The build-up to the diagnosis of a heart condition is often sudden and unexpected. And when you or a loved one is dealing with the after-effects of a heart-related emergency, it can be understandably emotional.
Whatever the underlying cause for the emergency, if the diagnosis is heart failure or some other heart-related condition, you are faced with an avalanche of new information to understand, behavioral changes to make, and medications to incorporate. The good news is that most people will have many treatment options and can even take personal action to improve their situation.
How life changes after a heart condition diagnosis
Don’t be surprised if you’re overwhelmed initially with the ordeal of an event and all the new details to consider. You and your physician will talk through the changes that will impact your daily life. You will probably need to keep to a series of appointments initially until your recovery is further along.
At first, these steps might feel drastic, but expect it to take a while—forming new habits always does.
Depending on your diagnosis, for example, you might be instructed to do some combination of the following:
- Track your vitals and physical changes. A new part of your routine may mean tracking your blood pressure, weight, temperature and heart rate. You might also be advised to be on the lookout for other signs of a problem such as shortness of breath, racing heart, and retention of fluid in your ankles. As per the article “Managing Heart Failure Symptoms” over at The American Heart Association, tracking alerts you to changes, and helps provide motivation to keep at your new lifestyle habits.
- Improve your diet. The extent of your dietary changes will depend on your food choices before the diagnosis, but in most cases you’ll be advised to lower your salt intake, eat more unprocessed foods, cut back on alcohol, and stop smoking. These might very well feel like restrictions at first, but in many cases when it comes to your menu you can replace some foods with others and not notice much difference.
- New medications. There may be new medications required to maintain and improve your situation, too. If you’re already taking medicines. it might not be an issue to add new ones—but a lot will depend on your diagnosis. Heart failure, for example, may require a number of additional prescriptions that are time-sensitive, so you’ll need to pay attention, particularly in the first few months of your new routine.
- Increase activity. No matter what the underlying issues are of your heart condition, increased activity will be an important component in improving your health. This may be a difficult change. Over at Healthline in the article “7 Lifestyle Changes to Make After a Heart Attack,” they suggest having a friend or family member help hold you accountable to your commitment might help.
Here is how you can feel empowered in your plan
It can be tough to make the drastic shifts in lifestyle required rafter a heart condition is diagnosed—but there are treatments and options. And, if it seems too much to handle on your own, there is help on the in-home care front.
Once you have the medical instructions and a list of actions to take from your physician, it’s time to plan and prep your way to recovery. This is where services from a home service care provider can come into play for the short or long-term depending on your needs.
Over at Home Health Companions, we offer private duty nursing staff specifically prepared to assist with heart condition tracking and ongoing care. Often, this service means a shorter stay in the hospital, which saves expense. In-home nursing is often only needed for a short period of time until a transition to maintenance in your “new normal.”
Once you’ve recovered from the initial heart event, it will be time to transition to ongoing care as your personal situation requires. Our certified nursing assistants over at Health Home Companions provide medical care for tracking of vitals, medication monitoring and companionship, and even light household support.
How to find your “new normal”
No doubt, you might have feel like you were thrown a curve ball with the new heart diagnosis, but take heart (ahem) because there are many medical treatments available to ease you into a new normal and improved quality of life going forward. Be gentle with yourself, because recovery and lifestyle changes will take time.
And recognize you’re not alone, too. This could be a great time to advocate with family and friends around the reality that Americans are particularly impacted by heart disease. Over at Science Daily in the article “Nearly Half of All Adult Americans Have Cardiovascular Disease,” the stats are daunting, and the causes are no surprise. Factor such as diet, smoking, and inactivity have escalated the issues of heart disease most notable in high blood pressure for many.
Your plan of action is your lifeline to feeling in control of the situation, and making informed decisions will help set you at ease. Lean on friends and family as you need, and recognize that in-home care might be the perfect option—short or long-term—to get on with your daily life with the assurance you’re doing all you can to live your best.
Bibliography:
https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/lifestyle-changes-after-heart-attack#4
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190131084238.htm