Do stents lower lifestyle

[Trigger Mike]

I’m curious about how much quality life you have after a heart cath and also if they have to put a stent or two in.  
 

right now I do what I want, walk to feed the goats or to the woods or get on my tractor to plant etc or an atv without much problem but someone suggested I have a problem so am curious about life afterwards.

[J-BAR #18287]

Stents keep you alive.

 

If you need one and don’t get it, your lifestyle stops sooner.

[Cactus Jack Calder]

I have two stents in my heart. The second was placed 10 years after the first, in an entirely different location. The second is now ten years old. The Dr who placed the second stent told me that you develop scar material where the stent is placed and you will not develop a blockage on scar tissue. I have no limitations based on having the stents. In fact I was experiencing limitations to my activity prior to the stents that was relieved by the stents eliminating the blockage. 
What J- Bar said is true.

 

 

CJ

[Pat Riot]

[Trigger Mike]

I also wonder about the blood thinner plavix they want me to take before hand and afterwards.  I’ve heard bad things about blood thinners.

[Rip Snorter]

Based on Dad, no. A Doc, he self diagnosed, had a triple and lived another good dozen years.  Died of something unrelated to the heart.

[John Kloehr]

7 minutes ago, Trigger Mike said:

I also wonder about the blood thinner plavix they want me to take before hand and afterwards.  I’ve heard bad things about blood thinners.

Me too. But I've heard worse things about death.

 

Do you have trust and faith in your doc?

[Cactus Jack Calder]

I took Plavix the first 10 years. Then the second Dr switched me to something else. Forgot what that was. Now I have AFib so they put me on Xeralto to prevent clots that migrate to your head and cause stokes. I’m still here, slower and creaky but still moving.

 

CJ

[J-BAR #18287]

I have been on warfarin/Coumadin (rat poison) for 20 years.  (A Fib and pulmonary embolism)  Pinkie stick every four weeks to monitor dosage, easily reversible with a vitamin K injection if I need it.  So I bruise easily…no biggie.

 

Some of the fancy new designer anticoagulants cannot be monitored or easily reversed.  Talk with your Doctor, pharmacist, lab techs.

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

4 minutes ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

I have been on warfarin/Coumadin (rat poison) for 20 years.  (A Fib and pulmonary embolism)  Pinkie stick every four weeks to monitor dosage, easily reversible with a vitamin K injection if I need it.  So I bruise easily…no biggie.

 

Some of the fancy new designer anticoagulants cannot be monitored or easily reversed.  Talk with your Doctor, pharmacist, lab techs.

Same here.  After several blood clots I was put on Warfarin 20+ years ago.  No brusing or excessive bleeding and only need a test every six weeks.  My readings have not varied in years.  I would quit except the girl at the clinic is cute.

[Charlie T Waite]

Over the past 3 years after going through 6 surgeries 2 of which they put 2 stents in put in my legs (1 in each) & I now take blood thinners.  They found after a knee replacement in the left leg that both arteries were 100% blocked, I had severe pain & was unable to walk for any distance.  Left leg was the worse.  2 surgeries later and I have 10 1/2" of stent in it & 6 3/4" in the right.  I have some residual nerve damage to the left leg but no major pain like before.  I no-longer use the scooter or crutches; and only occasionally use a cane on very bad days (not often).  If you need a stent get it and don't worry so much about blood thinners - the other option is not a pleasant one for your family.

 

Charlie

[Trigger Mike]

Dr seems fairly knowledgeable.  He’s old but has know several who swear by him.  His partner is younger and did my mom recently.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

About seven years or so taking Warfarin for afib.  I do get the odd bruising and have frequent blood draws* (depending on results may be between two or six weeks between).

 

But the worst part of the deal is the restriction on Vitamin K rich foods.  I absolutely LOVE green stuff, but now it's pretty much a no-no.

 

"Oh, you can eat it!  We can regulate your coumadin intake!"

 

The key to THAT is consistency, which makes it impractical - if I eat six brussels sprouts on Tuesday and a broccoli salad on Thursday, I better plan on having six brussels sprouts EVERY Tuesday and the salad every Thursday.  I'm too random and impetuous for that.

 

On old friend who happens to be a doc has been telling me I should talk to my personal doc about direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) ~ "No frequent blood draws and you can eat what you want!  I can guarantee you that's what HE'd be taking!"

 

I may do that; I do believe they are significantly more expensive.

 

*I always ask the phlebotomist for the rubber "tourniquet" when done ~ they're great for loosening tight jar lids and gas can caps! 

 

 

 

 

    

[J-BAR #18287]

43 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

About seven years or so taking Warfarin for afib.  I do get the odd bruising and have frequent blood draws* (depending on results may be between two or six weeks between).

 

But the worst part of the deal is the restriction on Vitamin K rich foods.  I absolutely LOVE green stuff, but now it's pretty much a no-no.

 

"Oh, you can eat it!  We can regulate your coumadin intake!"

 

The key to THAT is consistency, which makes it impractical - if I eat six brussels sprouts on Tuesday and a broccoli salad on Thursday, I better plan on having six brussels sprouts EVERY Tuesday and the salad every Thursday.  I'm too random and impetuous for that.

 

On old friend who happens to be a doc has been telling me I should talk to my personal doc about direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) ~ "No frequent blood draws and you can eat what you want!  I can guarantee you that's what HE'd be taking!"

 

I may do that; I do believe they are significantly more expensive.

 

*I always ask the phlebotomist for the rubber "tourniquet" when done ~ they're great for loosening tight jar lids and gas can caps! 

 

 

 

 

    

When I had to begin taking Warfarin in 2002, I decided that the dose would be adjusted to my diet, rather than making changes.  I eat what I want.  My INR stays between 2 and 3, which is in target range.  I shave with a blade, eat and drink what I want.  Dosage adjustments are rare (maybe every two years?).  There is a difference between living and existing.

[bgavin]

Stents are Band-AIDS.  They last for some folks and fail for others.  Mine failed.

 

I had the Big One last January, and two stents but five blockages.  Three were “below criteria” or “too dangerous” and left untreated.

 

Stents are hard metal mesh that expand a soft organic artery.  Heart action causes the artery to rub against the hard stent, causing scabbing and closing down.  Mine lasted 7 months before I started living on nitro to manage the angina.

 

I demanded another angiogram after which they immediately scheduled me for a four way bypass a week later.

 

if you have “diffuse” heart disease this means all your arteries are clogged, and a stent is temporary at best.  I know a guy with the max 7 stents.

 

thinners are mandatory.  Plavix works for me well but I bruise VERY easily now.  So is aspirin, both forever.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

Had a heart attack in February 2011. Two stents with one vessel 100% occluded the other 95%. Huge improvement in my lifestyle. In 1st week of October this year had my second heart attack en route home from Ireland, another 95% block. Was lucky and didn’t need a bypass but they said if they had found anything out of the ordinary it would have been straight to open heart. Procedure went great but my cardiologist gave me Brilenta as an anticoagulant and I had a major allergic reaction, sky high BP, racing heart rate, breathing off the charts, sweating in rivers and puddles. Finally passed out and some very good people kept me alive long enough to get that out of my system. Three nights in ICU plus another day in regular hospital, not fun at all. Now on Plavix (which is what they used last time) and will reevaluate after a year. 
Will say until they fix things you don’t really know how bad things are, heart problems creep up on you and you compensate without really noticing. 
Feel 100% better and getting better every day. Just follow what the doctors tell you, do your cardio therapy and make some healthy eating choices and things get better quickly. 
All the best 

    

Gateway Kid

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

Hopefully what you read on this forum is used only for generating questions for your doctor(s). People’s experiences are good background info, but may or may not apply to your situation. 
 

Good luck in treating your condition. As has been said, not treating it can lead to unpleasantness. 
 

 

[Widder, SASS #59054]

I have 5 heart stents and 2 stents in my carotid arteries.  All work great.  I'm nearly 72 and got my 1st stent when I was around

55 years old.

 

Plus, 2.5 years back, I had a double bypass AND an Aorta Valve replacement.  My valve is now a pig valve.

The doctor totally took out my Aorta Valve and cleaned out all the plaque around it and put in a Pig valve.

All this required open heart surgery.

 

ALSO..... I been on Plavix and baby aspirin since I was 55 (17 years ago) with NO side effects.    BUT, my cardiologist

has checked me out with a couple blood test over the years to ensure my body was doing o.k. with continued usage of

Plavix.    He told me some folks do well with it and some don't.   A good doctor keeps tabs on those kind of things.

 

My double bypass WAS NOT in any area that had been previously scented because my stents are doing great.

 

I guess mileage varies from person to person when it comes to stuff like this.

 

NOTE: only 1 of my heart stents and both neck stents were thru the groan area.

Four of my heart stents were inserted thru my wrist.    I was dismissed from the hospital 2 hours after the wrist procedure.

 

..........Widder

 

[Sedalia Dave]

6 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

Some of the fancy new designer anticoagulants cannot be monitored or easily reversed.  Talk with your Doctor, pharmacist, lab techs.

 

That used to be true but in the last couple years they now have reversal agents for all the oral blood thinners.

[Sedalia Dave]

Here is the thing to consider about whether or not to take blood thinners. Without them you will likely develop blood clots. These clots may grow can stop the blood from flowing to parts of your body. You could loose an arm or leg because it was starved for blood. You could also have a heart attack.

 

Or the clot could break free travel through your veins until is encounters one too small for it to continue. If it happens to lodge in your brain you will have a stroke.  Now there are 4 possible outcomes when you have a stroke.

 

Option 1 you are extremely lucky and after a short time you recover with no loss of cognitive or motor skills.

 

Option 2 if you are lucky you end up with some loss of cognitive and/or motor skills. You can still get around abet with some difficulty and can still care for yourself.

 

Option 3 You are unlucky and die

 

Option 4 you are extremely unlucky and end up confined to a long tern care facility because you are unable to care for yourself. Yet you are still fully aware of what has happened to you.

 

[Clay Mosby]

I had 2 stents placed about 5 years ago. I was having some minor life limiting issues prior, but none after.

[Trigger Mike]

I am forming lots of questions for my dr based on what I am reading so I thank you. 
 

Widder mentioning being on plavix since he was 55 is also helpful as I was worried at my young age how I would be affected and I’m just over 55.  
 

my father’s first heart attack was when he was 36 but he had been in Vietnam and affected by agent orange so I had hoped I could go longer or avoid heart problems altogether.  
Heart meds eventually made him suffer dementia and he got where he couldn’t preach anymore.  It was hard to watch but he is gone now but almost made it to 78.

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

8 hours ago, Widder, SASS #59054 said:

I have 5 heart stents and 2 stents in my carotid arteries.  All work great.  I'm nearly 72 and got my 1st stent when I was around

55 years old.

 

Plus, 2.5 years back, I had a double bypass AND an Aorta Valve replacement.  My valve is now a pig valve.

The doctor totally took out my Aorta Valve and cleaned out all the plaque around it and put in a Pig valve.

All this required open heart surgery.

 

ALSO..... I been on Plavix and baby aspirin since I was 55 (17 years ago) with NO side effects.    BUT, my cardiologist

has checked me out with a couple blood test over the years to ensure my body was doing o.k. with continued usage of

Plavix.    He told me some folks do well with it and some don't.   A good doctor keeps tabs on those kind of things.

 

My double bypass WAS NOT in any area that had been previously scented because my stents are doing great.

 

I guess mileage varies from person to person when it comes to stuff like this.

 

NOTE: only 1 of my heart stents and both neck stents were thru the groan area.

Four of my heart stents were inserted thru my wrist.    I was dismissed from the hospital 2 hours after the wrist procedure.

 

..........Widder

 

 

Don't buy any green bananas...

[Okie Sawbones, SASS #77381]

deleted

[Pat Riot]

14 hours ago, Trigger Mike said:

I also wonder about the blood thinner plavix they want me to take before hand and afterwards.  I’ve heard bad things about blood thinners.

Mike, follow your doctor’s orders. 
 

You’ll get a more harmonious outcome. 

[Charlie T Waite]

46 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Mike, follow your doctor’s orders. 
 

You’ll get a more harmonious outcome. 

[Marlin Buckhorn,SASS 51727]

I am alive because of 16 stents in my heart. First one was when I was 52, just turned 74. Been through all the blood thinners cumadan, Plavix and Eliquis. Fortunately I do not have any heart valve issues but I do have a-fib. September of 22 I had a Watchman placed in my heart.  6 months afterward I was able to go off all blood thinners except an 81 mg aspirin. The Watchman is basically a filter in your heart that keeps blood clots from leaving your heart to your brain.

 

The watchman is not available to everybody, ask your Doctor about it.  Not available to people with heart valve problems currently. It is Medicare approved.

 

Now if I could just get my back problems fixed I could get back to a normal life.  Unfortunately that is not going to happen, several different doctors have told me it can't be fixed.

 

Listen to your body and do what you can do. Ride easy,

Marlin

 

T

[Dawg Hair, SASS #29557]

I've got two, and I'm alive because of that.

[Sedalia Dave]

My late wife had A-Fib and was on blood thinners for about 15 years. Started out on Coumadin but could never find a consistent dose even with managing her diet. So the Doc put her on Xarelto. Worked great.  However when we found out that there was no reversal agent. ( Back then there wasn't one now there is) we asked the doc to put her on something else that did have a reversal agent. So she switch the wife to Pradaxa which also worked great.

 

Wife never had any negative side effects from either Xarelto or Pradaxa. She did have to stop taking them for 3 days prior to any medical procedures where there was a risk of bleeding.

[Trigger Mike]

Downside is now that it is scheduled every time I have chest pain I remind myself of Sanford .  
 

wife says likely psychosomatic.   
 

I shot a deer today and my son came with the truck to take it to process it and noticed I got winded just dragging it a few feet and putting in the bed and closing up the deer blind afterwards.  Maybe a stent will help that

 

btw I used a Springfield socom m1a with iron sights.  Loved it.  Never had hunted with it until this week.  Night sight front sight post helps old eyes.

 

[T.K.]

I had a Heart attack (The widow maker) and a stent "installed" in 2018. Since then I experience dizziness after 15-20 minutes of exertion, sometimes without exertion. I was told it would go away after the one year on brilinta. It has not. I have not been able to work since, and I've been "in the process" of applying for SSDI for OVER FOUR YEARS. I am finally waiting (over 6 months) for my final hearing. The HA and angioplasty / stent  has dramatically changed my life.

[bgavin]

On 1/5/2023 at 7:45 AM, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Mike, follow your doctor’s orders. 
 

You’ll get a more harmonious outcome. 

Not always.
50% of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class, but are still called "doctor."

I fired my first cardiologist because he was useless as teats on a bore.
All I ever got from him (in a heavy Indian accent) was "eat a meatless, vegan diet."
He never bothered to think this doesn't work for a labile diabetic who cannot eat all those carbs.

When I was in the E.R. they tried to feed me a "cardiac" diet of 250 grams (!) of carbs.
I refused, and my nurse agreed.
She started shoveling all the carb foods into the trash until the only item left was a cheese omelette.
She then said she would find me some sausage.

Dad was a doctor.
Two daughters are RNs.
You, the patient, MUST be fully proactive in your care.

I saw four different cardiologists in the ER.
Three Indians told me to eat a meatless, vegan diet.
The fourth was a Latina cardiologist who was APPALLED at the lack of care I was receiving.

If I had not fired the first cardiologist, I would have died from his refusal to take any action in my care.
 

[Pat Riot]

6 hours ago, bgavin said:

Not always.
50% of all doctors graduate in the bottom half of their class, but are still called "doctor."

I fired my first cardiologist because he was useless as teats on a bore.
All I ever got from him (in a heavy Indian accent) was "eat a meatless, vegan diet."
He never bothered to think this doesn't work for a labile diabetic who cannot eat all those carbs.

When I was in the E.R. they tried to feed me a "cardiac" diet of 250 grams (!) of carbs.
I refused, and my nurse agreed.
She started shoveling all the carb foods into the trash until the only item left was a cheese omelette.
She then said she would find me some sausage.

Dad was a doctor.
Two daughters are RNs.
You, the patient, MUST be fully proactive in your care.

I saw four different cardiologists in the ER.
Three Indians told me to eat a meatless, vegan diet.
The fourth was a Latina cardiologist who was APPALLED at the lack of care I was receiving.

If I had not fired the first cardiologist, I would have died from his refusal to take any action in my care.
 

Yes, but I think following a doctor’s advice over the opinions of people on the internet might be more prudent. 

[Captain Bill Burt]

Good doctors are hard to find. Too many Doc in a box places just shuffle you through.

 

Of course I’m much too young to need one but that’s what I heard!

[Pat Riot]

Here’s what I do. Every time I move to a new place I find out what medical networks are available, like; Legacy Health, Hoag Health, Mon Health, etc. These networks pay doctors and medical staff by using their patient satisfaction and performance as a guide. Crappy doctors do get weeded out. 
When I first moved to North Carolina in 2005 I went to a doctor and the next day I got a phone call asking me to respond to a survey about the doctor and the staff. This happened every time within that medical group network. I saw it as an annoyance until one day when I complained about it at the reception desk and a lady explained why they did that. They wanted to make sure patients were satisfied and that medical staff was doing their jobs well. 
I may not complete every survey or rating request but I do most of them. Especially if I like the doctor, PA or NP I will give them high marks so they don’t get moved or fired. 
I encountered a doctor in SoCal that needed an “awakening” to the fact that he wasn’t the center of my universe. My reviews and those made by others sent that dude packing.