Groups explained
Groups are mini communities on topics of special interest such as a local fundraising branch or an international trek, You can suggest a new group at the bottom of the group home page.
Introduction to our community guidelines
Welcome to our community guidelines discussion, thanks for stopping by.
Our community is a place where you can get support from other people like you and meet other people in similar situations. It’s here for anyone who has an interest in heart disease or the British Heart Foundation.
hello to all on this site!
I have only just registered and this is my first post, so here goes....
I am a 62 year young retired primary teacher living in Worcester, a lovely area of the country.
I am married to my lovely hubby for 31 years and we have 3 children between us and 7 grandchildren altogether and my hubby now has a great grandson too!
I suffered a cardiac arrest in may 2007 after having had a pacemaker fitted in december 2006 due to bouts of passing out coupled with vomitting for hours on end! all very distressing but at last the cause was found although this was not too big a surprise to me as I have a family history of heart problems. I was not fully recoverd after the pacemaker insertion when the CA happened and then the PM had to be removed for the ICD to be fitted and then I took a while to recover again.
all was well till may of this year when my ICD revived me and i have been struggling to come to terms with it all since then, been suffering from emotional roller coaster, loss of confidence in going anywhere alone and I suppose meeting my own demons head on this time.
i would love to chat with anyone else with this ICD problem please to share feelings, thoughts etc I hope it may help me over this tough time.
best wishes and good health to all, Margaret
Hi Margaret,
Welcome to our new online community - it is great that you've found us!
Thanks for posting your first comment, there are a few other places that you may want to look at on our community to meet others with ICD. If you look at the Introductions section you can see what other people are saying about their stories and also there are a few conversations in our Living with heart condition section and also Conditions section.
I hope that helps and once again a huge thank you for joining the community and for posting. If you have any questions let me know.
New to you, I kinda feel strange contacting you, as its not me it is my husband now 37 with the heart problem. But the worry is there all the same. I've just turned 30 this month and have been on my own dealing with the care since july 2006. My husband had a major MI but on the contact to the GP he was perscribed anti sickness drugs over the phone, by the time he had the help he needed it was too late for full recovery, he had an emergency stent fitted the next morning and 2 years later an ICD, we have had very little support, and still dont fully understand as to whats actually the verdict or diagnosis and still he cant do lots of things, we tried him at rehab but was told he is too unwell. we have a daughter who is now 6 and its amazing how restrictred even her life is. luckily she was only 1 when he got sick she doesnt know much different. He runs a busy garage and MOT centre which is strugging financially now after holding on for several years as he cant go in and manage the place like he used to do, he is depressed but hopefully ive now found a place where others are suffering the same. life may not seem quite so lonely.
yours sam xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
hi sam, good that you have joined this online community, i only joined a week or 2 ago.
seems like us folks with ICD fitted are few and far between! but the BHF are very good and will talk to you any time about any problems, depends how much you/hubby want to know though, some folks rather stay in the dark but i try to find out as much as i can about it all. but thats just me!
it is very difficult but must be even more so when you are so young and have young family too.
have you looked to see if there is a local Heart Support Group? i recently found one and went to my 1st meeting 2 weeks ago, among the many members there was only 1 other with ICD in this area (who belonged to the group of course) but everyone was very friendly and welcoming and even though they had different heart problems could appreciate my worries and feelings just the same. you could join without hubby if that suited you, they give lots of support.
i wish i had been pointed in their direction 4 & 1/2 years ago after my CA and ICD fitted, seems like we dont get the after support we should. i think emotionally it is VERY hard to come to terms with adn after my 1st ICD "event" in May this year i have been struggling and very tearful and emotional and not sleeping well. however my brother who is 18 mnths older than me had an ICD fitted in Greece where he was living some 18 months or so after me.. how strange is that?.. and has now told me he has been having emotional problems too, seems he would just burst into tears at the drop of a hat, then it was found (not sure by whom) that it was one of his pills, and since stopping it he is better, but maybe he just got over it a bit? who knows, but at least we know others are feeling the same, this does help a little i think.
hope you and hubby keep well, i was my hubbys carer before all this so know how it feels to be looking after someone with poor health.
1 last point, DO NOT be afraid to ask for help wherever it is offered, this is something that comes hard to us all but can make a lot of difference to our lives.
regards, margaret in worcester
Hi Margaret Thankyou so much for your kind words, after reading the other discussions am shocked to see how many of us are in the same boat, and how little after care there is. Seems the british heart foundation are a saviour to lots of us. I have tried to find a support group but unfortunately the nearest one is in the city some 15-20 miles away. and hubby very shy about his condition doesnt like us making a fuss. I call it being practical, my little girl has been playing the games on the kids site. she thinks its great. stay in touch love sam xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I never knew the BHF had such a good website! Only till today have I really looked around! I must say the 'Mending Hearts appeal' is a beautiful and deeply affective video.
I've only just joined up to the BHF, I am a first year student nurse and very much want to specialise in the heart!!!! :)
Dannie.
Hi
http://community.bhf.org.uk/group/discussion/icd-implanting
Margaret and Sam
I saw your post on ICD and I also saw this link to the subject so I hope this will be of use to you;
Take care of yourself and click on the links
Tina-marie
Hi my name is Lesley I am a 62 year old lady and was told that I had 50% LAD back in Oct 2008 after the shock of being told I was put on medical management I also got depression and was treated for that for 6 months.
Three years later I had a bit of a blip last year so they decided to give me an stress echocardiogram which showed yet again that I had a small blockage and I have been referred back to the Hospital.
The problem that I have is I also suffer with Health Anxiety in which I always worry that something is going to happen to me, I have had it most of my life on and off and have done CBT.
Having Health Anxiety means that I am inclined to look things up on the internet and of course I have looked up my conditions and have read that having a blockage in the LAD over the others can be very bad if you have a heart attack. So now I am getting more anxious. I am on tablets again at present to try and reduce my anxiety.
Has anyone esle been this way and how did you deal with it. Also if you are only on medical management how have you cope with that?
I find the BHF website very useful and have spoken to one of the nurses some time back.
Lesley
All looks good