Evening folks, I had a three or four days of feeling pretty rough about two weeks ago, after four days I called 111 who sent me an ambulance, i was taken to hospital where after tests they told me I'd suffered a mild heart attack.....I guess I knew I had, I was diagnosed with angina 8 years ago. My angina has been brilliant, when diagnosed I lost three stones and started exercising regularly, I take my angina meds religiously as prescribed and I cant remember when I last had an attack.
I spent 6 days in Scarborough hospital and on Monday I was transferred to Castle Hill for an angiogram and if required stents fitting.
On Tuesday I had two stents fitted to my LAD, one was 75-94% blocked and the other was minor.
I was discharged on Wednesday tea time.
I'm now frightened.
Ive got a slight chest ache, which I had this morning,I told the team in Castle Hill and they did a ECG and Heart Scan and asured me that everything was OK.
I went to bed at 10.00pm and I just cant lay still in bed, waves of anxiety keep flooding over me, I just cant lay in bed, I have to get up.
In the hospital I felt safe with the absolutely superb nurses on hand.....now I feel isolated, lonely and frightened, despite having my wife with me who is brilliant and understanding.
I guess I feel a bit better for jotting this down, my question is followng a heart attack have you felt like this and if so when did things swing back to normal.
It’s so unnerving, isn’t it? Like facing your own mortality. I’m sure your anxiety will settle down as daily life takes over.
I am convinced our hypersensitivity to our body’s every little twinge after a HA is the way we learn what is serious and what isn’t. What to react to, and what not to.
It’s a long time since my heart attacks, and my new life is good. It will be for you, too.
Morning! Sorry you’re going through this. I’m around eight weeks on from a STEMI, which was totally out of the blue. The anxiety you’re experiencing sounds totally normal to me. I can’t promise it’ll vanish, but it will get better. I found nighttime particularly difficult when I first came out of hospital. I’d get panicked that I couldn’t breathe or something would happen while I was asleep. That’s eased now. I found writing stuff down helps. Also gradually doing a bit more to build confidence up. Look how far you’ve come rather than how far you have to go.
Hi John,You've had such a shock!!! It will.just take some time for you to unjust physically and emotionally to this. Just try to be kind to yourself ,allow yourself plenty time to rest, and eventually things will begin to settle down and you will start to feel " the old you' coming back. It just takes time. I had my HA 11 weeks ago and I'm just beginning to allow myself to relax now!! Good luck
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Thanks, great to know that I'm not alone
Hi John , as everyone else has said , it does take time , I had my heart attack 9 weeks ago or ten weeks ago now , I didn’t sleep for five days afterwards not even in hospital I was absolutely terrified it was going tk happen as soon as a closed my eyes , I recall being so exhausted sick and stressed that at four am I was clearing out my knicker drawer much today my husband distress . I get how you’re feeling I still get pains and twinges I still feel ‘why me’ . It will get better but when? For me it’s been two steps forward and two steps back and I don’t feel I’m going forward fast enough . So I also know that hearing the words it will get better mean nothing to you right this minute. I get it , it’s shit , it’s utter shit , the changes your gona make will also be kinda shit , but you can make it less shit with trying to look at the positive . You are here , your wife loves you , take it all one day at a time , cuddle her more , cherish every second , and right now best thing for you is to just talk about everything. Much love .
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You just brought a tear to me eye, thanks for taking the time to reply, I'm lucky to have such a brilliant partner.
The way I look at it is, after my stents were fitted I'm at far less risk of a HA than I was (I actually had a sudden CA during the procedure). You're here and you're more likely to stay here than you were.Look after yourself mate
Thanks, your right, Ive had my MOT and service.......I need to focus on the positive
Thats brilliant thank you.
I went back to bed at 2.30am, I had to leave the bedside light on....going back to my childhood!! I fell asleep and didnt wake until 9.30 am.......feeling a bit more chilled this am, thanks everyone for your words, it has helped.
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This is great ! I also was awake at 2.30am and woke at 9 , not that long ago I would have panicked cus omg I have to work all day I’ll not cope without sleep !! Argh ,, now it’s ok right?!? 😂😂 small blessings
Just had a call from my local Cardiac Support Team, we had a good chat, I've got an appointment for Natalie, my support nurse to call me back next Wednesday, that call will last 45 minutes, Ive got to take it easy until then, apparently we will discuss my medication, I'll have to take my blood pressure during the conversation, my phsical rehabilitation and emotional state......got to say thats pleased me. One thing for sure its good to talk and not bottle it up.
It's very normal to feel anxious and the pains are most probably anxiety. I went through months of anxiety after my HA in Oct 19. Readmitted to hospital 3 times thinking I was having another. Turned out to be anxiety pains. It does get easier, I was the same , felt safe in hospital but at home at night as soon as I turned the lights off I panicked. I ended up sleeping with a low light on which helped. I had an ICD fitted in May 2020 and 99%of my anxiety disappeared within days. I also got counselling with IAPT through the cardio rehab team which helped. Might be worth speaking to your cardio rehab nurse.
Thanks Hoocher, it's getting better, didn't get out of bed last night and I beat the gremlins with my logical thoughts.
Hi John,It's so interesting reading your posts as it is a very similar story to my husband. He was under investigation for angina after thinking that his cough, tiredness and breathlessness were a lung condition. It all escalated very quickly and a week after being given the GTN spray he had a heart attack. This gave him AF and an angiogram revealed a blockage which was cleared and a stent fitted
This was only four weeks ago in York hospital. He was sent home with a booklet and wasn't even told he'd had a heart attack, it was only after speaking to the cardiac nurse that he found out. This was quite a shock and it has taken a while but he is slowly coming to terms with it.
He struggled to sleep as the attack happened when he was asleep and a week after discharge he had another episode when his heart went into AF in his sleep but this has improved.
We feel the after care support has been lacking, 7 cardiac nurses have been reduced to only 2 in our area and we have had to rely on Google and BHF website.
We realise recovery will be a slow process and it's reassuring that he isn't the only one feeling this way
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