But after someone has experienced an attack, they convalesce in hospital, they get better, then they are discharged. Except it doesn’t really work like that!

It is true that they are kept in hospital until they are well enough to go home, but this may only take a few days. The important thing to remember is that they have experienced an enormous shock and part of their heart has effectively been ‘killed off’ by the experience, which is referred to as a ‘myocardial infarction’ in medical terms. So the heart is damaged and although the heart will heal (the damaged part of the heart will have a scar formed over the dead tissue), it is still a time that is traumatic and stressful not just for the person who has had the heart attack, but also the friends and family of that person.

Psychological Impact

There is a huge psychological impact experienced when someone has a heart attack. In a sense it is a brush with death. Some people do not make it through and often people assume that if you survive it, you were ‘lucky’ and that you will be fine. This could be viewed as being a positive approach, yet on the other hand it ignores the gravity of the situation. 

The majority of people who have had a heart attack are really worried that they will experience another at any point. Indeed, most of the literature that you are given in hospital indicates that the risk of a secondary heart attack is greater in the first couple of months after the first until the scarring is formed. So the person who has been ill is still struggling with the concept that they could have died and they could also face another heart attack. 

These fears and anxieties are real, with cardiologists indicating that over 40% of people who have had a heart attack experience real stress, anxiety and fear. Brushing these fears and anxieties under the carpet and pretending that everything is fine does little to address these concerns. Ignoring these fears allows them to breed, so the important thing is to communicate. Not everyone likes to talk about their deepest fears or what happened, but to others it can make a huge difference because they feel that they are being heard and their concerns are being taken seriously.

Physical Implications

After discharge from hospital someone who has had a heart attack will also be physically weak. They have had an enormous physical shock and the body almost shuts down to promote the healing process. This results in the body being much weaker than prior to the attack and walking, physical activity, even very gentle activities will be limited for an initial period.

There can be a tendency for the partner/’carer’ to do everything for the person who has had the attack, but they need to undertake activities and build up their strength again, so in a sense it is a team effort. They need to put the effort in to build themselves up; you need to relinquish control and let them take the risks and do things that will help them to regain their strength and physical capability. It sounds easy; in practice it is really difficult to achieve that balance between caring and empowering them to take control of their lives and their bodies again!

Practical Ways To Help

Finally there are some practical ways to help someone who has had a heart attack. Obviously try to reduce or minimise any other stress that may be in their lives, but try to ensure that you make them look after themselves in terms of diet as well as exercise. Eating oily fish at least twice a week and 5 portions of fruit and vegetables every day will help protect the heart and ensure that clots don’t form. This diet needs to be a way of life, not an optional extra!

It does take time to recover from a heart attack and many people find that it takes a long, long time.   But with the right type of love and support the journey back to good health can be achieved and life can soon be a lot easier and a whole lot less stressful.