Living with Heart Disease

Even though it is important for all of us to do all we can to lower the major risk factors for heart disease, once you have done so try to keep a sense of proportion. Remember that heart disease is a disease not a punishment. Blaming yourself or feeling guilty or inadequate for developing it is not useful and may increase feelings of helplessness which can be damaging to self-esteem and confidence and may even impede recovery.

Besides of having looked at "in-bulit" factors that may increase the risk of heart disease, there are also aspects of health or lifestyle which have in many studies been linked with heart disease. One of the most positive measures you can take is to look at your own lifestyle and work out ways in which you can change it for the better.

Knowing your personal risk factors for heart disease and working out ways in which you can moderate them can not only increase the fitness of your heart and blood vessels but can also help you to make more sense of your condition and give you a feeling of being more in control.

One of the most positive things that you can do - and must do if you have been told you should have coronary surgery - is to give up smoking. A smoker under fifty, whether a man or woman, is five times at risk from developing heart disease. Not just that, but if you smoke you are more likely to die from heart disease. In the UK alone just under a quarter of the men who die of coronary heart disease and just over a tenth of women do so because they smoke. In fact, it is estimated about half the 100,000 smoking-linked deaths each year are a result of arterial disease.

Women who have diabetes, high blood cholesterol or who take the contraceptive diabetes, high blood cholesterol or who take the contraceptive pill are all more likely to develop heart disease if they smoke too. The good news is that if you stop smoking, no matter how long you have been a smoker, your risk of heart disease starts to go down. Within three years of giving up, your risk of dying is almost the same as for someone who has never smoked.

There is no abosolutely foolproof way to give up, but there are several strategies and aids you can use to help yourself. Some people finr the motivation from books, inspirational individuals, videos, or from the knowledge that quitting will improve their health and well-being. If you have tried to give up in the past and failed, the fact that you have developed heart disease is proof of the damage that it is doing to your health and may just give you the extra willpower you need this time.

If you feel you could do with extra help ask your doctor about aids such as nicotine patches, gum and so on. Some ex-smokers have quit with the aid of complementary therapies ranging from hypnotherapy to acupuncture. These can act as valuable boosters to your motivation.