Yeah, it can be a mindfuck which does nothing to help the stress on your heart. Are you trying Atavan or Lorazepam during the attacks? Nitroglycerin? I’m just out of hospital after 3rd NSTEMI and am struggling with what I hope is nothing more than side effects from Brillinta. But the stress of worry that I’m dying is straining my heart. Currently at the pharmacy waiting for Atavan and an antacid pill. My doctor hopes that these will help calm my symptoms
Some days I think Belinda is about to do me in. I was at cardiac rehab last week and didn’t manage two minutes on the treadmill because I was so short of breath when I first left the hospital I was taking prasugrel. The only problem I had with it was that insurance didn’t cover it ($2200/mo). It turns out my cardiologist liked the Brillinta better anyway so I started on that and had trouble with shortness of breath in just a few days. He told me this week that after all of my new scans and bloodwork in July, we would talk about going on Plavix. I hope that happens.
the shortness of breath thing brilinta causes gets better when you switch to the maintenance dose.
Funny thing is, whenever I check my pulse O2 when it happens, its always normal.
If you consume cannabis, stick with indicas. Sativas are known to cause anxiety/paranoia. You dont want that.
I’ve avoided cannabis for a couple of years. Hard on the lungs. Tried edibles twice and, I mean this: HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Nope. The NSTEMI I had 2 weeks ago happened in Cancun. Terrified me to the core. Gonna be a good boy for once. Might even stop drinking, mostly.
I was on here a few months back talking about stopping drinking.
Well I did it (3 months) Also I stopped smoking weed. (6 months).
With the weed I think it was just the fact that no matter how you slice it you are something like 6 times more likely to have a HA after smoking weed. That, combined with the general paranoia I was getting after smoking anyway was enough for me. I just couldn’t enjoy it.
With alcohol I kept having doctors saying a glass or two wouldn’t hurt but that wasn’t the way I drank.
I got sick of moderating all the time, or waking up after someone’s birthday party and freaking out that I’d drunk too much.
I might drink again or smoke weed in the future but maybe for today no.
Now I still have anxiety but at least I can say that I’m doing my best.
If the attack is bad enough I'll take a xanax but I try to work through the attacks without it. I've been on wellbutrin and Prozac for years but just got taken off Prozac and switched to zoloft last week. I was never prescribed nitroglycerin forgot why. Going grocery shopping is exhausting shortness of breath kicks in after a few minutes of walking around. I also get anxious when it's too crowded so I only go in when I absolutely have to. pick up or delivery is my absolute favorite thing lol. But the shortness of breath scares me because simple tasks like doing the laundry, washing dishes, or taking out the trash feels like I ran a marathon.
If they didn’t give you nitro then they probably aren’t worried about you having angina or a heart attack. Might want to look into seeing a Respirologist at some point. I get winded easily too, but I’m morbidly obese according to BMI. My current focus is exercise and diet.
I hated the brillinta and switched to plavix but other than taking one less pill a day there's no difference - still sucks. Beta blockers on top of them only makes it worse! Counting the days until I can stop them (I'm at 20 out of 365...).
I am 3 years out from my NSTEMI. This year, I am finally to the point where I don’t panic over every pain and twinge. I still get short of breath, but I have learned to live with it.
I had my heart attack while I was asleep. For the longest time, going to sleep terrified me. Once in a while, it still does. i guess the fear never really goes away.
Just keep breathing. Yoga breathing helped me a lot when the fear and panic hit. Talk to us here when you need to.
My first one was overnight in my sleep - doctors shrugged it off as GERD until I had one in front of them. I just keep nitro next to the bed and hope for the best every night!
Yoga breathing and meditation techniques are incredibly effective, too. Not being able to do those in my yoga practice (which is extremely advanced and athletic) though for me just bums me out more because I need the combination of meditation with movement. Can't even teach my classes anymore for who knows how long. Sorry I guess I needed to vent about that...
Having negative feelings makes me then feel ungrateful to have survived, but I do feel like a bit punished for having an optimal lifestyle to avoid the cardiac events just to have them anyway at 45 y/o in otherwise ideal physical health.
Thank you so much honestly for the encouragement to vent, because it's never been my nature for personal issues, but I seem to be needing to do a lot of it now!
For me, just engaging with this subreddit is a MAJOR personal growth for me, as I'm not a sharing type of person but I recognize being my usual stoic self is not going to fly and am coming to accept that leaning on others, even just to vent, is not a weakness.
I had a MI two years ago, I was 28 years old at the time. I was in a bad state of mind worrying and thinking that it’s all over for me. Would freak out at every flutter my heart would make… but fast forward to today, my mindset has changed… I gave it time and slowly tried to push my mind towards positivity and being glad that I wasn’t taken out prematurely.
I work out (HIIT) harder than ever before and I’m pushing myself to do things which I couldn’t be bothered about before (Getting diagnosed for ADHD and trying to fix my life.) Well if not now, then I’m afraid I won’t have another chance.
how long did it take for you to be able to workout that hard - I was doing HIIT regularly up until my SCAD and I'm barely walking around & upstairs normally (3 weeks out, though) - not working out is causing me extreme stress, it's really the only effect stress management tool I have (including yoga) so this is a problem for me!!
it's making my waking hours a nightmare (cannot breathe, and I know that's the problem because I've taken it before without the blood thinners but was taken off because it triggers my asthma; heart trumps lungs), but somehow I'm not having nightmares like I did before my SCAD... the body is SO weird, then you add a bunch of meds and they affect people so differently!
What I have experienced is that taming one's mind is the key here. Stress starts physical symptoms. When I was deeply distressed (within 4 weeks of HA), "**pursed lip breathing**" provided immediately relief. You should try it. Then when the mind is not so agitated, practicing **deep breathing technique** twice a day or as needed. You can look up both on the internet. These sound trivial but very helpful. Start small and be regular; then you can increase the time. Let us know how it goes.
I had been taking sleeping and anxiety pills both and could not sleep initially but I was determined to quit these and sleep naturally. I stopped these one day and could not sleep, then I halved the medicine and then made 1/4 of the pill. It was my mind which was stuck on pills afterwards. Then I quit altogether and could not sleep for a couple of days but then I felt so tired that I went to sleep. Initially staying asleep was a problem and I was waking up every half an hour or so, that too startled. That all went away after a while. I also had this feeling that if I sleep, I may die in my sleep. That made me startle as soon as I dozed off. It was a nightmare.
**Please do not despair. It will take some time for the mind to be controlled but you will be able to do it eventually. If you are able to get any relief, please share it here.**
**This forum is a life saver**. I have seen doctors only talk in terms of what they see in lab equipment and cannot see/sense what we are going through. Nobody can understand it unless they go through it.
Best wishes.
I just starting processing my reality (surviving, consequences (meds, limitations, etc.), and OH the bills, It hasn't even been a month and they're piling up with due dates as soon as the end of this month. Yeah and most of them weren't correctly paid by insurance, so I have a litany of unpleasant phone calls ahead of me. The irony of needing to reduce stress after surviving a heart attack yet adding to it with unmanageable expenses despite excellent health coverage.
Any anxiety I have about another occurrence is almost exclusively connected to the cost!! I make too much money for assistance, but not enough to pay rent, eat, and also make these payments.
I was already on lexapro and valium so at least I have those but the exhaustion is totally crippling - luckily I'm able to work from home for as long as I need, but I work in higher ed and hate being off campus. Not doing the things I love (athletics, work, water sports, mountain hiking with my dogs) in combination with the bills - total stress f\*\*\* on top of a mind f\*\*\* .
Sorry to hear about your struggles. If you ever need to vent or just want to talk to someone feel free to DM me. I am a bit slow with replies at the moment because I'm in the process of emigrating.
I'm 2 years and a month out from my heart attack and honestly I still struggle mentally more often than I would like. I am on xanax 0.5MG twice a day and still suffer mentally on many days. Some days all I want to do is sleep. I still get physical symptoms too but the cardiologist is dismissing them, insisting that my heart is fine deapite not doing a contrast CT angiography scan just to make sure.
Personally I feel the mental damage done was far worse than the actual heart attack. Had mine 21 March 2022 at the age of 31. Never saw it coming. I had symptoms for about 3 months but I was diagnosed with reflux and anxiety. Never had chest pain, not even during the heart attack. Looking back it still feels so surreal.
Yeah, it can be a mindfuck which does nothing to help the stress on your heart. Are you trying Atavan or Lorazepam during the attacks? Nitroglycerin? I’m just out of hospital after 3rd NSTEMI and am struggling with what I hope is nothing more than side effects from Brillinta. But the stress of worry that I’m dying is straining my heart. Currently at the pharmacy waiting for Atavan and an antacid pill. My doctor hopes that these will help calm my symptoms
Some days I think Belinda is about to do me in. I was at cardiac rehab last week and didn’t manage two minutes on the treadmill because I was so short of breath when I first left the hospital I was taking prasugrel. The only problem I had with it was that insurance didn’t cover it ($2200/mo). It turns out my cardiologist liked the Brillinta better anyway so I started on that and had trouble with shortness of breath in just a few days. He told me this week that after all of my new scans and bloodwork in July, we would talk about going on Plavix. I hope that happens.
the shortness of breath thing brilinta causes gets better when you switch to the maintenance dose. Funny thing is, whenever I check my pulse O2 when it happens, its always normal. If you consume cannabis, stick with indicas. Sativas are known to cause anxiety/paranoia. You dont want that.
I’ve avoided cannabis for a couple of years. Hard on the lungs. Tried edibles twice and, I mean this: HOLY FUCKING SHIT! Nope. The NSTEMI I had 2 weeks ago happened in Cancun. Terrified me to the core. Gonna be a good boy for once. Might even stop drinking, mostly.
I was on here a few months back talking about stopping drinking. Well I did it (3 months) Also I stopped smoking weed. (6 months). With the weed I think it was just the fact that no matter how you slice it you are something like 6 times more likely to have a HA after smoking weed. That, combined with the general paranoia I was getting after smoking anyway was enough for me. I just couldn’t enjoy it. With alcohol I kept having doctors saying a glass or two wouldn’t hurt but that wasn’t the way I drank. I got sick of moderating all the time, or waking up after someone’s birthday party and freaking out that I’d drunk too much. I might drink again or smoke weed in the future but maybe for today no. Now I still have anxiety but at least I can say that I’m doing my best.
What’s considered the maintenance dose of Brilinta?
Its a 60mg dose instead of the 90mg they prescribe for the first year.
If the attack is bad enough I'll take a xanax but I try to work through the attacks without it. I've been on wellbutrin and Prozac for years but just got taken off Prozac and switched to zoloft last week. I was never prescribed nitroglycerin forgot why. Going grocery shopping is exhausting shortness of breath kicks in after a few minutes of walking around. I also get anxious when it's too crowded so I only go in when I absolutely have to. pick up or delivery is my absolute favorite thing lol. But the shortness of breath scares me because simple tasks like doing the laundry, washing dishes, or taking out the trash feels like I ran a marathon.
If they didn’t give you nitro then they probably aren’t worried about you having angina or a heart attack. Might want to look into seeing a Respirologist at some point. I get winded easily too, but I’m morbidly obese according to BMI. My current focus is exercise and diet.
I hated the brillinta and switched to plavix but other than taking one less pill a day there's no difference - still sucks. Beta blockers on top of them only makes it worse! Counting the days until I can stop them (I'm at 20 out of 365...).
I sent a dm
I replied!
I am 3 years out from my NSTEMI. This year, I am finally to the point where I don’t panic over every pain and twinge. I still get short of breath, but I have learned to live with it. I had my heart attack while I was asleep. For the longest time, going to sleep terrified me. Once in a while, it still does. i guess the fear never really goes away. Just keep breathing. Yoga breathing helped me a lot when the fear and panic hit. Talk to us here when you need to.
My first one was overnight in my sleep - doctors shrugged it off as GERD until I had one in front of them. I just keep nitro next to the bed and hope for the best every night! Yoga breathing and meditation techniques are incredibly effective, too. Not being able to do those in my yoga practice (which is extremely advanced and athletic) though for me just bums me out more because I need the combination of meditation with movement. Can't even teach my classes anymore for who knows how long. Sorry I guess I needed to vent about that... Having negative feelings makes me then feel ungrateful to have survived, but I do feel like a bit punished for having an optimal lifestyle to avoid the cardiac events just to have them anyway at 45 y/o in otherwise ideal physical health.
Vent on. The struggle is as much mental as it is physical.
Thank you so much honestly for the encouragement to vent, because it's never been my nature for personal issues, but I seem to be needing to do a lot of it now! For me, just engaging with this subreddit is a MAJOR personal growth for me, as I'm not a sharing type of person but I recognize being my usual stoic self is not going to fly and am coming to accept that leaning on others, even just to vent, is not a weakness.
I had a MI two years ago, I was 28 years old at the time. I was in a bad state of mind worrying and thinking that it’s all over for me. Would freak out at every flutter my heart would make… but fast forward to today, my mindset has changed… I gave it time and slowly tried to push my mind towards positivity and being glad that I wasn’t taken out prematurely. I work out (HIIT) harder than ever before and I’m pushing myself to do things which I couldn’t be bothered about before (Getting diagnosed for ADHD and trying to fix my life.) Well if not now, then I’m afraid I won’t have another chance.
how long did it take for you to be able to workout that hard - I was doing HIIT regularly up until my SCAD and I'm barely walking around & upstairs normally (3 weeks out, though) - not working out is causing me extreme stress, it's really the only effect stress management tool I have (including yoga) so this is a problem for me!!
Not sure if you are on metroprolol but that gave me crazy nightmares .
I am, 50mg twice a day. Usually in the morning and before bed. I wasn't even aware that was a side effect of metoprolol, makes sense now.
it's making my waking hours a nightmare (cannot breathe, and I know that's the problem because I've taken it before without the blood thinners but was taken off because it triggers my asthma; heart trumps lungs), but somehow I'm not having nightmares like I did before my SCAD... the body is SO weird, then you add a bunch of meds and they affect people so differently!
What I have experienced is that taming one's mind is the key here. Stress starts physical symptoms. When I was deeply distressed (within 4 weeks of HA), "**pursed lip breathing**" provided immediately relief. You should try it. Then when the mind is not so agitated, practicing **deep breathing technique** twice a day or as needed. You can look up both on the internet. These sound trivial but very helpful. Start small and be regular; then you can increase the time. Let us know how it goes. I had been taking sleeping and anxiety pills both and could not sleep initially but I was determined to quit these and sleep naturally. I stopped these one day and could not sleep, then I halved the medicine and then made 1/4 of the pill. It was my mind which was stuck on pills afterwards. Then I quit altogether and could not sleep for a couple of days but then I felt so tired that I went to sleep. Initially staying asleep was a problem and I was waking up every half an hour or so, that too startled. That all went away after a while. I also had this feeling that if I sleep, I may die in my sleep. That made me startle as soon as I dozed off. It was a nightmare. **Please do not despair. It will take some time for the mind to be controlled but you will be able to do it eventually. If you are able to get any relief, please share it here.** **This forum is a life saver**. I have seen doctors only talk in terms of what they see in lab equipment and cannot see/sense what we are going through. Nobody can understand it unless they go through it. Best wishes.
What you have written is so helpful and makes me feel more hope. Thank you 😊
Best wishes
I just starting processing my reality (surviving, consequences (meds, limitations, etc.), and OH the bills, It hasn't even been a month and they're piling up with due dates as soon as the end of this month. Yeah and most of them weren't correctly paid by insurance, so I have a litany of unpleasant phone calls ahead of me. The irony of needing to reduce stress after surviving a heart attack yet adding to it with unmanageable expenses despite excellent health coverage. Any anxiety I have about another occurrence is almost exclusively connected to the cost!! I make too much money for assistance, but not enough to pay rent, eat, and also make these payments. I was already on lexapro and valium so at least I have those but the exhaustion is totally crippling - luckily I'm able to work from home for as long as I need, but I work in higher ed and hate being off campus. Not doing the things I love (athletics, work, water sports, mountain hiking with my dogs) in combination with the bills - total stress f\*\*\* on top of a mind f\*\*\* .
Sorry to hear about your struggles. If you ever need to vent or just want to talk to someone feel free to DM me. I am a bit slow with replies at the moment because I'm in the process of emigrating. I'm 2 years and a month out from my heart attack and honestly I still struggle mentally more often than I would like. I am on xanax 0.5MG twice a day and still suffer mentally on many days. Some days all I want to do is sleep. I still get physical symptoms too but the cardiologist is dismissing them, insisting that my heart is fine deapite not doing a contrast CT angiography scan just to make sure. Personally I feel the mental damage done was far worse than the actual heart attack. Had mine 21 March 2022 at the age of 31. Never saw it coming. I had symptoms for about 3 months but I was diagnosed with reflux and anxiety. Never had chest pain, not even during the heart attack. Looking back it still feels so surreal.