Cardiac Rehab...is it really that helpful?

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Cardiac Rehab...is it really that helpful?

  • Total voters
    35
  • Poll closed .
C

Cherries4life

Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2010
Messages
22
Location
Traverse City, Michigan
I just started cardiac rehab last week, and I am actually questioning whether or not its going to be something that I will actually benefit from that much. My surgeon said it was up to me, that he felt I didnt need it but that I could do it if I wanted to. So many other people talked to me about how important it was in their recovery and that they were very thankful for it.

What is everyone elses experience or past experience with cardiac rehab? Did you find it actually paid off in the end or that you didnt need it as much as you may have thought you did?
 
My cardio said to me that Cardio Rehab is not for everyone. He sends many of his patients there but on a case by case basis. He and I discussed it and he didn't feel I would get enough out of it to be worth it. I was highly motivated, understood my body and what had happened to me, knew what proper heart healthy diet is, was not overweight, was exercising sensibly and consistently......

He made the right choice for me.
Others here have benefitted hugely from it for any number of reasons.
Know yourself and what help you need and want and what your expectations from Rehab are. Also, how good is your local Program? Is it good enough to warrant the time, energy and cost?

(My insurance would have fully covered it so I was lucky to be able to make the decision without the stress of worrying about cost.)
 
Cardiac Rehab connected me to people that had similar issues and provided me with an outlet to discuss common concerns and problems. The staff helped me understand how to exercise in a way that was safe yet beneficial for recovery. During exercise we were all on heart monitors so it provided a check to know that my heart rate and rhythm was normal. Rehab also served as a motivator to get me out of the house and exercising. I highly recommend it.
John
 
I had lots of questions after surgery, and the nurses helped answer many of them. But primarily they helped me understand how much exercise was right. Like many, I wanted to do too much too fast, and they slowed me down.
 
I didn't like cardiac rehab at all. I was the only person there under 80 and the only valve person. The treadmill was set so low, so I was always turning it up. Being there was like watching paint dry.
 
I'll make this statement about it.
If your insurance cover it. GO!!!
I have trained with high level professional trainers. I have taken nutrition and biology classes. I have also had two open heart surgeries. After surgery I found it very helpful to go to cardiac rehab and learn a new level to start my health plan from while I recover. I was limited by the nurse I worked with and got to learn better ways to monitor myself that enabled my return to health to be unhampered by injury. She was also able to teach me about things I was not able to get out of my surgeon or cardiologist due to time constraints. I was 30 years younger than the next person in my class and got to see the wonders that happened with my fellow rehabs as they got helthier. This was extreme motivation when I felt fragile.
Today I work out at the GYM and home at higher levels than I did a year ago. I went mountain biking last weekend in the cascades. I'll be playing hockey this winter. I attribute much of this from working on a solid foundation I built in just 16 cardiac rehab sessions.
 
My cardiologist told me he believes I will think it is silly and I'll be the youngest person there (28 yrs) but my insurance will pay so I'll try it out. I get nervous to do more than stroll, I'll like to be on a monitor to get my confidence back up. Also I live in hot and humid Florida so it's not advisable that I walk outside.
 
For me it was a great experience

For me it was a great experience

When I began cardiac rehab, I, too, wondered about its usefulness. As the weeks passed, however, I found that it was helpful in several different ways. First, of course was the regular exercise. Over time, the group with which I exercised became an additional support group and, as well, the physiologists that monitored us proved to be an excellent source of information when I had questions about my own progress. Finally, I realized that the program of monitoring and gradually increasing intensity of exertion served to build my own confidence that I soon truly could do whatever I wanted; it allowed me to grow beyond that initial underlying sense of fragility following surgery. Cardiac Rehab is a transitional tool that is available. Why try to reinvent the wheel and "do it yourself"?

Larry
 
When did most people start their rehab? I will start on Oct 7 at about 8 1/2 weeks post op. I think it will help me, but won't know until I start. It will run for 36 weeks. Will let everyone know then. Pat
 
I am a cardiac rehab nurse. I obviously support cardiac rehab and this is why. Many times after people go home they need their meds adjusted so we are able to watch heart rates and blood pressure with exercise and get their meds changed if needed. We also can watch heart rhythms and note any arrhythmias that might creep up. As far as going too slow. We are taught in cardiac rehab to slowly build up the exercise because the heart likes it better when you gradually increase intensity. It is not a stress test. I see a huge difference in those that start in 2 weeks vs 3 or more, because they don't get as depressed and just getting out and about improves their self worth.
 
I found it was more of a confidence booster than anything. I was able to raise my heart rate and nothing bad was going to happen and if it did I was in the correct place, a hospital.
There were about 25 people in the sessions and only 3 were valve patients and these were much younger than the rest.
The balance were all heart attack cases 60+ years, most of which appeared too had made poor lifestyle choices for decades.
The education part of the class appeared to target this group, rather than cover things like endocarditis risk for valve patients.
 
Mentu said:
When I began cardiac rehab, I, too, wondered about its usefulness. As the weeks passed, however, I found that it was helpful in several different ways. First, of course was the regular exercise. Over time, the group with which I exercised became an additional support group and, as well, the physiologists that monitored us proved to be an excellent source of information when I had questions about my own progress. Finally, I realized that the program of monitoring and gradually increasing intensity of exertion served to build my own confidence that I soon truly could do whatever I wanted; it allowed me to grow beyond that initial underlying sense of fragility following surgery. Cardiac Rehab is a transitional tool that is available. Why try to reinvent the wheel and "do it yourself"?

Larry
Click to expand...

Well said Larry! :)
 
I thought my cardic rehab was very helpful with my recovery. Before surgery I was working out at the gym about 4 days a week doing cardio on a Stairmaster. I stopped my workouts several weeks before sugery at the advice of one of the surgeons I interviewed before my surgery. The cardio program allowed me to connect with others that had under went some type of heart procedure. The cardio program also gave me the confidence to get back to the gym I soon as I finished the program. I thought it was a good experience and I believed it helped me get my strength back. You may want to ask yourself what you want to get out of the program.
 
pat45750 said:
When did most people start their rehab? I will start on Oct 7 at about 8 1/2 weeks post op. I think it will help me, but won't know until I start. It will run for 36 weeks. Will let everyone know then. Pat
Click to expand...
I started rehab the first time about 8 weeks post release but due to the cloud drugs had me in and the pressure wounds the second coma left me with i delayed it again about six more months but at that point I was probably 54 weeks post my first OHS and coma, but it would be close to 40 or 41 weeeks post my third OHS and second coma
 
I am 4 1/2 mos post op and have done 30 cardiac rehab sessions with 6 more to go. I didn't understand the need for me to go to rehab, but my cardiologist, surgeon and hospital rehab all insisted. I am really glad I did. I was fairly fit going into rehab. My "rehab person" recognized right away that I was way above the regular starter at rehab and stepped everything up for me. I did an 11 mile bike ride on the Katy trail in Missouri yesterday and actually feel great today--no sore muscles at all. (I had never done this before--so I am starting at age 59 and don't plan to stop.) So I am very thankful for rehab. I highly recommend it.
 
Cardiac Rehab

Cardiac Rehab

My experience with cardiac rehab wasn't really the norm. My cardiologist dropped me in a program at two weeks post-op to slow me down. He felt I was recovering too quickly.

The strength of the program for me was the monitoring it provided. It was pretty cool to actually see my heart get stronger. I enjoyed it.

Rehab programs aren't for everyone. My cardio doc told me he wouldn't have put me in a program under normal circumstances, but I was recovering at a rate he hadn't seen before.

-Philip
 
I was offered cardiac rehab and think you would be a fool not to use it. You find out what you can do, when to do it and at what pace. The others on my course were all in the same boat and were helpful too. My cardiac rehab nurse is a gem, she is a mine of information and her support is endless. She has access to all of my notes and if I want to know anything I ring her. What is also important is that she is registered at my hospital and has daily access to my surgeons and specialists.
She has been a true friend since meeting her, my confidence is also so much improved as it is not now, when can I do this or that, but knowing what I can do and the bounderies that must not be crossed.
 
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