Unstable Angina and blocked arterie

[Challenger2009]

Evening, after many trips back and forth to accident and emergency thinking I was having a heart attack, I was finally admitted to hospital last Thursday and got out today, I have unstable angina, I also had a angogram and discovered one of my arteries is pretty blocked and two are starting to block, I have been given various tablets to get this under control and the doctor has said if it doesn't then they may need to consider bypass surgery I am 43 male, not going to lie I am scared and wonder what the future holds with all of this am I going to have a heart attack later in life and what can I do to improve things going forward.

[harpsicord86]

Hi there!

I'm 35 and faced something similar to yourself... I was diagnosed with CAD and diabetes and was stented through an entire artery.

What I was advised to do after I was released was to eat a healthy diet and keep active which I have managed to do. If your angina doesn't start while you are active, you could always give that a try 🙂

I must admit that the thought of bypass surgery scares me too but I know I'm doing all I can to prevent that.

Hope this helps and I wish you the best of luck.

[Challenger2009 in reply to harpsicord86]

Hi and thanks for the reply, I am trying to eat healthier and get a bit more exercise already to reduce my cholesterol guess I will need to step things up a bit hopefully these things will make a difference, just need to get over the tiredness and feeling knackered first.

[MichaelJH Heart Star in reply to harpsicord86]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Please see my reply to Challenger2009

[MichaelJH Heart Star]

Way back in the seventies when I was young and you were a mere twinkle in your mum's eye (✨ in 👁️) a school friend's mother had a heart attack and was diagnosed Type II diabetic, and a former colleague's father had a bypass. Both are doing well and in their nineties. My friend's mother has never had any intervention and has been managed all these years by lifestyle and medication. It has been the same for my colleague's father post bypass. So make any required lifestyle changes now.

I am a lifelong Type I diabetic with an appalling family history of heart disease (my father, his brother and their father all died prematurely from heart attacks). In 2017 I developed angina and was found to have four severely blocked arteries. I underwent successful bypass surgery in 2018.

So it's not all gloom and doom. And the thought of bypass surgery is far worse than the actuality.

Good luck...

[Challenger2009 in reply to MichaelJH]

Many thanks and very reassuring to read.

[Sootycat in reply to MichaelJH]

What a brilliant 👏 post thank you

[reidmar]

its good news that you've found this out before any permenant damage has been done and now have the chance to turn things around, diet, exercise, rest/sleep and healthier living/lifestyle. Have a search on here for reccomendations for diets and excercise etc. Get speaking to your GP for next steps that might happen, write down any questions you come up with (you'll have plenty at this stage- I know I did when i was first diagnosed)because once you step into the GP's room the mind tends to go blank. I had a quadruple bypass 2019 due to not doing all of the previously mentioned but now have a healthier time of life. Good luck and best wishes.

[Challenger2009 in reply to reidmar]

Many thanks, you are right it is hard to remember everything you want to ask I will make a list ask when I see the doctor

[richard_jw]

I had a heart attack a year ago. They found that the right coronary artery was completely blocked, and there was damage to the heart muscle.They could not stent it for technical reasons, so fed me anti coagulant infusions and tried to clear the clots the following day.

They got some sluggish blood flow and decided to treat me with a cocktail of anti coagulant drugs plus beta blockers.

A year later I had another angiogram, and all arteries are clear. So I am coming off some of the meds and feel much better.

I guess the moral is that (in my case) the medication really did work. I would say that I had to follow this up with the NHS. They are pretty good for acute emergencies, but especially because of covid, they tend to kick you out of the door and leave you to your own devices. That might be being a bit hard, but it's what I found. On several occasions I had to go to a private cardiologist.