Hi, l am Ric and had a heart attack on September 2nd this year at work. Had to be jumped twice before arrival at hospital where went straight to the surgery department for stent to be inserted into heart. Confirmed with Covid so put in isolation for 4 days before release to my frightened wife (nurse). Have put on 1 1/2 stone, breathless with headaches, bad dreams, feeling useless and unconfident.
Need to get my head around this and understand were l go from here, am 64 and have never felt this lost before.
Help,suggestions or advice please.
Ric
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It comes as such a shock when we have a heart attack , I had 3 and then a triple Bypass and am nearly 59
Like you I still feel lost and working out how to move forward
But when you read these posts from other members you can see they have been through it and living life to the full and that gives you inspiration that life will become better again
Obviously putting weight on is not the best thing and I am sure your wife as a Nurse will be saying the same so a good place to start is losing some
Have you a Rehab Nurse you can talk to ?
Rehab classes you can join and meet others in your position it will all help to get you back on track
Give yourself time to come to terms with what has happened and it does take time but you will get there
Others with so much more knowledge than me will come along and answer your post and I hope it will help to know you are not alone and have somewhere to come and talk x
Thanks for your lovely reply, I don’t have a rehab nurse yet as I was confirmed for Covid after surgery, since then have been breathless often with other symptoms which I have been told are all part of the Covid infection and have been told I would not be able to do the rehab in my present condition.
You have been through it covid as well but you are a survivor that is for sure
I would imagine in the next week if not now you will not be contagious with the covid anymore and would maybe contact the Hospital and enquire about been allocated a Rehab Nurse and what classes they do
Be kind to yourself as well you have been through a lot and no wonder you feel lost at the moment but eventually you won't x
Hi Ric, you have certainly gone through it and it is bound to have some effect on your mental health. If this all happened in September surely that is long enough ago that Covid shouldn't effect ongoing or follow up care? I had my stents fitted nearly a month ago and I saw the cardiac nurse a week ago, a question she asked me but I totally forgot was if I felt depressed or down, I am not so said so and we moved on. Not everyone will feel the same.
It sounds like you should try and chase up a meeting with your cardiac nurse to see what is on offer.
No doubt an experience like yours could well cause PTSD (I am no expert) so needs to be explored. Until this is all dealt with emotionally of course it will be hard to move on.
Good luck, but remember until something more official is sorted you can always just talk to us, most of us have been through some kind of trauma so are more than happy to support you.
Hello ric so sorry you have been unwell I have not experienced any of your problems I only wanted to say hope things improve for you very soon bekind28 and heather1957 are more knowledgeable than me but just sending my best wishes to you and your wife - one day at a time my friend and talking to people on this forum and rehab nurses I hope will help take care 😊x
Ric, like many of us you have had a bad shock, physical and mental. The way you feel is very common. You have survived it, and if you follow advice, you have potentially many more years ahead of you.Love and best wishes to you and your wife.
Hi Ric. Well you really like to do things properly, don't you! Two life threatening different events!The first thing, if you are like me, is to beat yourself up - why me, I did nothing wrong - so give yourself a break. You probably survived both the SCA and Covid because of what you did right in the years before.
There will be improvements in the coming months naturally and others that you will need to work on. Identify those and read about them to understand - that helps - so weight you can do something about (slowly). Once they have ruled out cardiac issues for the breathlessness, look for others such as reflux or even nerve impingement. Just examples.
Hopefully the sleep will improve as you reconcile what's happened.
You're part of a special group now. Now you know you're super tough. You've survived.
Hi Ric. You have never felt so lost, well you’ve never been on this road before like most of us on this site. The fact that you have sent out a message for help is the first sign of taking the reins. There are some very knowledgeable people here to give you sound advice.
Maybe your weight gain is to do with meds. Lots of us find it hard to get on the right ones for us. I’m a year and 1 month on and still the meds are not right. Just keep digging away at the doctors to find ones that better suit.
Perhaps you have felt so overwhelmed you have eaten for comfort . Whatever the reason you must come to terms with this and do your best to loose these extra pounds. None of it is easy but you will find very soon a lifestyle much better than your previous one , and one that will bring you back to your former happy self.
We all go through this and most of us come out the other end maybe healthier than before.
September is only a couple of months ago - you’ve been through a helluva lot and it’s very early days. Do ask your GP about cardiac rehab - a lot of it is still not in person, but it’s still really worth it. In the meantime eat healthily, if you do drink alcohol drink very little of it, don’t smoke and try and do some gentle walks. Three, even six, weeks after my heart attack (a STEMI but nowhere near what you’ve been through) I got breathless very easily. I’m just over six months on now and easily walk for well over an hour. I’m also finally near the point where I’m learning to live with the fact that it happened - you’ll get there too x
Hi Ric, what an ordeal you have been through. I was admitted to A&E June 2020 with breathless on going for 6mths or more (thought it was a chest infection/asthma) GP kept giving me steroids & antibiotics, At 55yrs old, I was diagnosed with Heart failure & dilated cardiomyopathy, this was during lockdown & I couldn’t see my husband, kids or family, I felt totally isolated (Being in a room on my own didn’t help), shell shocked, sick to the bottom of my stomach, cried my eyes out, a kind nurse held my hand & gave me a hug….. & I cried more ! But here I am nearly 18mths later with medication optimised my heart function is much improved, not sure if this is an up or down point but I had to take early retirement as I couldn’t cope with my manual job. I bake & sell from home, I’ve a small mobility scooter so I can still go with hubby walking the dogs x3 & we spend lots of time at our caravan in France (hubby’s shifts dependant, he’s a paramedic). Life is for living, it just has to be adjusted to your ability. My GP recommend Headspace to listen to for relaxation sessions: headspace.com
Hi Ric. It's obviously unexpected and is a shock to you and your system. You obviously need to take time to relax and hopefully you will have a follow up appointment with your hospital where you will be able to get answers and see what the long term situation is. I was diagnosed with needing a pacemaker and having copd in the same week and it does come as a big shock. Hope everything goes well. Brian
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