Yes, I’ve had a heart attack, just before christmas last year. By all accounts it was relatively mild, not that it felt it at the time. I was hospitalised for just under a week and had an angiolasty and two stents fitted.
Since leaving I’ve been on a regime of drugs to prevent a recurrence and have adopted a healthier lifestyle (not that I felt my old one was unhealthy, but obviously some aspect of it must have been).
I also had a six week cardio rehabilitation programme, which was fantastic and helped to regain my confidence in carrying out physical activity.
One of the thing about heart attacks that is rarely mention is the psychological effects as well as the physical. I found my self confidence to be diminished and still get concerned at slight twinges in my chest.
On a positive note it forced me to change my life, I changed jobs, walk more and exercise more regularly than before and limit my fat intake. I’ve lost nearly a stone in weight and am fitter now that I was before in many respects.
On a downside, the drugs do make me tire more easily and I also find that I bruise more easily and bleed for longer due to the anti-coagulants etc.
It was a very scary experience, but I have managed to find some postives in it.
I’d be interested in learning from those who had them, and are here to tell their tales, about whether there were any noticeable symptoms in the days, weeks, months, prior to their attacks. Are there any tell-tale signs of an impending heart attack, or do you usually know about it when you’ve had it?
I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my case the symptoms were only obvious after the attack.
I went to the gym and boxed (for exercise not competitively) every week and thought I was in pretty good shape, if slightly overweight, which I was doing something about.
With hindsight I should have noticed that I got a burning feeling in my chest at times in very cold weather, this is apprently an angina like symptom.
My actual symptoms started a few days before the attack and started out as a pain in my left wrist. I assumed this was an injury obtained from “overdoing it” on the punchbags and carried on.
The Friday before my attack (which was on the Tuesday), I was assisting my wife with the housework and had pain in my arm and shortness of breath.
Got an apointment with my GP who arranged an ECG, which was normal. He gave me a GTN spray as a precaution. I was fine for the next few days (until Tuesday).
During my rehabilitation we were told that “chest pain” can manifest in a variety of ways and that not all are obviously linked to the heart. One person we were told about thought he had toothache until he was informed he had had a heart attack.
This has probably not answered your question very well, hopefully someone else has a more definitive answer.
Kalhoun, does your SIL’s doctor’s hospital have programs to assist patients with recovery? The hospitals in Madison have wonderful facilities including a gym that only rehab patients can use that is presumably manned by professional staff. Patients are actually ordered to use the gym facilities for a certain number of weeks post-surgery. I would think that would go a long ways toward helping to restore her self confidence. A consistent amount of “normal” housework also has cardio benefits.
When my ex had his post-angioplasty counseling ten years ago, there was an older woman attending who said that one main symptom of her heart attack was pain running from her shoulder through her neck. I think she said it was sort of a burning, clenching pain. That is supposed to be one symptom that is different between men and women.
Mayo Clinic has a fantastic web site that I bet would contain a lot of valuable information.
Yeah, I think it’s two different things. They did the ballon angioplasty (I think that’s the Great Thing) and then installed a balloon pump which I think must be this
She said sweating, nausea and a sharp chest pain were the symptoms for the “pre” heart attack. The doctor said she had one three days prior, but it was small and she got over it in an hour or so and went about her business.
Sweating, chest pain, and the like also accompanied the big one. What she DIDN’T have was the pain in the arm. She never lost consciousness.
Very interesting about the shoulder/neck pain. I dont’ think she had that, but it’s good to know. I wonder why that is??
She’s going to Northwestern Hospital, with heparin maintenance a couple miles from her home. The “study” doctors are going to MRI her multiple times each year, which I think is a real advantage over the typical heart patient (from what they told her, anyway).
She said she feels pretty damn good considering what her body has been through. She tires more easily and has begun napping every day.
Yes, she’s subscribed to the Mayo Clinic newsletter for years now. I’m sure she’s scouring all her back issues for articles.
The fear…that is the part she’s struggling with right now. How long will it be before she feels that she can be alone??
The fear of a recurrence is the hardest thing to come to terms with, not to mention the fact that you can’t do everything you used to. I have had a few sessions with a medical psychologist who said that the mental processes you go through after a heart attack seem very similar to the process of dealing with bereavement.
There is no set time limit for recovery, she will hopefully adjust in her own time. It may take a year or more, according to my GP.