I just wanted to hear from Heart attack victims & those with CHF & edema.?

Question

Sept.'05 a car struck me and in ICU I had a MASSIVE MI in every wall of my heart with much scarring. For the next year, I had surgery to mend broken bones. I felt OK, ate, drank, urinated much,walked quite a bit, didn't feel feeble. Leg healed. I take aCE-inhibitors,Hydrazaline for BP. MY bloodwork for liver/kidney/lipids/etc was A-OK. NOv.06 I sudenly swelled up w/pitting edema and weak breathing, gasping, drained feeling, MY
thighs, legs, calves, ankles, & abdomen feel such pain a& pressure from water trapped inside, My outer skins feels like leather. My legs are rigid, cannot flex anymore. & all the diuretics, ALL of them make no uRINATION at all. a CUP O COFFEE WILL MAKE ME URINATE MORE. mY EJECTION FRACTION IS 50%. & they tell me that diuretics per se, have no direct effect on water overload in tissues spaces. body must wait till this fluid reabsorbs across the capillaries. I am in great pain from this CHF & edema. How many years can somone survive, like this,?

Answer 1

If your ejection fraction is 50 percent then that is one good thing you have going for you. Have you tried different diuretics? Some people respond better to aldactone or bumex than lasix. Have you been to cardiac rehab? Ask your doctor about a beta blocker to help heart function or even the old standby lanoxin.Are you a candidate for a heart transplant? Has this been offered to you? To be put on the list? I am sorry to hear of your plight. I will pray for you. Keep the faith and you can survive a long time... for many years to come.

Answer 2

My father was 63 when he passed away but he had a heart attack 10 years earlier. He finally passed away of Lung failure. He ok for the first 6 and then he started walking very very slowly. He had edema and his diuretic medicines worked for a little while untill he had to go to the nursing home because he would fall down when he stands up somethings (Pain). Diuretics stopped responding and he was always 30 pounds heavier with water. He suffered 4 cardiac arrests from CHF and then his lungs just stopped working from the backflow.

Answer 3

THIS ARTICLE MIGHT HELP YOU SORTING OUT YOUR PROBLEMS:

Treatment

Your doctor or a mental health professional may suggest a combination of medications and behavior therapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The objectives of treatment are to reduce your emotional distress and the associated disturbances to your sleep and daily functioning, and to help you better cope with the event that triggered the disorder.

Medications

* Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). These antidepressants act on the chemical serotonin, the neurotransmitter in your brain that helps brain cells (neurons) send and receive messages. SSRIs include fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), citalopram (Celexa), fluvoxamine and venlafaxine (Effexor XR). These medications can help control anxiety as well as depression.
* Tranquilizers. Medications such as clonazepam (Klonopin) and lorazepam (Ativan) may decrease feelings of anxiety.
* Cognitive-behavior therapy. This treatment teaches you effective ways of managing thoughts or situations that remind you of the trauma you've experienced. You and your psychotherapist can draw up a list of situations or memories that cause anxiety. You gradually expose yourself to more anxiety-provoking thoughts and situations while learning that your body calms itself through a process called habituation. Repeated exposure to sources of anxiety diminishes your fear so that you no longer need to avoid certain situations and thoughts. The goal of this therapy is to promote a sense of recovery and a feeling of mastery over your anxiety.
* Stress management training. This approach also involves learning to manage your anxiety through relaxation. You work with the help of a therapist to develop skills to decrease your preoccupation with negative thoughts and the sense of being overwhelmed by the traumatic event.
* Cognitive therapy. You identify, with your therapist's help, distorted thoughts and beliefs that arouse psychological stress. You learn ways you can view and cope with a traumatic event differently, and you learn alternative beliefs about the event and the impact it has on your life. There is special emphasis on learning to develop a sense of mastery and control of your thoughts and feelings.

Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder with behavior therapy can be effective, and the prognosis for long-term success is good.

BEST OF LUCK MY UNKNOWN FRIEND.