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Rehabilitation after heart attack

What is the goal of rehabilitation after a heart attack?
Heart attack is the term for the acute incident in which one of the heart's arteries, coronary artery, becomes clogged and there is acute chest pain. Myocardial infarction is defined as the result of a heart attack, where a larger or smaller portion of the heart muscle dies and is replaced by fibrous tissue that can not contract. Whereas the objective of acute treatment of a hjertattakk is to restore blood flow and save most of the heart tissue, as is the purpose of this treatment (recovery) promoting healing of the heart and prevent another heart attack.

Cardiac rehabilitation begins while in the hospital, depending on the severity of the heart attack. The program continues for weeks to months after you have returned home. Research shows that home-based cardiac rehabilitation is probably as effective as institutional. A program for cardiac rehabilitation focuses on three main areas:

  • Lifestyle Changes
  • Medications
  • Emotional issues

If you have had a heart attack - which means that you have coronary heart disease - you will receive detailed instructions on rehabilitation after leaving hospital. Follow these instructions carefully. The following is therefore general guidelines for an uncomplicated heart attack.

Back to most normal life

Work. How soon you can return to work depends on the severity of the heart attack, and what impact you have in your job. At a moderately large and uncomplicated heart attack, you can, if you feel fine and have no symptoms usually return to work and the previous level after about two weeks, resuming sexual activity after 7-10 days, driving for a week and travel with fly after 2 weeks. If you've had a heart attack complicated, or you still have symptoms, you should wait at least 2-3 weeks after symptoms are gone before you drive.

Follow-up. After a heart attack, you need careful monitoring. Coronary heart disease is a chronic, often accelerating condition. Changes in risk factors will only reduce the rate of evolution. Angioplasty or bypass surgery relieves symptoms only and is not a curative treatment. The disease can come back, and it may increase. Your doctor may closely monitor you and pay particular attention to the following:

New symptoms or signs of worsening disease. It clarified through talking with you, examine you and possibly make ECG monitoring.

In some cases it may be appropriate to refer you to load test
Risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, physical activity
Adjustment of medication, or measures to limit the adverse
Creating a training program for you - usually, you can enjoy it from the hospital

Preventive measures
Prevention of another heart attack takes place by attempting to influence of known risk factors. These risk factors are closely related. Any of us may have one or more risk factors. By positively affect one or more risk factors can significantly slow disease progression and reduce the risk of further heart attacks.

Stop and smoke
This is the most important lifestyle change you can make. Also, passive smoking, cigar smoking, use of chewing tobacco or snuff is dangerous for health. For some this is difficult. Check with your doctor for help to quit.

Keep your cholesterol low
You should know what your cholesterol is. It recommended that you keep your cholesterol below 5.0 mmol / L or LDL cholesterol below 3.0 mmol / L. If you are unable to keep cholesterol under these values ​​with dietary changes alone, it will be necessary to use cholesterol-lowering drugs (a statin ). It is shown that lowering cholesterol, slows the development of coronary artery disease and reduces the risk of new heart attacks. By lowering cholesterol levels reduces the deposition of cholesterol inside the arteries (arteries) pages.

Healthy Diet
Avoid eating large amounts of fat and cholesterol because this accelerates atherosclerosis and blockage of the coronary arteries. A healthy diet is good not only for those with high cholesterol, but for everyone. It helps to control cholesterol and weight.

Limit the amount of "fast food". Most of this food has a high fat content.

Increase your physical activity
Physical activity helps to lower blood pressure, increase levels of "good" cholesterol (HDL cholesterol) and your weight. Start slowly if you need to, but try to reach the target of at least 30 minutes of endurance exercise 3-5 times a week. Such activities include walking, swimming, cycling or doing aerobics. Almost everyone can participate in some form of physical activity. Before you start training, you should discuss the program with your doctor or other responsible.

Weight reduction
Obesity increases the workload on the heart and blood vessels. A diet rich in fiber and low in fat, and regular exercise, can help you lose weight and keep the weight. Avoid unconventional diet plan and little serious diets, they rarely give any lasting effect.

Moderating alcohol consumption
Drink moderate amounts of alcohol, if you at all to enjoy alcohol. Although there is research that indicates that alcohol may protect against heart disease, limit your intake to a maximum of 1-2 units of alcohol per day. Larger amounts can raise blood pressure, cause arrhythmias and heart muscle damage or liver.

What is the prognosis?
Long-term outlook for a person who has had a heart attack depends on the following factors:


  • Time to treatment. Quick medical attention is an important factor to improve prognosis in both the short and long term
  • The extent of coronary artery diseases and the number of coronary arteries involved
  • The presence of heart failure or dangerously low blood pressure (shock)
  • Complications valve leakage (more common) or torn heart muscle fibers (less common)
  • History of heart attack, angioplasty or bypass surgery
  • About artery causing myocardial infarction, has been successfully expanded (dilated) so that blood can flow through the artery and out of the heart muscle
  • Cardiac muscle ejection fraction, ie the strength of the heart's ability to contract (measured by echocardiography )

The presence of rhythm disturbances, particularly ventricular





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