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Triple Heart Bypass 12 Months Ago

Posted , 4 users are following.

Harry_A
Harry_A

Hi all, 

I ham 66 years yound and I had a triple heart bypass 12 months ago. 

It has for me been a hard and painful 12 months but mainly my left leg and foot where they  removed the vein for the bypass. 

I am happy I am alive so don't think I am moaning and I highly praise the team at Glenfield Hospital where the operation was done. 

However some 12 months have passed now and I have been suffering with my leg and foot for a long time. The pain in my foot is gout the doctor says and granted I suffered with gout before the heart attack. 

Yes it was an emecency heart bypass after a heart attack or 2. 

I am now on various tablets (pills) and obviously these are keeping me alive and looking after my heart. 

I take an aspirin (75mg) a day to keep my blood thin and also I take Atorvastatin (80mg), Ramipril (2,5mg), Furosemide (40mg), Bisoprolol (1.25mg and Allopurinol (100mg) every day. All these as well as pain killers (Paracetomol and Ibuprofen). 

Myself I feel good and my heart is fine but it is so darn frustrating that my foot lets me down because I want so much to get out and walk or ride my bike (new one) but I cannot get far without my foot hurting. 

The doctor gave me a course of colchicine but only enough for a week @2 a day but now my foot is feeling much much better. 

Now all I have to do is go back to the doctors (such a struggle to get there) for a blood test and maybe up my dose of the Allopurinol as to keep the gout away. These tablets will be for life as it will be a preventative medicine. 

Now I do not care how many tablets I have a day because I am just glad to be alive. 

I just want to share my experience with anyone out there and we can learn together and maybe give each other some ideas. 

All I want now is to get out and do some walking and to keep as fit as I can under the circumstances. 

I am a little overweight now (a lot) because when I did have my heart attack I immediately gave up smoking after being a smoker since I was 14. 

I started to taste my food better and I started to enjoy my food but I was eating too much and put a lot of weight on. 

Now I need desperately to go on a diet and to excercise more. 

So let's get together and discuss it with each other and maube try a little competition between us to who can lose the weight if you are overweight of course. 

It's been a long battle for me as is has been for many I know. 

Thank you for reading this. 

 

1 like, 5 replies

5 Replies

  • roy27
    roy27 Harry_A

    Posted

    Dear Graham, I quite agree it is good to encourage one another. I had a quadruple bypass 2 1/2 years ago (at age 68) and after 6 months had reached a plateau in recovery and have more or less stayed there. I can do most what I did before but slower and need to pace myself. On hot days for example I'm still trying to reminf myself not to try to do everything! My donor leg was the most painful part of recuperation and while it has healed well it is always fatter/heavier than the other due to rfemoval of the major vein.(Think closing a turnpike and foricng all traffic down the side roads!) In winter I wear knee length compression stocking which helps keep circulation going but in summer as I'm in shorts almost all the time I'm too proud for that. So I rest my leg up high as pften as I can and sleep with raise foor of bed to allow circulation and in the morning when I get up the leg is almost back to it's original normal size. I took Furosemide for a while but no longer necessay and am on daily aspirin 75mg, Candersartan, and Beta Blocker and that's it. So I can sympathise with the gout but thankfully don't have that. Let us know how you get on with the exercise, (I use almost daily an exercise bycicle and walk about 2 or 3 kms when I can).  Roy

    • Harry_A
      Harry_A roy27

      Posted

      Hi Roy, 

      Nice of you to reply and understad out problems. 

      My leg was the worst too and did in fact get an infection and a very bad one too. I thought at the end of the day I was going to have to have it amputated which I would not have minded, at least I was alive. 

      I too started to get the leg blowing up and especially the foot. 

      What I did was stop having salt in anything. I just did not have salt any more and I cut out sugar too in every way shape or form. 

      After a few days the swelling went down and as always it was quite normal in the mornings anyway but after stopping the salt intake and sugar intake and started a healthy food diet the swelling went right down and I was so pleased I had found a way to get rid of the darn swelling.

      I did in fact test my theory and I ordered a Chinese Takeaway meal a couple of weeks ago and I know these are full of salt and soy sauce being a killer if you have too much of that. Too much salt can give you sodium poisoning especially soy sauce. 

      Well! after my Chinese meal I relaxed and watched a movie and then had a cup of tea before bed. 

      When I woke up it was swollen more than ever and hurting too because it was so tight ready to burst it got rather painful. 

      So my test had hurt and made my foot look like a balloon. 

      No more CHinese meals and definitely no more salt. 

      The reason it has been swollen this time is because of the gout and I have read on the internet that the furosemide (water Tablets) actually can affect the kidney's and make the gout worse but this is all speculation on the internet I think because I really have had no problems whatsoever. 

      I rate my doctor highly and I trust her with my life but I do always get a second opinion on everything and read the stuff on the internet and even call the Pharmacist. 

      We will crack this swelling and get the diet correct but personally I do think it is salt that is causing it. 

  • pebbalita
    pebbalita Harry_A

    Posted

    Hi Graham

    YEAH to the weight loss get together g-fortuantelyI don't need it but have lots of other bkih=ghts .BUT in reading your pills you take I wa salerted bu=y the fact that you take IBRUFROFIN ..Dangerous if taking a Blood thinner..What I do when Silly doctors (B+Not all are aware of the dangers or =f the NEWER Blood thinners I take eliquil BUT I ALWAYS go online Internet and type in the search box drug interactions an all you do is type one at a time th drugs you are taking and Web MD pade iis the best THEY TELL YOU IMMEDIATELY OF ONE INTERACTS WOTH ANOTHER SO ALERT YOUR DOCTOR AND TELL HIMMTHAT,,Some are offended when you know more than them (Their ec=xcuse is they have no timee for internet I MAKE TIME and so should they,,it is my life and they are playing with OURS..I had MANY doctors try to give me ibrofrofin for my back injury DEFINITELY WRONG.HAD TO FIGHT WITH MY DOCTOR AND TELL HIM HE WAS KILLING PEOPLE HAHA ..BUT the YOUNGER ones are more computer literate and seem to stay on top of the NEWER DRUGS NOT JUST WARFARIN..Check out your onteractions..YOU can first  type in WEB MD ,,and then drug interad=cy=tions if easier..Good Luck it OS OUR BODY !

    • Harry_A
      Harry_A pebbalita

      Posted

      Nice of you to be concerned about Ibuprofen but I had read on internet that is is bad but I talked to the Pharmacist and he said it was bad and I should consult my doctor. 

      I did consult her and I also consulted my doctor who I was with in recovery and they both said it is ok to take for the gout pain and it will do me know harm at all for a week or two. 

      I have been taking them for about 3 weeks now and no ill efects so seems to me ok 

      I am hoping to stop the water tablets soon and I have already stopped having salt.

      Sugar was next and I have also stopped taking sugar. 

      I will lose weight and I will be walking a few miles a day soon too. 

      I am determined to do it. 

      :-) 

  • pebbalita
    pebbalita Harry_A

    Posted

    PS with excercise start slowly with our heart problems WALKING is ALWAYS Pleasant and GREAT strat.GOOD LUCK to all..OVERWEIGHT is more danger for sure!
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