Open heart surgery, Excercise, Weight Loss and Anxiety? (seperately or tied together)

[worktheday]

***I KNOW THIS IS LONG. I APPRECIATE ANYONE WHO TAKES THE TIME TO READ!***

I had AVR about 5 years ago, mechanical valve. I am 36 years old. I have been dealing with anxiety for years and am on medication for it.

I reached my highest weight ever about 10 weeks ago weighing 215 at 5'9". i was always in good shape amd relatively athletic, but just completely let myself go. Thats another story. I woke up 10 weeks ago and said enough is enough. I have since dropped 43 pounds and am down to 172, with my goal being about 165. I have done this by the initial 4-5 weeks exclusively changing my diet to complete healthy eating. Cut out all the junk and fast food I was literally living on. Since 3 meals, 2 snacks a day. High protein, fish, turkey, chicken, fruits and vegetables.

After losing about 20 pounds doing that during that period I have spent the last 4-5 weeks slowly incorporating a resistance program of excercise at home. First week worked out once, Second 2x, and so on till now where im working out 5-6 days a week. These exercises include push ups, crunches, multiple excercises with dumbells to work my arms, shoulders, back and lower half.

A week to the day after I began this complete overhaul, again 10 weeks ago, I ended up driving myself to the hospital on a Friday thinking i was having a major panic attack. Ended up being kept there because I was told they found my troponin levels were raised....which could of (at that time) indicated a minor heart attack. After running numerous tests over that weekend, including, multiple bloodwork, ekg's, an echo of my heart and valve, an ultrasound of my liver, kidneys and gallbladder, and then finally on monday morning a catherazation to get a closer look at my heart and arteries, I was given an "all clear". Everything looked good, valve great, heart great, EF great, no blockages at all, liver good and so on and so on. Was immediately released and told go live your life, you fine! Oh...and keep working on that weight loss.

My question immediately was "I've been here for 4 days and there is nothing wrong with me, besides needing to lose weight and get back in shape? What about these tropnin levels being elevated when i came in", and the response was "sometimes there just isnt an answer. Medicine isnt a perfect science...but your fine". I went and got a second opinion and was told almost verbatum the same thing.

All of that was background leading up till now. Since then I have still had these intermitent episodes of what feels like anxiety....at varying levels. Sometimes very slight, sometimes much worse than others. And getting to my point, I went to the hospital 10 weeks ago thinking i was having a terrible panic attack and they told me something happened with my heart. How the heck dont I know that is happening all the time now?!?! I mean, really?? What is going on with me? What am I feeling when I "dont feel good" (and yes, i really have no better way of describing it than that)???

Additionaly sometimes I feel as though I may have PVC's (Im not sure, hv never had them to the best of my knowledge) only when im working out. Just get this funny feeling in my chest, or with my heart beat. No pain or discomfort. Just weird. I dont know if its all in my head. Im also seeing a very respected therapist, who believes I have some level of PTSD due to my heart, and that I'm ok physically based on all of the poking and prodding that has been done to me, even though I have never felt as though I've had any PTSD myself.

I dont know which direction to turn. What to do. I'm not insured and have been paying out of pocket for everything...appointments, tests, etc. I dont know if my mind is working overtime right now and doing this too me, or if there is something "they havent found" (the way that I always look at it).

Anyone who has actually taken the time to read all of this thank you so much!! Secondly, if ANYONE has had any combination at all of anxiety and heart issues, or any dealings with anything I have mentioned, Troponins, etc, and has any input, opinion, etc., I'm all ears!!! I hope there are a few out there, but that you have dealt with it really well also for your own sake.

Again, I'll take ANY input at all. Thank you all again SO much for your time in advance!!!

Jay

 

[Bina]

Hey Jay, it sounds like you have the right plan; eating well and slowly increasing your exercise. Many members
on here still deal with anxiety and there are some good threads on this topic. Yoga might be a good idea.

 

[worktheday]

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond Bina!

Jay

 

[piglet]

I agree with Bina , it sounds like you are doing everything right. Yoga is a great idea. Any thing you can do that relaxes your body and soul can't be a bad thing. I've been chilling out floating on an innertube in the river near by lately and I feel so much better mentally and physically. Hang in there and don't forget to take some you time to just chill.

 

[worktheday]

piglet,

Thank you as well for responding. I'm wondering if anyone here that has gotten a chance to read thinks i should be going another direction with care. Looking into anything else? Anyone experience anything similair with the Troponin level issue and after the fact was told basically to put it out of your mind and let it go?

As always any additinal responses are appreciated!

Jay

 

[Greg a]

***I KNOW THIS IS LONG. I APPRECIATE ANYONE WHO TAKES THE TIME TO READ!***

I had AVR about 5 years ago, mechanical valve. I am 36 years old. I have been dealing with anxiety for years and am on medication for it .

I reached my highest weight ever about 10 weeks ago weighing 215 at 5'9". i was always in good shape amd relatively athletic, but just completely let myself go. Thats another story. I woke up 10 weeks ago and said enough is enough. I have since dropped 43 pounds and am down to 172, with my goal being about 165. I have done this by the initial 4-5 weeks exclusively changing my diet to complete healthy eating. Cut out all the junk and fast food I was literally living on. Since 3 meals, 2 snacks a day. High protein, fish, turkey, chicken, fruits and vegetables.

After losing about 20 pounds doing that during that period I have spent the last 4-5 weeks slowly incorporating a resistance program of excercise at home. First week worked out once, Second 2x, and so on till now where im working out 5-6 days a week. These exercises include push ups, crunches, multiple excercises with dumbells to work my arms, shoulders, back and lower half.

A week to the day after I began this complete overhaul, again 10 weeks ago, I ended up driving myself to the hospital on a Friday thinking i was having a major panic attack. Ended up being kept there because I was told they found my troponin levels were raised....which could of (at that time) indicated a minor heart attack. After running numerous tests over that weekend, including, multiple bloodwork, ekg's, an echo of my heart and valve, an ultrasound of my liver, kidneys and gallbladder, and then finally on monday morning a catherazation to get a closer look at my heart and arteries, I was given an "all clear". Everything looked good, valve great, heart great, EF great, no blockages at all, liver good and so on and so on. Was immediately released and told go live your life, you fine! Oh...and keep working on that weight loss.

My question immediately was "I've been here for 4 days and there is nothing wrong with me, besides needing to lose weight and get back in shape? What about these tropnin levels being elevated when i came in", and the response was "sometimes there just isnt an answer. Medicine isnt a perfect science...but your fine". I went and got a second opinion and was told almost verbatum the same thing.

All of that was background leading up till now. Since then I have still had these intermitent episodes of what feels like anxiety....at varying levels. Sometimes very slight, sometimes much worse than others. And getting to my point, I went to the hospital 10 weeks ago thinking i was having a terrible panic attack and they told me something happened with my heart. How the heck dont I know that is happening all the time now?!?! I mean, really?? What is going on with me? What am I feeling when I "dont feel good" (and yes, i really have no better way of describing it than that)???

Additionaly sometimes I feel as though I may have PVC's (Im not sure, hv never had them to the best of my knowledge) only when im working out. Just get this funny feeling in my chest, or with my heart beat. No pain or discomfort. Just weird. I dont know if its all in my head. Im also seeing a very respected therapist, who believes I have some level of PTSD due to my heart, and that I'm ok physically based on all of the poking and prodding that has been done to me, even though I have never felt as though I've had any PTSD myself.

I dont know which direction to turn. What to do. I'm not insured and have been paying out of pocket for everything...appointments, tests, etc. I dont know if my mind is working overtime right now and doing this too me, or if there is something "they havent found" (the way that I always look at it).

Anyone who has actually taken the time to read all of this thank you so much!! Secondly, if ANYONE has had any combination at all of anxiety and heart issues, or any dealings with anything I have mentioned, Troponins, etc, and has any input, opinion, etc., I'm all ears!!! I hope there are a few out there, but that you have dealt with it really well also for your own sake.

Again, I'll take ANY input at all. Thank you all again SO much for your time in advance!!!

Jay

Jay you state you are on medication for it but your profile shows only the blood thinner .......many drugs (Rx) for heart and nerves have the side effect of .......guess what.......weight gain!!!!! I fight a constant battle of the scale with changes to my meds (numerous see link below ) but esp with increases on insulin

 

[misaacka]

Good morning, Jay! First, congratulations on your fantastic success with healthy eating and exercise! I am so looking forward to joining you on that road once I get through my surgery next week.

I feel for you, having to deal with anxiety. It's not so much a problem for me now, but it used to be, along with depression, and I never forget what it was like. It's very hard knowing that you're predisposed to worry about things, since it means that you WILL worry about things that you don't need to worry about. But how do you know which things those are, and which ones you SHOULD be worrying about? Arghghgh!!!

In the case of troponin, I don't have any specific experience, but a quick Google search produced this: "Some people who have a heart attack will have normal troponin concentrations, and some people with increased troponin concentrations have no apparent heart injury." Evidence (along with the expert opinions of those who examined you) would suggest that you fall into the latter case.

This might also be reassuring: Causes of elevated troponin I with a normal coronary angiogram. Note specifically: "Ten of 21 patients had no identifiable cause for a rise in TnI concentration."

You can still worry about it, of course. You can continue to spend money gathering evidence and opinions. But if, as they say, medicine is not a perfect science, then you may never arrive at an explanation for your troponin levels, other than that, they just were as they were.

Keep on taking such good care of yourself—and try not to let the anxiety steal your well-being.