it affects you because with not enough blood being pumped around, you are bound to feel wobbly. It seems that they prescribe bisoprolol as well as a pacemaker to both even out the heartbeat and reduce it. Could it be too low? or is that too obvious?
It's good that you have a phone call with a cardiologist soon.
Sounds obvious, but you need to write down a list of questions for him (like is the dosage right?). They tend to talk technobabble, so make sure you ask again if you do not understand.
Maybe a good idea to get someone else listening in on the call.
If you use a mobile, you can get apps which record the call.
As far as me, I can cope with the zombie aspects of it. My problem is that I can't do much without feeling v. tired. They are doing an angiogram on June 21st to see if there is any more artery blockages.
I am so sorry Richard, that you are feeling tired, this limits seriously what we can do, what we can enjoy, even if we force ourselves to function. Is this caused by your condition, or by your medication.
Thank you for your suggestions, I will certainly make a list of questions before the call.
It was explaned to me before op, that the way pacemaker works is that it can make up for low beats, but with arythmia, when the heart beats too fast, pacemaker cannot slow this down, so for this I need to take medicine, in this case Bisoprolol.
I wonder if you do quite a bit one day (naturally, as you feel well), but then you pay the price the next day, and your body is forced to rest.I’m a great believer in keeping diaries to try and sort out the pattern to such ‘wipe outs’. Your cycle of energetic then exhausted is very familiar to me.
Reducing the intensity of exercise!activity, and pacing myself better, and also making sure I always drink well over 2litres of water a day, has really helped.
Hi… I expect you’re right… when I feel good I do tend to try and squeeze in the things that I can’t do when I’m feeling rubbish hence the good/bad days I guess… I’ll try harder to pave myself and then maybe more days will be good days 🙂 Thanks.
I know that feeling very well..... rushing to get stuff done when you feel good, but you then pay for it with ‘down days’. Pacing sounds easy, but hard to do! Let me know if you find the ‘key’.
I can so Identify with this!!! I didn't even realise I was having good/bad days - but when I was having a 'good day' I just presumed it was me starting to recover and making progress, so was just doing things that I felt I could - but have then crashed into having bad day ......... but it isn't a day....... it's been a continual stream of bad days that has lasted 8 days so far
It’s hard to keep picking yourself up, and starting again and again, and trying to be positive, being optimistic about it.
I’m longer since my heart attacks than you are, and have benefitted a lot by building up the cardiac exercising for quite a while. Like you, it has been very stop-go.
What encouraged me was Consuktant say8ng he could see I’d been exercising, and (from an MRI) that my heart was more efficient than my last MRI.
It took me 3-4 months for my body to settle into a regular rhythm following my HA.
The drug cocktail I’m on caused a lot of the early problems for me, but then my body adjusted to them and it started to improve.
So I created my own rhythm . An hour of BHF cardio rehab exercise (level 5) one day, Pilates and an hours dog walk the next, .... and then alternate.
Having said that I still have some “off days”, largely caused by the mental fallout from my HA, but there are definitely more “good” than “off” days now.
Everyone who has had a HA has been through a major life changing event, that means we will probably never get back to 100% the way we were before our HA.
But with positive adjustments, proactive management and improvements to our mental attitude, then most of us can get back to something like the “old normal”.
I'm the same and it's 2 years on. Most days I can manage to go to work and then 730 I'm in bed. Some days I'm dreadful and can't do anything, fatigue, pain etc. Other days I can be bouncey like a bunny.. Those days are few though, but lovely when they occur.
Hi, I completely understand where you’re coming from. I had open heart surgery on 6th May. I know I’m still only a few weeks in to recovery but I had exactly one of those days yesterday, following a fairly active day previously. Yesterday I felt tired, fed up and couldn’t be bothered to do anything, I really wanted to try and get out for a walk but just couldn’t face it. In the end, I just listened to my body and led on the sofa watching terrible TV 😜 I know it’s normal to have these days but very frustrating all the same! X
To have good days and bad days is entirely natural. Don't forget there are both physical and emotional factors at play in our lives. No-one lives in isolation. We are all subject to stresses and strains from within and without. The most important thing in recovery is to remain positive and then hopefully there should be an increasing trend for more good days and fewer bad days. 😀
I also have bad days following OHS 11 months ago and a diagnosis of heart failure. Very similar experience to yours, feeling absolutely wiped out, just want to stay in bed, even walking to the bathroom has my heart pounding.On good days I can walk for @40 minutes, work at my desk for a couple of hours, do a little bit of housework although I am still very tired in the evenings.
I think the body is able to produce enough energy for our ‘busy’ days, but there is a cost which has to be paid through rest.
In chronic illness communities they talk about spoons. We start the day with a set amount of energy , everything we do uses a spoonful and if we use all of our energy then we have no more spoons left. 🤷♀️
I like to start off " If I wake it up it's the start of a Good Day " the alternative is something I don't consider !!
I am a pretty firm believer in the rest of the day is up to you. Don't look for things that you can say I have had a Bad Day look for things that you can say That was a Good day.
I am sure an awful lot of Good and Bad is in the Mind and not in the Heart which after all is just a Pump. I am almost 40 years on from a HA and 6 years on since Open Heart Surgery. So I do understand a little of what I am talking about !!! Some days I can't be bothered very much and I put this down to Age rather than Heart !!!
I also feel wiped out if I have done too much the previous day. In fact it’s scary and I have been sent to a&e either as a result of phoning the go or 111. Each time after tests they sent me home
I get days when I feel tired fed up and can't be bothered. Its been hard but I take them as my body's way of saying 'OK you need a you day'. I guess its normal after what your body has been thru. On those days I have learnt to be kind to myself. I potter in the garden, read a few chapters of my book. I am trying simple meditation videos on you tube. If I have a spurt of energy I do a short walk around the block. Still learning not to feel guilty!
I get you on the self imposed guilt! I keep thinking I should do more as I usually do… then get a bit down when my body says “no”… I just hope it’ll improve with time, like people here have said 🙂
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