my husband has been diagnosed with scarring on his heart due to a heart attack which he wasn’t aware had happened due feeling unwell with chest infection and persistent cough.
He feels constantly tired with a lack of energy he does have an issue with alcohol he is classed as a functioning alcoholic and refuses to change his lifestyle. How do I talk to him about a healthier lifestyle I would appreciate any help. Thank you
Hello 
When I had my what I thought first heart attack I was also told at some stage I had a small one before and the reason they knew is because they could see scarring so this is something they can pick up on and common that they do
I would think your Husband is on a cocktail of medications and drinking with them really is quite dangerous which I know you will know
He needs help with his drinking he has to stop he has had a warning and there is every chance now he can turn this around but he has to want to and that is where the problem lies it has to come from him but as he is refusing and is a grown man I am not sure how you can help him other than to point out the obvious which you will no doubt have already done
I am not sure if he fetches his drink himself but I would refuse to fetch it for him and would not keep any in the house unless it is his he has fetched himself
Have you tried AA bu again this will only work if he wants it but it does if someone does want to stop
There is also an organization Al-Anon for family that could offer you support which you need to I am not sure if you have been in contact with them but will put you a link on that might start you to find your local meetings if it doesn't ask Google where yours are in your area
He will be feeling tires due to the medications he possibly is on and drinking on top will be making him feel ill
I wished I could help more and hope others will come along and give you some more advice x
i can to a certain extent sympathise as a family member for whom I care also abuses alcohol.
As Bekind says, you cannot stop him drinking. You also cannot confiscate alcohol. You can refuse to buy it for him, though, and he must pour his own.
Other than Al-Anon, the website to read is Change Grow Live. Please have a look at their website and possibly give them a ring when you have read it.
Hi, what test were done to Diagnose Heart Attack? Hope you are all doing Ok...
The symptoms of a heart attack can be chest pain, breathlessness, feeling sick, sweating, feeling light headed, chest pressure or tightness, feeling a sense of unease.
Dynamic ECG changes are usually seen accompanied by a rise then fall of troponin blood levels over time.
Usually a troponin blood level of about or over 34ng/L for a man or 16ng/L for a women suggests a heart attack has occurred.
An echocardiogram can detect changes in the way the wall of tge heart moves.
A cardiac perfusion MRI can identify scarring of the heart muscle following a heart attack.
How would a tropinon level of 2600 equate in cg do you know 🤔 thanks
'cg' Do you mean ng/ml ?These units are used in some countries.
In the UK the unit used is ng/L
Hi Hamilton 53, would asking maybe to cut down a little if can't stop. Which alcohol beers or spirits?
Hello Hamilton53,
Without your husband's co-operation, there might seem little you can do to help him curb his drinking. However, although your husband may be diagnosed already as an alcoholic by a healthcare professional and some of the suggestions/strategies may be familiar to you, the following may still prove helpful:
alcoholchange.org.uk/alcoho...
wearewithyou.org.uk/help-an...
If conversation between you is relatively easy and non-confrontational, perhaps you could suggest a shared exercise routine--something as simple as a short daily or weekend walk together to start with. You could even suggest that it's more for your benefit than his! Have you shared interests, a hobby you could take up together? If you are responsible for family meals, then perhaps you could be the one to make healthy food choices. There is plenty of advice on the BHF website about this. And as the carer of a heart patient, you might like to read the following as it includes links to organisations which can help to support you in that role:
bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...
Assuming your husband is on medication to help prevent future heart events, he needs to be made aware of possible adverse interactions with alcohol. Has his GP or other healthcare professional warned him of this?
Sorry I can't help further, Hamilton53, as I know you must be feeling anxious about your husband's health. I hope that his chest infection is improving if not already better. 🦉
i am sorry to hear that you are in this position - having lived with and loved an alcoholic myself i feel for you
others have made suggestions but mine is that you need to take care of yourself first - you already know how difficult it is to influence your husband's behaviour, so maybe it is time to turn your attention to yourself and put your health and wellbeing first - i hope that you know that there are sources of support for those lives are affected by other people's substance use - if you have not turned to them already this might be a good time
the only person who can change your husband's behaviour is himself
hi. He need to start cardio workouts immediately. I have kept a gym trainer, it has really helped
Sorry that's awful for you, tell him to stop being selfish, there are many ways to give up drinking, he just has to find the strength to do it.
You'd think that he might have heeded the warning signs?
Just a thought, Simonrainbow, and with respect for your point of view ...
Isn't that a little like telling a person suffering from depression how good their life is and that he or she should pull themselves together?
Alcoholics are d**ned hard or impossible to live with; some, probably many, are abusive. All hold the only key to their own recovery. That doesn't stop family and friends from trying to help and support them (unless or until these caring people's own health becomes undermined or persistent alcoholism precludes further help from this quarter).
Regarding Hamilton53's husband, there's a pressing need for a healthier lifestyle on the cardiac front, too, and this, at least, is the type of advice that might be given through this particular community.
Concern for Hamilton53 herself is, of course, not misplaced. She certainly does need to look after her own health and interests, as fishonabike suggests above. Hence the links included in my original response.
You are of course correct, and it's always the people around the addict that suffer!!
but there does come a time when , following a life changing event something has to change, if not then the difficult conversation has to be had?
I have had experience of this and over a 13 year period someone close went through the AA program and eventually came out the other end, the damage had been done physically but with support and personal courage it is possible.
Hamliton53 is brave but also needs to be selfish her life is just as important as her husbands, as the saying goes God helps those who help themselves.
It's good to know that the person to whom you refer came through his or her programme due to that all important personal commitment and with the benefit of support. I, too, have had experience of others' alcoholism, and bear the mental and physical scars still.
Strange is it not how some posts can initiate quite 'off-piste' discussions. Take care 🙂🦉
This is the post that I came to this forum looking for. My wife is a "functioning alcoholic" (as well as workaholic and shopaholic!) She is now 71 and has had atrial fibrillation for many years and type 1 diabetes for much of her adult life.
When I realised that her drinking was doing her harm I tried everything I could do to help her. I stopped drinking myself over 5 years ago, it didn't help. I refused to buy alcohol, it didn't help, she just bought it herself and hid it. We have talked about it, it hasn't helped. I have been to an Al-anon meeting...you guessed it!
This summer she had what seemed to be a minor heart attack, raised troponin levels and an echocardiogram showing severely reduced EF of 30-35% as well as 50% heart enlargement. She was diagnosed with "severe heart failure".
You would have thought that this would have been enough to make her stop/moderate her drinking...but it hasn't. She is still drinking, on average, 14 units every single day. The heart drugs (Entresto, Bisoprolol, Digoxin etc etc...) have made her feel better and she sees no reason to change her drinking habits. I have given up trying to persuade her to stop drinking and have taken to buying alcohol (vodka) for her again in the hope that, if it is out in the open, at least she will not be drinking secretly. But she still drinks "secretly". And her workload (she runs her own small business) is as busy and demanding as I have ever known it.
I have almost given in to the inevitable conclusion that I will be losing her soon. We have been married for nearly 50 years and there seems to be nothing that I can do to to help. Alcohol has changed her ability to think and behave rationally, it is an insidious drug, and one that is so embedded in our culture that we seldom see the harm that it can do.
We are a "normal", well educated middle-class couple, no-one would ever think that my wife is an alcoholic. Everyone knows that she "likes a drink" and will cheerfully open a bottle as soon as she arrives for a visit. I would like to discourage them but, like everything else I have tried to do, it wouldn't help.
I am sorry that I can't help you, I am just writing this out of solidarity. Your post hasn't given me any new ideas but it has, at least, made me realise that I am not alone...
Heart attack and smoking.....
Heart Attack 
Heart and stomach.
Post heart attack & stent
Heart Failure
