exercise after PCI

[chomedey]

i had an emergency PCI in right artery last Thursday. I was discharged on Sunday and am now at home. My cardiac rehab appointment is booked for 28th January which is 2 weeks away. i’m not going to return to the gym until i see them but in the meantime does anyone have advice on how much low level exercise i can do in the meantime. The consultant said to take it easy at least in the first week. But i thought that going out for a walk every day shouldn’t be problematic—starting with shorter ones or 15-20 minutes building up to 30 minutes plus.

any thoughts on this?

many thanks

[Lowerfield_no_more]

I would leave it the full week as your cardiologist has recommended, then start walking as you have indicated, building up on time and distance. But 'listen' to your body as you do it.

[happyrosie1]

as Lowerfield says. and wrap up warm!

[Stentsandrun]

Depends on what "Take it easy" means? Did you have a heart attack? If so any damage to heart? Any complications or residual symptoms of Angina? What circumstances led to your having the stent? Give us a clue!

Personally however, you sound like you may be similar to me, in which case in your situation I would most certainly start walking, both for exercise and for your own mental wellbeing. As you say 15-20 mins just normal pace, then build it up a bit depending on how you are feeling. Make sure you take your GTN spray with you, plus the obvious phone and personally I always take a couple of Aspirin tablets everywhere I go just in case along with an ID card giving medical information.

Might as well start as you mean to go on in my opinion, best idea so good on you and good luck! Can't really see what leaving it a week is going to do?

[Eltonfan]

your absolutely correct. 🏃

[MrsBBHF]

Hi my husband had a heart attack on Sunday - LAD stented . We spent some times yesterday with both the consultant & the re-hab team. Their instructions on exercise were very clear. It's not about the level of activity you have been used to or indeed how you feel about it! Your heart has to some degree been through a trauma, at a minimum by the medical processes and perhaps by damage caused to the heart muscle if you had a heart attack. Like any other injury you need to give your heart every chance to heal & perhaps repair some, or all, of the damage caused. Plus of course your body may be adapting to a cocktail of medication. Yes your recovery absolutely includes exercise but to a controlled plan. That plan starts with a 5 (yes 5 minute walk) stroll not pacing it out. If you feel good after that you rest up for a while & do it again maybe 2 or 3 times a day. You gradually build the time up over the couple of weeks maybe to 20 minutes stroll until your re-hab sessions start. That way you have given your heart the opportunity to both exercise & heal giving you an excellent foundation for the "tougher" 're hab sessions & moving back to wherever you want to be exercise wise. I appreciate everyone's different but the concept of allowing your heart to heal does make sense. By the way this was also the advice given to me after heart attack/stenting and others I know, including my super fit brother who regained his fitness & ran the Berlin marathon a year after stenting. I wish you well in your recovery

[Maxbar]

please listen to the sound advice given on here, you obviously need to let your heart have a rest it has been through a trauma. you need to have the mental strength to do nothing and then a little at a time until you see the rehab team, that us why they don't want to see you for a few weeks , once given the all clear then you can get yourself back on the exercise routine.good luck and best wishes .

👍👍

[Skelligman]

there’s some great advice here. My main thoughts are listen to your body and don’t be tempted to rush and overdo things. My LAD was stented at the end of October and it has taken me a long time to build up to prolonged exercise. Much longer than after a previous stent 7 years ago. Several times I’ve felt really good and gone for long walks or done some moderately strenuous exercise. Immediately afterwards I’ve felt ok but within 12 hours I’ve paid the price with pain and fatigue and set myself back.

2 weeks to wait for cardiac rehab isn’t long - I’m still waiting for mine after 14 weeks so be patient and listen to the advice you are given there.

[Pundit999]

I guess it depends . If you had had a heart attack , you have to be very careful and not do much. If you just had a stent due to unstable angina or if they just happened to find the blockage, you likely can walk a few minutes daily

I got a stent 2 weeks back though I fortunately did not have a heart attack. My rehab is next week. I have been walking a bit and the pa was fine with it

[pete109]

The week is because you’ve got a hole in your wrist from the PCI that needs to heal, it’s more that if you stress your wrist it’s likely to bleed, a lot, plus they'll have given you a lot of drugs that need time to leave your body, it all depends if you had a stent as a result of tests that revealed a seriously narrowed cardiac artery or from a heart attack, I chose not to take the rehab as I didn’t have any symptoms and had not had a heart attack, no damage to the heart, so not a lot to rehabilitate, also the rehab location was quite a trek, but that’s just me, everyone’s different.

[chomedey]

thanks for the advice. Just to add more detail. Yes, the right artery was seriously calcified + there was a heart attack that occurred either on the same day or in the immediate 24 hours. The procedure was more complicated than normal to get rid of the plaque; it took 2 1/2 hours to insert the stent which was very long at 78mm. The procedure was complicated by a small tear in the artery which was repaired with a second procedure of adding a covered stent. In addition, there was some fluid buildup around the heart as a result of the tear but doctors managed it without needing invasive drainage.

There was no damage to the heart muscle. I had a follow-up ECHO yesterday that showed very little fluid and the heart in very good condition. I also had to walk to the bus to get to the hospital and that was about 1.2 km each way which took me about 20 minutes. There was no pain or discomfort especially compared to a week ago when I was rushed from GP appointment straight to Heart Attack Centre by ambulance! Normally I would walk walk that distance in about 10-12 minutes so it was a pretty slow pace.

I will see what the cardio rehab offers.

[nilmonisikdar40]

Hi there, I am so pleased that you had the procedure of the right coronary artery which is a minor artery compared to the left which I assume is okay. Few questions to ask you. Did you have the angioplasty ( balooning of the artery ) and/ or the stents , I will appreciate the response. Regarding exercise - the cardiac rehab are the pest people to answer, Regards.

[Richie34]

Hi, I had a PCI 10 day ago,I was advised on day 1 to do a brief 5 minute walk which I did. Since then I've added the same each day, yesterday was a 38 minute walk (1.5 miles) with no issues albeit at a more moderate pace than I'm used to. I would advise wrapping a scarf around the nose/mouth in this cold weather as the cold can cause a vasoconstricting effect.