Life After Angioplasty

[theblind1]

I had a stent inserted after suffering a heart attack from an obstruction in the circumflex artery that was classed as creating unstable angina. I gather from a lot of comments from the surgical team and the fantastic people who cared for me so well from the very 1st minute , that I am one lucky man , as so few people who have an attack of this nature and have no history of angina , actually make it to the hospital to be given the chance that I was .
I guess the questions I have are , is it normal to feel semi useless after a great recovery ? by this I mean the way it feels to have no confidence in your body anymore and to see others treat you as tho your going to cause them a problem by having another heart attack ? { ie I felt great and recovered well physically , but seem to have some sort of delayed mental thing 3 months later )
What are my chances of recovering to the point where I can trust my body again and am not seen as a bad risk for simple things , such as travel insurance or going off to places not close to major medical care ?




This discussion is related to Catheterizations.

[pilgrim56]

I had a heart attack a little over 3 years ago.  A stent was put in my circumflex. I went through many of the things you went through. I felt a loss of confidence in my body. About one month after my heart attack, I started to show symptons of depression, primarily problems in sleeping. I would fall asleep at night but wake up a few hours later and be awake the rest of the night. I also started to have crying jags for no reason. I talked to my doctor about my problems and she put me on Zoloft which was a big help. Within a week or two, I felt normal.  The other thing that help me was going to rehab. By exercising under supervision, I regain my confidence that I could do things and that my life was not over(I was 53).  I also met other people at rehab who had gone through worse things than I had and they came back.  It gave me confidence that I could come back as well.

I also tlak to my doctor about my lack of confidence and my sense of loss.  She told me that my old worldview had been destroyed with my heart attack, but my new worldview was not yet built. It would come but it would take time. She said take it one day at a time.

I went back to work part time about 2.5 weeks after my heart attack. My colleagues were very sympathetic but tended to treat me as china doll or invalid. I had to keep tellling thne I was not made of glass, that it would take some time but I would be back to 100%.  

It took a few months to feel 100% but I feel great. I've changed my lifestyle to healthier eating and alot of exercise.  I am stronger than ever.

In closing, you are experiencing the same thing that others have felt when they have had heart attacks. It's normal. Your life is not over. It will take some time and effort on your part, but you can, and will, come back.

Hope this helps!

[theblind1]

Thanks for that , just what was needed :)