I have followed this forum for several years because my daughter was born with a congenital heart defect 35 years ago. I regularly read through all the posts.
This time it’s about me!
I’m 65 and last week I had a heart attack! I’m still in shock.
My friends and family still can’t believe it. I’ve always been such an active fit person. Take the dog on 2 long walks a dog and go to yoga. I have a really good diet and have been slim all my life. I weigh 9 stone.
For the last few weeks I have had back pain walking the dog and thought it was muscular. I went to Gp who said it could be muscular or angina and gave me A spray to try when it came on. I woke up last week and knew immediately something was not right. My husband took me to A&e where I was seen immediately and blue lighted to the nearest cardiac unit. I had 2 blocked arteries. They put 2 stents in the one that caused the heart attack and 2 days later put 2 more in the other blocked artery.
I was home after 3 nights. Im ok just can’t take it all in really. Rest is something I find difficult to do 🤦♀️ today i m going to try a short walk around the garden if the rain stops! Cardio rehab has already been in touch and I’m looking forward to taking part in a few weeks time.
Thanks for listening I know there are many other women like me out there who find it such a shock when they have a heart attack.
Written by
Jb1958
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I’m so sorry to hear about your heart attack, but I am glad you are at home and safe. I had a heart attack last year whilst on holiday which also took me a little bit by surprise. I was 29 at the time, healthy, and no significant history of heart problems in the family. Therefore, I can completely empathise with you on this front. However, my heart attack was slightly different to yours as I had a MINOCA (myocardial infarction in non-obstructed arteries). They found a congenital heart defect in the form of a myocardial bridge which spasmed long enough to trigger a heart attack. Before the heart attack, for about a year and a half, I would experience similar pain in my back like you describe, and I would also get it in my chest. However, due to my age and tests always coming back normal, I was never diagnosed with anything or put on treatment.
I have heard great things about cardiac rehab. I hope that once this commences, you will be able to slowly get back to doing the things that you enjoy. There is no time line on how we mentally cope with such an event. In January next year, it will be 2 years since my heart attack and I still find myself remembering it.
Be kind to yourself throughout your recovery process and try and take it easy. I struggled with taking sick leave after my heart attack as I used to be such a workaholic.
It must be such a shock for you joining the Community so you can help understand and support your Daughter and now you find yourself having a heart attack
I think sometimes people think we have to be overweight , unhealthy and so on to have heart attack but as you have regretfully found out this is not always the case at all but looking at it positively keeping yourself fit and healthy could have saved you from this been a lot worse and by continuing what you have always done you should make a full recovery
Give yourself time to let this sink in there is no rush I think most of us struggle at this stage but by you reading like you have been on here hopefully you know things will come good again
Be kind to yourself and you know where we are if you need to talk x
I can't even imagine what you are going through. Please take each day as it comes, try to process slowly that you've had a HA. I hope everything goes ok for you. And as I've found on this forum. If you ever need a friendly ear or just to get things off your chest. Here is the place.
Hi Sorry to hear of your heart attack and of corse you are in shock It's a major physical shock but also a shock to your brain who is struggling to understand how and why . Cardio Rehab is great so go for it You are well monitored and you are told how fast you can get your heart rate up to I started at level 2 and got to the top level 6 Felt so much fitter and stomach more confident in what I could do I ended up with a grade of 8.8 and was told I could try most things but also what I shouldn't try which were things like badminton,competive sports,sky diving mountain climbing, I said at 76 and with arthritis I don't think I will miss any of these I also felt quite proud of myself that I had comes far
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