Have you ever found yourself wondering, “Is it normal to feel like this?”

Perhaps you’ve had a heart attack, heart surgery, a cardiac arrest, or received a cardiac diagnosis, and since then, you’ve been feeling anxious; maybe frightened, overwhelmed, angry, tearful, or simply not like yourself.
If so, I want you to know that you’re not alone.

One of the things I hear most often from people in our heart community is that nobody warned them about the emotional impact of what they’ve been through. They expected their body to need time to recover, but they weren’t prepared. No one told them about the fear, the sleepless nights, the racing thoughts, the loss of confidence, or the feeling that life suddenly feels very different.

In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about why these feelings are so common after a cardiac event, when they may be a sign of trauma rather than simply the “cardiac blues,” and some gentle steps you can take to support yourself through this difficult time.

Listen here and read on for more ...

Wherever you are right now, take a slow breath, get comfortable, and remember this:

What you’re feeling may be frightening, but you’re not facing it on your own. Let’s begin.

Suffering from anxiety, breathlessness, panic, sleeplessness, anger, loneliness, frustration, sadness, grief, fear? All of these feelings are completely normal to experience after a cardiac event.

Your body has been through so much. You don’t feel like the person you were before the event so of course you are going to grieve for that feeling of normality. The frustration of not being able to do normal everyday things like walk upstairs without getting breathless. Maybe not being able to play with the children or grandchildren? Sadness will kick in.

The important thing to remember is even though you feel alone, you are NEVER alone. Even if you live on your own there is help and people to talk to all around you!

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD is widely associated with events like a serious accident, violent assaults or even coming back from war. However, it also can be brought on by serious health problems, exactly like a cardiac event, heart attack or heart surgery.

The symptoms can range from severe anxiety, a high increase in irritability or anger, flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of hospital appointments or doctor’s appointments or even taking the prescribed medication, negative and intrusive thoughts and sleeplessness.

Each of us is different and so is how these symptoms manifest.

Certain triggers of avoidance can be not wanting to go to your next appointment at the hospital or with your primary doctor for the fear of what they will say on your check-up. You may even fear taking your medication because you don’t want to face what is happening to you. In the short term you are putting off something which is needed to help your recovery but in the long term this could make your condition worse and for surgery slow your recovery.

Flashbacks can happen at any point in the day or night.

They can strike when someone talks about your surgery or condition, or if you smell the same cleaning product they used at the hospital. Maybe even just walking out your front door into fresh air reminds you of going into hospital? It can be something very simple yet very frightening. The nightmares that wake you up and keep you awake, scared to go back to sleep – yes, this is also a symptom of trauma. In the short-term feeling like you have even less energy and increasing irritability and ability to function. In the long term, not letting your body rest through sleep will make your condition worse.

Increased irritability and anger

These feelings are very common with people suffering from PTSD. It is not just a slight increase because of your condition, I mean a very high increase. Angry that your body is not working as it used to and angry at yourself for not being able to do anything about it or to avoid it in the first place. Angry at everyone else for not understanding what you are going through, then angry at yourself again and feelings of guilt because you know they never could understand. It can be a very lonely time even if you have a lot of people around you.

What I am going to say to you now, you will find hard to believe if you are in the early stages of your diagnosis/cardiac event.

These feelings are temporary and can be relieved

Your first port of call must always be to your primary care doctor. Trauma symptoms, as I have explained, can alter recovery time depending on how frequently these feelings occur. Doctors are there to listen to you and keep an eye on how you are progressing. They will refer you to a therapist if it is not something they can solve.

But what if you feel you need to start helping to ease these feelings sooner than you can get to your doctor or therapist? Well, there are plenty of things you can do yourself to aid your recovery from the trauma of a heart attack or heart surgery.

- Talk, talk, talk and when you think you’re done, talk some more! This does not have to be to your doctor. It can be to a family member or friend, neighbour, support group or helpline, even a complete stranger who has been through something similar can be a good start. Talking things through can help you to start to come to terms with the events that have happened to you. It can make you start to accept how things are and put things into priority and order. Your friends and family need to know how you feel and communicating with them as to what you need will help.
- Ask questions! The fear you feel may stop you from wanting to ask these questions. But speaking to your doctor or cardiologist about your fears and asking them what to expect will help you to realise how things are and how you can adapt.
- Make sure you are as positive with yourself as you can be. Every time you feel a negative thought enter your head try and say out loud some positive sentences before it overwhelms you. Things like “this is a temporary feeling” “I can recover from this” “I have a great support network around me”
- Practising self-care is a must! Eat healthy, take a bath, watch your favourite film, listen to your favourite music, even stroking your pet cat or dog can bring positive feelings to the forefront. Any time you feel anxious or frightened do something which makes you happy!
- Another brilliant way of coping with these symptoms is journaling. Writing everything down, getting all your fears, anxieties and emotions down on paper! Start with what you have done that day, how you felt. Good and bad. It doesn’t even have to be done every day. Research has shown that 15 minutes 3 times a week gives increased feelings of positivity.

If you take it one day at a time, after a month, you could start to see changes and how far you have come. Reminding yourself of how you overcame those feelings. Writing really does help. Take your time with it.

Knowledge is power!

Reading is not only a peaceful exercise for you to practice, but learning more about PTSD and how to cope with it is something you can do to help yourself. Here’s a list of some books out there for you to start:

- 50 Things to Know About PTSD: You Don’t Have to Suffer Alone: 50 Things to Know About Life, Relationships, and Personal Growth for Adults: Practical Guides for Everyday Life.
- An Introduction to Coping with Post-Traumatic Stress: This self-help guide uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) strategies with a trauma focus to help you to manage your reactions to the traumatic experience and find new, effective ways of coping.
- Overcoming Trauma and PTSD: A Workbook Integrating Skills from ACT, DBT, and CBT. It offers the best skills for specific symptoms so readers get the quickest relief from flashbacks, insomnia, and other symptoms, and so will have the best chance of recovery.

I have written two books that are available on Amazon.

They are not specifically about PTSD, but will support you and help you through your recovery from your first diagnosis. You’ll also get to read about other survivors’ experiences.

- The Beat Goes On – Supporting you with the practical and emotional side of life when living with heart disease when you’re first diagnosed.
- Beyond the Beat – Your guide for before, during and after heart surgery or a heart attack for emotional resilience.

Everyone who experiences cardiac events, heart attacks, valve replacements, internal devices or heart surgery is likely to get the ‘cardiac blues’ this is normal and will pass. Increased feelings or prolonged feelings, as I mentioned above is a sign of PTSD. A lot of us have experienced this; you are not alone.