cardic arrest and heart attack

Heart health and blood vessels
1

my husband has been with site a few years for pmr a lot of meds .

last week he had a cardic arrest and heart attack rushed to hospital and has had 2 stents to his heart .he has come home and done well in a week looks better then in months .today he stood a while then on going upstairs for the first time got out breath .

has anyone experenced this and how have they gone on any advise ,how much or little to do ,and what effect on there life .As i saw everthing dont want to be there again thank you

2

Keep an eye on your husband and if breathlessness persists go straight to GP.

I had what GP is certain was another heart attack in February and have now got fluid on lung and swollen anklesShe has referred me back to cardiology (13thJuly)and has put me on spironolactone to try and reduce the amount of fluid I am hanging onto (apparently my heart is sluggish )

3

Normally in the UK hospitals put patients on a Cardio Rehab course after a few weeks with an exercise session followed by advice and discussion.

4

Yes true.Unfortunately as a female I had untypical symptoms (plus am a bit of a dipstick and end up with lectures from GP).First one I thought was just a bad angina attack and in February I blacked out for somewhere between 55&90minutes and as I had never blacked out in my life honestly did not have a clue what was up.Fluid on lungs only discovered when had annual health check and sounded like a puffing Billy .Life is full of ups and downs.Off to Snowdonia on holiday which should be fun as we try to find non hilly places to visit😃

5

Did pain not alert you to the fluid on the lungs? It is usually quite painful and worse when they put a drain in!

I hope the holiday will do you good and you get no Welsh rain.

 

6

No pain,just dull ache and as I also have asthma and inflammatory arthritis and PMR sometimes hard to work out what is causing the pain.Have not been 100%pain free for 18 years so basically used to it😂

7

That is the trouble with pain as it can get 'referred' to other areas.

My first fluid was when in hospital after my heart valve replacement. A few months later it recurred and I went to my doctor who asked how I knew what it was.

The next time was again when in hospital after having a pacemaker inserted. Again I knew what it was. 

8

My husband in hospital was unable to walk to toilet, ensuite, needed a wheelchair, he has/had heart failure, caused by virus they think.

Dr's told us he must not sit around and dooooo nothing, he would be dead in 3 months if he did.

When we got home, set up an exercise plan, lounge chair to kitchen chair at front door, about 10-15 steps, kept reminding him to get off that couch, and walk to front door, where he took a break, and then back again, as many times as 6-10 times a day, for a week.

Then shifted kitchen chair outside to near letterbox, and same plan, for a week or so, then with neighbours help, same again for another week.

By about 18months he was walking about 3 miles, one letterbox a week, each and every week. Dr delighted at his progress.

He has had a setback when the electrical activity in his heart failed, and he got down to 30 BPM, and then 23 BPM in the hospital, at that point they decided to put in a very late model pacemaker and defib.

Since he got home 6 weeks ago, started his walking again, today will walk about a mile or so to get the morning paper.

9

Sorry to make this another post

Educate yourself, go to the library and get books on heart issues, after a while they start to read the same, once they have done that, you have absorbed some information.

I have saved my husband life now four times, from that reading and education on heart issues.

We have other than his walking a blood pressure monitor with a heart beat recorder as well, not very expensive, available at chemist.

Also keep in our diary a record of his weight, each and every morning, he weighs himself and records what his weight is, I then later take his blood pressure, and also record what it is in diary, and then take that to the Dr, and or hospital, I notice they photocopy the pages for their records.

Weight is the most important as it tells you, the sudden change in weight of water/fluid in lungs and needs to be treated as an emergency if it is more than 2 kgs.

My husband has NO PAIN, so we are reliant on my observations to tell me something is happening.

Dizziness, wobbbly knees or weakness, very short of breath with no exercise, very pale in colour, all ring the alarm bells, and I check him out.

Dr have told me they need me to be a nurse in the heart unit, not even trained as a nurse in my past, but have got pretty good at it the last five years.

10

thank you it happed so quick,he has 2 stents in his heart ,he is walking in house and going upstairs 2 a day as goes to lay down afternoon .sits outside 5 min or so and looks a lot better than in weeks ,He has been treat on loads of drugs for polymyalgia rheumatica.Is crp has been going up for weeks and more pain in his legs .now they seam to have almost gone ,he has to have scan nin 6 weeks then will know if muscle has come back at all ,

how does this all effect you for flying they said 3 months 

11

You really have to rely on Dr's advice, listen closely, do not be afraid to ask questions, write them down as they occur to you, and take a list of questions with you to your appt, in that diary.

The Dr's I have found seem to be most helpful if you are showing an interest in getting well again, getting onto a really good diet, taking your tablets, exercising as posting above.

Tablets - make note of any side effects you feel you are getting even good side effects, I have shared all this info with our Dr's, and they have been wonderful and most helpful with getting husband into rehab unit, taking his own blood pressure, and pulse, weighing himself. 

Also lots of lectures on eating correctly, and charts to help us with eating correctly, we were not really going along wrong, as neither of us are huge, but we did need a little adjustment in diet as just not as active has he was before he got sick.

We have not gone flying at all since husband got sick, but now that has all changed again since his pacemaker installed, have to re-learn what he should be doing or not. Lots of questions for the pacemaker checkup in two weeks, and the result of that checkup.

12

It is not flying that's the problem but getting travel insurance. No company will want to know so soon after cardiac arrest

13

Are you on a low sodium diet only cooked food you make no processed canned foods, dinners, cheese and luncheon meets which are loaded with sodium. I only deal directly with my cardiologist here in Southern California with my heart health issues I have Hocm which was diagnosed a year ago by a angiogram and had heart surgery to repair it. I have a pacemaker as I had a total heart block and heart rate was much to low without it. I've felt great since all shortness of breath that I'd had for 20 years is gone and my heart murmur has quitted so it can hardly be heard. I do take medication but not anything unusual for my heart condition. I'm fortunate to have had great specialists and they could actually repair it.

14

Thanks for the advice.I need to lose a lot of weight which I was doing very slowly .One good?side effect is that I am losing weight faster as as the day goes on I have no appetite as my abdominal organs feel as if they want to be in my chest cavity so my stomach must get a bit squashed so cannot each much😂

15

Glad your trying to loose the weight low sodium and easy to digest foods work the best. I ate lots of yoghurt, eggs, banana, small tangerines and toast. These seemed to taste good and didn't upset my stomach. Had no coffee and drank teas mostly decaf and herbal teas and lots of water. My appetite came back after my heart repair and I've been healthy ever since. Stay strong and continue your weight lose plane,

16

Thanks.So glad you are well.I used to love oranges,tomatoes Etc but they now upset my digestion and raise my arthritis inflammation. Just a shame that stuff which is bad for you egchocolate,cakes&biscuits do not make me feel ill 😂

17

I ate small cuties which have low acidity and no tomatoes or salads and I love salads. Sweets got you to this point so toast with honey is your treat now. I ate lots of yogurt with

Stevia as a sweetener canned fruit in its juices drained also works well on this diet.

18

Thanks .I know I have to do it and have the huge target of 7stones to lose to get mid BMI range.Hopefully slow and steady will do the job plus re-educate my habits (have struggled with weight all my life-except for when born 58years ago when I was 4lb&6week premature😊).

19

If you can eat meat only eat chicken without the skin and fish stay away from red meat as this seems to upset stomach more and is harder to digest. A bland diet with your stomach issues would be the best to follow. Did your GP give you a diet plan to follow. You can find most of this on the Internet and download a book or go to YouTube and see what's out there. We have Joy Bauer who takes a very rich recipe and removes most of the fat and bad calories from favorite foods that is on YouTube she's on the nbc today show most weeks with helpful information. Good luck😊

20

If you can eat meat only eat chicken without the skin and fish stay away from red meat as this seems to upset stomach more and is harder to digest. A bland diet with your stomach issues would be the best to follow. Did your GP give you a diet plan to follow. You can find most of this on the Internet and download a book or go to YouTube and see what's out there. We have Joy Bauer who takes a very rich recipe and removes most of the fat and bad calories from favorite foods that is on YouTube she's on the nbc today show most weeks with helpful information. Good luck😊