mental problems with heart problems

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Arnie

First of all, I'm new here. It looks like y'all have a great site going. I did a little browsing before starting this post.

For a brief summary, I've always had a small heart murmur from a leaking valve. Medications over the last 20 years have kept my heartbeat regular. I've never been restricted in what I can do and so is still the case. However, I've had 3 incidents within the last 3 years where my heartbeat went fast and irregular....i guess they call this going out of sinus rhythm. Anyway, this last time I elected to have the cathator ablation done to correct the area causing the problem. The cardiologist said someday I'll probably have to have the leaking valve fixed. It could be 5 years from now or it could be 10 years, nobody knows for sure.

I know a lot of you probably have more serious conditions but I'm only 48 and the thoughts of going thru this years down the road have me scared. I'm wondering after an operation like the valve replacement how many people can continue to work fulltime and how normal their lifestyles can be? I can get very paranoid over this by thinking on it too much.......or am I really worrying too much?

It's really working on me mentally.
 
Welcome to VR Arnie

If and when you need to have the valve issue taken care of, fear not. Your life will be disrupted for a short time. 6 to 8 weeks and then things will start getting back to normal. Very few people have major problems (I'm not one of them unfortunately) and you go back to better then before. It takes around a year for full recovery but you can be back at work in as little as 4 weeks and your lifestyle won't change much. It depends on what valve you get. If it's a mechanical valve, you'll have to take coumadin for life to hinder blood clotting on the valve. Coumadin requires some juggling to keep in the desired range, but it's not a big deal.

Are you worrying too much-Probably. Everyone is tense and worried before surgery, that's normal. If you weren't, I'd be worried about you. It's not as bad as it sounds or seems.

Read around as you've been doing. Most, if not all of your questions will be answered this way. If you have other questions, just post em and we'll get you set up.

Again, welcome to the VR family. :D
 
Welcome Arnie! Your questions are welcome.
Do a lot more reading of the past threads. For example, there's one now on how surgery has changed our lives; I don't think anyone yet has said what I feel about how my life has changed, but I don't think I could state it clearly either.
I returned to parts of work almost immediately, and the rest gradually. At 15 months after surgery, I'm working two jobs (not my choice), and planning on an Illinois road trip for a funeral.
 
Hi Arnie-

Welcome to this fantastic site. Everyone here understands your post very well. We've all been there or have a loved one who's been there.

My husband is the patient here. He's 71 years old now, and he had his first valve surgery when he was about your age. He had his aortic valve replaced with a mechanical. He recovered just fine from that and went on to work full time for many, many years. He also had a very full life.

He has lots of various medical conditions now, but I won't get into them at the moment.

The important thing for you to know is that there is a very good quality of life after valve surgery. If you need it, it will save your life. Stick close to this very nice group of people. We'll be your cyber friends.

Take care,
 
Hi Arnie!

I am almost as new here as you are. I came into all of this by surprise -- at a routine med exam I was asked "How long have you had that heart murmur?" After that I was sternly advised to see a cardiologist for "evaluation." As I'm only 55 and otherwise in pretty good health, I thought it had to be nothing serious. Was that a shock when I was told that I have moderate (toward severe) aortic stenosis and would, at some unknown time in the future, need valve replacement.

If you look back to various of my posts, you'll see the progression the folks here have helped me to follow. It goes like so many other psychological issues, first shock, then denial, then anger, then eventually acceptance. I have come to accept the fact that I will live with the progression of the disease, then I will get the valve repaired and get on with life. The folks here have been really wonderful at showing me how to do that.

Join in - ask - speak out. We're not a bashful group and the support makes all the difference in the world for me!
 
Welcome here, you have taken one of the best steps toward dealing with your heart problem. THIS SITE.

Great people, great information and comradship.

As the others have said , read the old threads and follow some of us through our own situations. The wait will prove to be the most difficult to deal with. It is the unknown.

The medical treatment for these kinds of heart ailments are miracles that did not exist when you were born. Most of us would be dead or dying had it not been for the advances in the last 50 years and the progression is fast. Newer better almost every day.

We will be here to help and you will get first class care from any competent heart surgeon these days.

come back often and share with us.

Best

bill
 
Hey Arnie, welcome,

Hey Arnie, welcome,

I'm 3 months post-op mechanical mitral valve, 46 years old and by no means the youngest here, there are many here a lot younger & older, who have gone through various/similar procedures.

I've had a faulty valve for over 20 years, taking meds to control the irregular and rapid heart rate, surgery was always in my future. My valve was severely leaking for 8 years, but the surrounding heart tissue was strong, and I was able to continue to work F/T and put 3 children through college. (the prayer that was answered)

I've been going through rehab, and plan on being stronger and more active than I've been in a long time. My doctor extended my disability because of the trouble I'm having with medicines. I understand your fear, but this message board is loaded help and answers.

Terry40
 
welcome Arnie

welcome Arnie

Hi - I see that a lot of the experts have already replied to your initial message, and their thoughts are good as usual. I would encourage you to look at the pre-surgery section -thread on anxiety. I started that mess quite recently and can assure you that I feel a lot better about several aspects of some pending anxieties. These guys have been there/done that, and their advise can be invaluable. Don't be bashful ablut asking for help. Chris
 
Welcome Arnie

This truly is a wonderful place, please feel welcome here. Everyone before me has pretty much said it all!!!

I think what is important in your life is your relationship with your cardiologist and how you feel. My husband was diagnosed with a"leaky valve" about three years prior to his having surgery. Our cardio said that as long as he felt well, had no shortness of breath, edema, his echos were in range , etc. that he should go out and contine his normal life. About 6 months before his surgery his echo picked up more stenosis and our cardio said "about a year." Well, 6 months later he was operated on and is now back to normal better than ever!

Know how you feel, and note any change that is not normal for you. Tyce had trouble sleeping, which was our sign. When we took him to the hospital because I didn't like the way he was breathing, we found out that he was in afib.....he never felt it, but the sign was there. Four weeks later, his valve was replaced.

He is absolutely fine and back to work. He does take coumadin, but that is a non issue. There is life after VR surgery, and good life at that.

Be well.

Evelyn
 
Arnie - Welcome to the site. I hope you don't have to go through the surgery, however you do recover quite fully. As many have already mentioned we are all active and vibrant after surgery. One thing that I did give up was playing softball. I was afraid of that ball hitting me in the sternum. At 47, my reflexes seemed to be slowing down and I just thought I was getting too old for that kind of activity.
 
Yep, you're worrying too much.... but it's normal.

Yep, you're worrying too much.... but it's normal.

Arnie,

Waiting for surgery date is the very worst part of heart surgery... I promise you that?s the truth. If you weren?t worrying about it.... you?d have to be superman.

Rain
 
Hi Arnie and welcome.
If you didn't worry a little you wouldn't be normal.
Rest assured though that if and when it happens you can return to a very normal life, maybe even better than you have now.
I went back to work after ten weeks and felt great and I still do six and a half years later.
 
Y'all already seem like a great group of helpful folks.

Tonight I was asked by a daughter n law how I was healing from the ablation. My answer was "do you mean mentally or physically cause my body is doing fine physically.....the mind is another thing.

I'll take all you pros up on the post and pre operation forum and maybe it'll rest my mind a bit. I know before when I got electro converted it took awhile to get back in the mainstream mentally....no need to think this will be any different...just a matter of time and support.

One thing i wanted to mention is when i first came home from the ablation, i was immediately taken off the sotolol instead of cutting it out a little at a time. Man, what a mistake that was. I felt that even though my heart was in good sinus rhythm, the beats were more like thumps in my chest. Upon calling the cardiologist, he said some people can't drop off the sotolol that quick and ya never know til ya try. He said to go back on it being i still had some around the house and lessen it a little at a time til about 2 weeks later I'll be off it altogether. As soon as I took my first pill again, the thumps calmed to a normal heartbeat.....who would have thought?

Y'all are great. I'll take y'all up on your suggestions in the future and once i'm no longer a rookie, maybe I can also help others.
 
Arnie, I am as new to this site as you are. As for you being here a little longer and maybe being a help to others, as far as I am concerned, if you have gone through somehting valve/cardiac related or have a love one who has, then you qualify to offer advice and experience.

I'll give you, and everyone else my background. I had mitral valve prolapse since early childhood. I was never on any medications or restrictions my entire life. The only thing the prolapse did for me was keep me out of the service. Advised to go for yearly check-ups, I skipped a few (about 10 years worth) and finally started going when my son was born in 1995, I was 30 years old. The prolapse was still there but nothing major, for the next few years. As a police officer, I get physical quite often on the job and had noticed in Dec. of '97 I was getting a little more winded. This was the first time I ever felt anything in relationship to the prolapse. After a few more test's and finally a cath. on May 8, 1998, I was told I needed to have the valve taken care ASAP. Less than 2 months prior, we found out that my wife was preganant with our second child, our daughter. Talk about stressing. I had the surgery on May 21, 1998 at the age of 32. I had a St. Jude mechanical put in, as I was told there was nearly no valve left and absolutely nothing to repair. I was out if CICU within 24 hours and was walking throughout the hospital (where I work as a P.O.) within 48 hrs (100% AGAINST the doc's advice) after a short extended stay due to a DVT, I was sent home a week after the surgery. By July, I was back scuba diving and jumping on the trampoline (yes, I would go horizontal and land flat on my chest/sternum with no problems). I went back to work 13 weeks after the surgery, just after the labor Day weekend. I still work as a P.O. at the same place, go hunting, ice fishing and summer fishing, camping, scuba diving, rock climbing, boating, bicycling, swimming, softball, rollar blading and hardest of all, trying to keep up with my two kids.

The heart races every so often and I can control this with concentrated breathing and breath holding. Other than this and trying to loose some extra weight, about 50 - 60 lbs, I do nothing differently now than I did prior to the surgery. I am on coumidan and will be on it for the rest of my life.

I am told I will most likely have to have the valce replaced at least one more time in my life. I'm hoping for my 70's (circa. the year 2037 a.d.) so I can get a tissue valve and be off the coumadin in my old age.

I have some mental "hang-ups" of what I went through and what the future holds for me. But I have to deal with those one way or the other. I live every day to its best, dont let anything hold me back and pray that I am living my life to the satisfaction and pleasure of God the Almighty. (I dont always do the latter, but I try. After all, I am only human.)

Take Care and best of everything to you.

Jim

P.S. Sorry for any typos in the above.
 
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Thanks for the comeback, Jim. It makes me more confident the more posts I read that when the day DOES come that I get the valve fixed or replaced, life still goes on.....and can be normal.

Right now, being last week I got the ablation done, what I'm experiencing is paranoia. I'm finding myself checking my heartbeat on TOO regular a basis. For one thing, I was on medicine to regulate the heartbeat for over 20 years and it's strange to get up in the morning and not have to remember to take my medicine. I probably dropped off the medicine a little quick but over the last 4 days, I've been declining in its usage pretty quick with no incidents like the day after I was released.

I had the paranoia a year ago when all I got done was cardio-conversion.....and I distinctly remember it took about a month before the paranoia went away. I just hope this fix hold me for many years before I have to have the valve fixed or replaced.

I'm glad you were able to resume a normal lifestyle.....and certainly glad you didn't have to give up your job as a PO.
 
hey arnie

welcome to the site. my motto is enjoy life to the fullest. don't let the leaky valve scare you. when it is time to get a new one, just do it. don't waste anytime. the waiting is the hardest. the recovery is usually easier than the waiting time.

i had my aortic valve replaced the day after xmas. i was in the hospital for 5 days. i had the minimal invasive surgery which means they didn't crack my sternum. my recovery was very very good. i was driving within a week of being home, went back to work three weeks after the operation, was walking 3.5 miles a day and was able to pick up my kids almost immediately after coming home. i am six weeks post-op now and i am starting to jog/walk my 3.5 miles a day with the goal to eventually jog the total distance by early spring. the only bad thing that i have experienced is after the surgery my shoulders and arms hurt for a couple of weeks due to the way they stretch your arms on the operating table. my surgeon's nurse actually admitted to me that they tie you arms up so they can get the best view during surgery.


don't be afraid the surgery is not as bad as you thing. best of luck.

rich
 
Loved your story, Ticker!

Loved your story, Ticker!

Since I'm another newbie here, I do a lot of surfing around trying to get the feel of things. I ran across your story - and loved it!

It sounds like you're doing so great! I laughed when I read about you walking all over the place. Did they chase you down and tell you to get back to your area?

It's exciting that you're new daughter will have such a healthy dad.

Thanks for the uplifting story.

Mary
 
Hi Mary, Jim here.

As far as far as the floor looking for me as I walked around, that is an understatement. I was on a portable tele unit that worked on the floor. As I left the floor it was sending sporatic signals (do to the distance to the monitoring device) and the RN's began to panic. Arriving in my room I was not there and by this time, I had walked two units away and was on the elevator, heading 5 floors down, to the E.R. where I work. By this time the monitoring station was receiving no signal from my tele unit and it was just a "flat line" with me not to be found. They searched the entire floor and had all of the hospital looking for me. When I returned about 45mins later, no worse for the walk, I was threatened with leather restraints and an increase in pain medication (I never took any once the stuff from surgery wore off) which pretty much feel on deaf ears. I passed physical therapy with no problem and cardiac rehab was fun. For the last day of rehab, I took everyone out for some heavy duty eating at the local Taco Bell. So much for the cholestoral (sp?)

We are doing great over here and are currently facing a concern about high levels of hemolysis going on with me. Hopefully this will be straightened out the first week out March. Other than that, I watch myself around sharp objects (I was a sword swallower in a previous life - just kidding;)) and dont let what I had done hold me back in any way. If I did, I would have couch sores on my behind.

My 4 year old daughter calls me her "boyfriend" and me and my 7 year old son are Best Friends. We all do nearly everything together as you never know who is not going to wake up in the monring, or, in my line of work, come home that night.

Take Care and Go for whatever you want. The only thing that can hold you back is you and once yuo get that taken care of, the world is yours.

Jim
a.k.a "Ticker"
I got the nickname from a fellow officer who could hear me around the corner and it stuck. Big joke around the department now is that I cant go an any bomb scars or checks, as someone might mistake my ticking for something else and explode me. Talk about a bad a day....WOW!!
 
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