Feeling Depressed After A Heart Attack

November 06, 2008

If you have had a heart attack, you may be experiencing depression. Did you realize that your mood can also be affecting your heart health? Depression causes a lot of problems for people with heart disease: more days in bed, more visits to the doctor, more ER visits, less enjoyment of life, more medical complications, and a higher risk of death. Untreated depression can actually double the risk of another cardiac event after a heart attack! How can you tell if you might be depressed? Here are some of the symptoms to look for:

• Do you feel sad, down, or blue most of the time?
• Have you stopped enjoying activates that you used to enjoy?
• Is your energy very low or are you having problems moving at a normal pace?
• Do you have problems concentrating?
• Has your appetite or sleep patterns changed?
• Do you feel worthless or excessively guilty?
• Have you been having thoughts about hurting or killing yourself?

If you have been experiencing these symptoms regularly, you may have depression, and depression is bad for your heart.

Depressed people tend to have a poorer diet, use tobacco more, exercise less, have more stress, and don’t socialize as much. All of these contribute to an increased risk of another heart attack. Depressed people also don’t participate in cardiac rehabilitation as much and are three times more likely to not take their medications as prescribed.

Once depression is treated, people tend to have better mood, better quality of life, and take their heart medication more regularly after having and heart attack. There are many medications that are safe and effective for treating depression in people with CHD. For people who don’t want to use medicine, there are forms of therapy that can be equally effective. Some people respond very well to medication or therapy alone, but using both can lead to longer lasting improvement of depression.

People with depression need monitor their heart problems more closely. This may mean more frequent visits to the cardiologist and more frequent blood tests and ECGs. People who are depressed have a harder time taking medications regularly, so it’s important to talk to your doctor about ways to make taking medication easier. Using a weekly pill box makes it easy to see when you’ve taken your medicine. If you have to take several medications daily, your doctor may be able to simplify things by prescribing a combination pill or a medication that only need to be taken once daily. Depression is not uncommon – if you think you have some of the symptoms above, make an appointment with your doctor.

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Comments

[Viagra Online]

My mother suffered a Heart Attack and she is afraid to go back to have another heart attack

[loriwalters]

I agree with Dwayne, I was just a couple of years older when I had my first heart attack. Have them do every test under the sun. Don't take no for answer. Believe me I left alot of Doctor's office's with no answer for my problems. I now have CHF. All those years of playing their games cost me my right to a healthy life. Don't take no for an answer,

[Dwayne]

See a Cardio Dr. and demand a answer or don't pay.

[CK]

I have a question that is unrelated to this article, but didn't know how else to post. I am a 24 year old female, 5ft 7in. about 125 pounds. I have always had pretty good health. Around age 19 I had surgery for endometriosis. Then last year (age 23) I began to have several symptoms. Very high blood pressure (at times in the 180 over 110 range), left arm numbness, confusion, nausea, blackouts, faint/weak feeling, difficulty breathing when lying at an angle. I have been in to see a several doctors and several specialists but no one has been able to detemine much. They put me on something for my high blood pressure that only seems to help at times. Its as though my blood pressure goes through spikes, where usually it is normal and then it gets very high at times. My symptoms are off and on, but when they return they seem to bother me several extended times a day for weeks, then will dissappear and return again without notice. The doctors also believe I have IBS because of some traces of blood and mucus in bowel movements. I am starting to get worried that there is something more serious going on. At times I worry about driving and doing other things for fear of passing out. Can anyone help? Does anyone have any ideas about what might be causing all this?