Heart Problems: After Fear Comes Work

Whether it’s your life that’s threatened or the life of a family member, a diagnosis of heart disease is scary. It will mean significant changes in your life. That includes a lot of work, for everyone involved.

The Importance of Calm: Studies indicate that heart attack patients who are calm about their condition have a higher rate of recovery. Yes, it’s a new and frightening chapter of your life, but remaining calm is crucial. If you’re having difficulties with this, speak to your doctor. There are a variety of tools that can help you achieve the needed peace of mind.

Cardiac Rehab: Exercising with heart disease, particularly when you’re first diagnosed, can be problematic. A program has been established to help you learn what to do and how to do it. It’s also in a controlled environment, with people trained to see signs of heart stress and take care of any difficulties that might occur. It’s easier on the mind to know that trained medical personnel are ready to take care of you should something happen.

Diet Search: You will be given a list of “don’ts,” especially in the food area. That is depressing, so you’ll want to find a list of things you can do…and that you like…in that department.

I’ve used a variety of websites to help me find healthy recipes that fit into a heart healthy diet and they may help you. Trust me, after a couple of years with only poultry, fish and vegetables on the menu, finding a new way to disguise the taste of chicken is going to be a high priority.

Workouts After Rehab: Exercise is going to be another fact of life, but you may have to change what you were doing before. Depending on the diagnosis, you may find hiking to be far too strenuous, whereas walking on a treadmill is fairly easy. Your doctor and the rehab specialist will help you know what to do and for how long.

Continued Testing: Heart disease has a nasty habit of progressing. Maintaining a testing schedule is imperative to staying alive. Your doctor will tell you how often you need to be tested and whether or not it will include a stress test. A stress test shows how your heart functions under stressful situations, and is very important.

Yes, all of this is frightening. It’s also a lot of work. Keep in mind, you aren’t in it alone. Your family, friends and medical team will help you so that you can have a good quality of life despite the diagnosis.


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *