Heart Disease & Holiday Exhaustion

It's only Christmas Eve and I'm so exhausted already during this holiday season. I still have to get through Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

Last week was the two year anniversary of my open heart surgery - a triple bypass. I go to the Cardiologist every 3-4 months for a check-up and I take two cholesterol pills, one blood pressure pill and a 81 mg. baby aspirin every night, as an attempt to try and keep myself in good health since the heart surgery. Every day I battle with exhaustion and getting tired easily. It's hard for me to wake up and after a full day out, as soon as I come home, I am tired enough to go to sleep. This happens on 'regular' days, so one can imagine how the battles get a bit more difficult during the holidays, such as right now.

I only bought gifts for my one child and all it took me was one full day out to shop for them. I didn't have to "shop till I dropped," but that day was one of my full days out that I mentioned above, so it still exhausted me. I made some holiday cupcakes from scratch this morning to give some to family, some for my child to take to a Christmas Eve party we were invited to (I am too tired to go) and some for ourselves. For Christmas Day I'm going to make a turkey plus all the other edible goodies and it will just be the two of us. The day after Christmas we're invited to a wedding. I bought our wedding gift the same day I did my Christmas shopping for my only child. A few days after Christmas Day we'll be seeing a few out-of-town relatives at a local relative's house. I'm home a lot so I can take my time as I prepare our holiday meals including desserts and the little bit of homemade gifts. I also have plenty of rest days in-between. I'm still very tired. Some people are able to go out day after day. I don't know how they do it. It's very exhausting for me to go out two days in a row. If I really have to, I do it, but then I'm exhausted for almost a week afterwards.

What Are Some Possible Solutions For Exhaustion Related to Heart Disease & Surgery, or Just Simple Exhaustion?

It is often consoling and very helpful to me, if I know others suffer with the same symptoms as I do. I recently put in a search engine, "Is it common to still get tired quickly two years after heart surgery?" Every answer I read was, "yes" - one year later, two years later.... I found the website: www.medhelp.org to have the most answers with additional helpful information. It seems that exercising regularly can decrease the daily feeling of exhaustion. I really need to exercise. Shortly after my triple bypass I went to cardiac rehab and upon release, I was supposed to exercise regularly at home. Of course, like some other people, I often tell myself, "I don't have the time. I'm always so busy." The clue is to make the time. We make the time for everything else that we feel is important. Do we have time for a heart attack, if we don't exercise? No. We should consider exercising at least 3X each week for just 15-30 minutes a day to be just as important as everything else we do. Our health is more important than anything else. Truth is if we don't feel good, we don't feel like doing anything else anyway. Tiredness can also lead to depression - another cause to feeling like not wanting to do anything.

Listen to music while you exercise, or while you are doing things inside your home. Dance to it a little, when you can. I find that listening to uppity music makes me feel more energetic.

I also read that it's important to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, especially if you are a woman. I also have OCD and suffer with insomnia. It's ironic to be very tired all the time, but then not be able to fall asleep easily. For the past few days, I have been trying to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night - no less and no more.

My body tells me what it needs. When I'm very tired I can feel my heart palpitating and actually feel like I am pushing my heart to perform further than it can at the moment. I know that's a warning for me to lay down and I do. It's very important to rest when we feel we need to. Some say a nap as little as 15 minutes long helps a lot. If you can't nap, it helps to just relax and watch television, or read a good book.

I also read online that COQ10 and Magnesium help with exhaustion for heart patients. A few days ago, I also started to take these two regularly, along with my other medications. Of course ask your doctor first if it is okay for you to take these two supplements.

Listen to your body and be good to your body. A healthy body on the inside is the key to a long & healthy life.

Sources:

www.medhelp.org ; 1993-2010 Med Help
www.women.webmd.com; 2005-2010 WebMD, LLC