After by-pass - How I got my brain back.

Sarcasma40
  • By Sarcasma40 · October 3, 2012 at 12:41 pm · 12 replies
  • In Advice for other women with heart disease
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Hi Sisters,
One more topic I thought you would find useful, since I was given no info on why I had no cognitive skills for months after surgery and no explanation until I pressed the topic with my doc. Again, knowledge is truly power. Why don't they just tell us?

So I will tell you why you can't think straight, understand, or retain information, why you can't read because the words seem jumbled, or don't make since and why you keep forgeting the last sentence you read. Also why your vision is terrible and you think you need new glasses.

This is why and it's not just the daily cocktail of meds you are trying to adjust to, although that is a contributing factor for sure.

When you had surgery, it is procedure to drop the bodies tempature to slow bleeding and preserve tissue, (my doc said around 72 degrees). This has a short term temporary affect on the cognitive areas of the brain and also your eye sight, so hold off on the new glasses for a while. My doc said all should return to normal in three months, he was wrong. My sight came back, but my cognitive skills, I had to work for.

This is how I got my brain and sight back.
Mystery computor games. I couldn't read a book or magazine, I couldn't sew, or paint, or play solitaire, but the computor games were so much more visually stimulating. Also, I was looking at pictures, or a scene and not trying to focus on words. In these games you are looking for visual clues, so you have to take your time and look closely and take notes for later in the game. It worked wonders for me. The ones I played are the cheap CDs you can buy at office supplies, etc. I liked the Agatha Christie series, because they were mature, quiet and the back ground seemed to be just the right amount of stimulation. Not toooo bright, or too loud. And I cheated. Everytime I got hopelessly stuck, I would look up a walk-through on the internet, grab a few clues and go back to my game. Because this was not about being frustrated, it was about waking my brain up and reminding it how to work and process information.
There are new games just for cognitive brain fuction out there now and I highly, highly recommend them!

Now, go get your brains back!
Love to the Sisters,
Stacey

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12 replies   

Freetofly

Had my heart attack 3 1/2 months ago. Had angioplasty and stent. Still having a hard time thinking straight. And I " loose" words. The workers at rehab say its normal and soon I'll be my old self. I somehow doubt this.

gracie62

Stacey:
I was actually told by my discharge nurse after my bypass to be sure I scheduled an eye exam at 3 months out from my surgery because being on the heart-lung machine can cause permanent changes to eye site in some people. At 41 I went from never needing glasses to being told I needed bi-focals. I could never adjust to that. I wear glasses to read only for now but, at 46, I foresee that changing soon. I totally agree with you on exercising our minds, both after the surgery/event and beyond. I am now approaching the 5th anniversary of my bypass surgery at the end of December. I still lose words frequently, although not near as badly as in the first year after my surgery. I still lose my train of thought and go completely "blank" sometimes and have to start from scratch in conversations. I still repeat myself way too much (although I have a strong feeling that may be a habit developed for survival when no one around me listened to me when I was so sick. I kept being told my symptoms were stress and all my issues were psychological when they were not. Even my family never seemed to hear me so to this day I repeat myself so often it annoys people. I cannot control it. I try to stop myself when I become aware of it, but I need to be sure I have said something and that it has been heard. Sometimes I can't remember I said it the first time). I still often call my daughters by each others' names and sometimes even the names of deceased pets. How that happens I have no clue but I can't help it. They understand but other people look at me strangely.

I love to read and that difficulty in the early days really bothered me. I discovered that marking my place in a book or magazine a few pages back from where I actually left off was very helpful. I also would frequently just read 2 or 3 pages at a time instead of tackling more, marking paragraphs back from where I had stopped when necessary. I was able to gradually increase the amount I could read and retain at once as time went by.

When I first came home typing on the computer was so frustrating I would be reduced to tears. I needed to talk to my Inspire friends, but my posts would come out of my fingers a jumbled mess. I would type "at" instead of "the" and "apple" instead of "heart". My fingers did not connect with what my brain was telling them. So I would start my posts in Word and take a few hours going over each post over and over a few minutes at a time until it made more sense.

In the big scheme of things, these changes were a nuisance more than anything. Nowdays "pumphead" has become my go-to excuse when I forget anything anything important LOL, although sometimes it really is the root cause. And my family knows that while I have been affected mentally to some degree, they would rather have a wife and mother who repeats everything and calls them by the wrong names than not have me at all. In times of stress my word loss gets worse. So does losing my train of thought and other things. That just reminds me how bad stress is for me to begin with and that I need to take care of myself more.

We are all survivors in one way or another. And in the end that is all that matters.

Dianna

Huskiefan

I had my "cardiac event" on March 31st, 2012. They say it wasn't a heart attack because thankfully I had no damage. My 2 stents put in on April 2nd. I am having a terrible time with my brain! I can't find words, can't remember anything I've read , Can't remember a conversation! It is scaring the heck out of me! I feel like I have Alzheimers or something.

I am on lisinopril, Plavix 75 mg., carvedilol 6.25 twice a day. I WAS on simvastatin 40 mg. but about 6 weeks ago I finally figured out why my legs & hip joints were hurting so bad & the bottoms of my feet felt like they were on fire. So - on my own - I cut my dosage in half to 20 mg. and tried that for a couple weeks. No help - so I cut it down to 10 mg. and finally about 10 or 12 days ago I just stopped it altogether.
So what is messing with my brain? I should be doing great with all of my improved blood flow, right?

Sarcasma40
  • By Sarcasma40
  • Reply 3430564 · In reply to 3428365 by Huskiefan
  • October 4, 2012 at 12:10 pm
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Hi Miss Huskiefan,

When I was on all the meds u r on, I was having seizure type episodes just trying to stand long enough to make dinner. The problem for me was this incredibly thin blood, plus this incredibly low blood pressure. Sooooo, when I was up right my heart had an incredibly hard time trying to get good oxygenated to my brain.

I was on Ranexa and Plavix, plus others, but point being, you are on some heavy duty meds and they definately have that foggy affect. You are still in that transition period of trying to find a cocktail of meds that works right for you. Keep at it, it's going to get better and thanks to those awesome stents, you have the time to work it all out. So do your part, work that brain even if you don't retain now. Five years later, I still can't find words. I just laugh and blame it on the heart meds.

Please remember, THE MOST IMPORTANT thing you can do for your heart and your future is, not allow yourself to live this illness constantly. When you are able to harness the fear and bewilderment and not think about it constantly, your heart and entire body will function better. I used to take 8 meds, now I take 2. The biggest change I made was my attitude. I'm still scared, but I don't entertain that fear in my conscious mind. Used to, it took alot to make me laugh out loud, now I sincerely laugh constantly. I don't sweat the small stuff and I have cut all toxic relationships from my life. I find true joy in every moment. Because of these things I just get healthier and healthier.

Love to the Sisters,
Stacey

r4

Hi Stacey, I am glad that you got your brain back! I just HAD to read on when I saw the title. I LOVE what you are saying. There is actually work being done on this - HeartMath Institute has done a LOT of work on heart/brain interaction.

Thank you so much for addressing this, and there is so much that many of us could add to this, if we could only figure it out!!!!!!!! I am serious about that, first we have to figure out what has happened to us, and if we are just focusing on recovering physically, we may not figure out what else happened.
Thank you, thank you!

BTW, I THINK I have gotten my brain back, and I think it is a differently-behaving brain. I think actually that is because I think that parts of it were activated or turned on during my heart difficulties.

Love to you,
Ruth

Weno

I had a triple bypass on May 23, 2012. I have a problem with my vision, confusion, memory and this really bothers me. I have tried to ignore everything and just get back to doing my housework, washing, ironing and am doing a good job of it, it will be 5 months on Oct. 23 that I had my surgery. I also walk on my treadmill a mile and a half 5 days a week. My chest is worse at night, doesn't bother me during the day for I am so active, but a nite, it feels like someone has grabbed the middle of my chest and is pulling it together, my shoulders pull down also and I walk in a stoop. Well got me some Vitamin E Oil and everytime it gets like that I run get the vitamin E and put on my scar down the middle and then I can straighten up my shoulders and walk straight and the tightness goes away for a while. Doctor put me on Plavix and also a pill for anxiety, plavix makes me confuses and other things and messes with my mind, but my doc told me last week that the plavix wasn't doing it, he failed to tell me what was making me feel that way. Then my son calls me and they have a class action suit going on against plavis (bristrol myers) and also class action on Chantix. Yall go in and read what it says about plavix. You won't want to take it after you read all that it can do. Talk to yall later, Weno

Weno
  • By Weno
  • Reply 3431016 · In reply to 3428365 by Huskiefan
  • October 4, 2012 at 2:38 pm
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Plavix will do wonders for your brain and body, I am on plavix, doc told me to take my pills every other day for they affect me so bad. I have confusion, memory loss, messes with my eye sight as well as everything else, but my doctor told me 3 days when I told him all this that plavix wasn't making my body do all these things, but he had no other explaination to give me about it. That cost him a patient for I am going to find me another heart doctor that can explaiin why I am having all these reactions to plavix. will be 5 months since my triple bypass. I had l stent put in, in 2000, 2009 had a heart attach, they put in 2 more stents, this time when it come time for me to have the tests done, had lots of blockages, so therefore had to have a triple bypass, so hon hope all goes well for you. your friend, Wanda

Sarcasma40

Hey r4,

My brain is different too and I agree with your theory of activation or turned on! I am now an artist, drawing and painting. I have taught myself by reading how to art books, but the difference is, it makes since to me now. So much that I could not learn in the past, I am learning now, including the guitar and much more. I forget silly things, and lose words when I'm speaking, but I can read books now that I've tried over and over in the past to read and I just couldn't understand.

Stacey

r4

Stacey! wow. that is very interesting!

Thank you for posting this - I hope it reassures others who have had a lot of unexplained issues with thinking after a heart procedure. That whatever they experience is probably worth mentioning, because it may well be a part of the healing process.

Love to all,
Ruth

Peekapoo

Stacy,

Thanks so much for this post. Thought that I was just getting old. Sight has really changed since the surgery and seems like I live in a forgetful fog. Going to try your suggestion. Thanks for the help!!!

Peek

irish-heart

thanks for this post, my open heart surgery was about 51/2 months ago, i too had problems with my eye sight needed glasses to see the tv, otherwise it was fuzzy, seems to be clearing up a bit now.. ihave a hard time with peoples names sometimes, and now i have returned to work, 4 hours 5 days a week for now, some of it i have to think hard how to do somthing that i have done for 5 years with out thinking about, i thought this was me, as some one had said a forgetful fog.... but apart from that there have been good changes i dont sweat the small stuff, not intrested in drama or the people that cause it, i want to enjoy life not struggle through any more...Diane

cathi570

I have been on Coreg, Lipitor, Vasotec, Lanoxin, Lasix and low dose aspirin for the past 6 months and had an ICD implanted onSeptember 12th. I too am having vision issues, none of the last four eyeglass prescritions seem quite right. And there are times when it's like the word I want is "circling the drain" and I need to wait for it to drop into my mouth. And I find I repeat myself too and occasionally transpose numbers. It is very irritating and starting to interfere with my job. Twice last week I transposed digits on orders and sent a driver to the wrong address and prevented a delivery from taking place because of an incorrect telephone number. I work for a medical company, so accuracy is crucial and I am hoping that these are temporary issues that can be sorted out with adjustments to meds/dosages. Has anyone experienced improvement with dosage adjustments? Or am I destined for disability because of my altered mental state?

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