My husband (age 46) had a heart attack in December and had a stent fitted in his LAD artery. The surgery went well, all other arteries were clear, he attended the rehab programme and was coping well and was discharged.
He’s on quite a lot of medication - aspirin, beta blockers, statins and ACE inhibitors and his dosage of the beta blocker was recently increased as he was feeling dizzy. Since then he’s been so tired, really struggling with his energy levels and low mood. He’s been to the GP who is adjusting it to a different type to see if that helps.
He really doesn’t want to be on all these pills and he feels they’re fighting against each other. He’s struggling to do any exercise as he feels dizzy and weakened when his heart rate gets high.
I understand why he’s on them and it’s a preventative measure from the NHS but the side effects are a lot to deal with.
So my question is, has anyone been able to come off of the medication following a heart attack and if so, how have you felt? What’s been the risk factors and implications? Is it possible or is he just resigned to being on these for life now and not being “right” again really?
We have young children and I’m struggling to accept that this is our life now - him unable to do much and me worrying about him whilst carrying the load.
Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.
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WorriedWife10
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well I had HA and 3 stents in LAD 2021. I have low bp and low heart rate so only took aspirin, statin and also Ticegralor for 1 year after stents. Been fine on just statin and aspirin since. Every case is of course individual but at first everyone is given the same I’ve found.
I'm on aspirin and 6 other drugs, the one side effect I do notice is getting tired easily, that is down to the beta blocker. That is improving but I find I can do everything I want to including a regular 5k run most weeks.
I was the same age as your husband a couple of years back when I had my HA. I had no issues with any of my meds apart from Bisoprolol. Was literally making me a zombie. Cardiologist said I could come of them after 6 months and for me was almost an overnight change when I stopped.
Hopefully you can get things sorted and your husband starts to feel a bit better. It’s not always an easy journey.
I was given all that after a heart attack. He must NOT stop any without the doctor's permission. The tiredness is most likely from the beta blocker.. I had mine changed; I could barely get out of the chair. Ticagrelor is to help stop clots from forming and the statin isn't just to cut cholesterol but it stablilises the plaque to prevent bits breaking off and causing another heart attack. If he understands what each tablet does it should help him. Changing the bisopralol made a huge difference for me. Ticagrelor i s usually stopped after 12 months, maybe even 6. I had problems with most of my tablets and they were changed but after 12 months I was only taking one aspirin and one statin a day with another to protect my stomach from the aspirin. There are alternatives to everything he's taking so tell him to talk to his doctor; work out which are causing problems and get them changed one at a time. It does get better, I promise. Has he started cardiac rehab yet ? The nurses who supervise it shoudl be able to advice him on which are causing side effects.
my husband was 48 when he had his HA. LAD. Stemi. 4 years this July 9. He hates being on all the meds as well and the doc has added spiralacton and colchicine at about 2 years post and dapa about 6 months ago. He started on 1.25 of bispropol and in now on 2.25 He has scarring and ejection fraction 42% which hasn’t really changed since HA so all the meds haven’t helped but may have kept him from getting worse. It took a month or two but he is back doing everything he used to. We have a small farm and he is also a mechanic. He tires a bit more easily but has made a good recovery. Give it time you all have to adjust. I found hearing from others and their journey so reassuring that we would get through this.
Please don’t stop any medication without consulting a cardiologist.
We are all different and our bodies deal with the medication differently.
I had my heart attack and 2 stents in December 2022. I was aged 43. Everything came as a surprise!
I take all those medications and had 2 additional ones added for chest pain. The Bisoprilol used to make me tired and on speaking to the cardiologist it was reduced to 2.5mg from 5mg. It made a massive difference to my tiredness and what I could do. After a few weeks of the dosage change I could stay up later and do more outdoors stuff with my children and family.
I still take Ticagrelor as the cardiologist said it’s better to stay on it post 12months. He reduced the dosage on it though. So I’ve been taking it for 18months.
Things will settle and he will get his energy levels back. Please give it time and speak to a cardiologist about the tiredness and medication stuff. It’s still early days since December and what he’s been through is bigger than we think and realise.
At 18months I would tell you that everything will start to feel better in time. He’ll be able to do most things. Hang in there and support each other.
Lets us know how you get on and good luck.
Hi there,
I had the same heart attack around the same time.
I'm on the usual cocktail of drugs too. When I restarted my excericse routine or doing something physical ie gardening, wahsing and polishing the cars they did cause me issues, dizziness, lightheaded, tiredness, no energy after.
I raised this with my cardio nurse and they said that it can take months for the body to start to work in equilibrium with the medicines and find its rhythm.
Now I hardly notice the effects with any excericse or activity.
Was your husband physically fit and active prior to heart?
Like everyone has said , only come off medication after consultation with the doctor.
Thank you so much to everyone for replying, it’s made me feel better and like there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
My husband won’t stop any medication, I won’t let him despite not enjoying being on them! He has seen the GP and changed the ACE inhibitor so hopefully that will help with his tiredness and energy levels.
To answer some questions, he isn’t overweight and was fairly fit and active beforehand although he works in a sedentary job and didn’t exercise as much as he should. He took the HA as a wake up call to be more active but then got hit with the dizziness, tiredness and feeling shaky when he did so (although he won’t admit it) he’s been reluctant to do anything. He does walk about 3-4 times a week and does gardening, stuff around the house etc but this has been wiping him out.
It’s good to know that this feeling will pass after the medication settles, maybe we were being too impatient with it!
The other big problem is that he hasn’t seen anyone since being discharged from the cardio rehab in February. He’s been left to get on with it and of course it’s a whole new world to navigate but he feels neglected really. This week I suggested he went to A&E to basically readmit himself and get put back under a cardiologist for help and support but he’s seen the GP now and got the new meds so we’ll see how that goes.
This forum has been so helpful to me and I can’t thank you all enough for your replies. I’ve definitely struggled with it more than he has, he accepted it the night it happened and I’m still 🥴 six months on!
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