Heart attack

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Shinto

Heart attack

Post by Shinto »

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Last edited by Shinto on Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tibbs
Posts: 1081
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:59 am

Re: Heart attack

Post by Tibbs »

I don't think anything of here is taboo qf. my pooping posts after my transplant.

I know a heart attack is quite a common way for people to go when they've been on HD for a while, but it certainly didn't get mentioned to me when they went through the (very extensive) list pof things that can go wrong during transplant.

Where have you read that it is an issue?

Having said that the dude in the bed next to me (2 after my dad left) had his heart stop 4 times just after they brought him in. He was rude and really quite obnoxious, so I didn't find out why he was there. He looked about 900 years old, so I doubt it was for transplant.
26/11/12 - Live donor transplant from my dad
6/1/13 - Discharged - Rejection episode over
7/1/13 - Getting on with life
24/9/13 - Left Radical Nephrectomy of Native Kidney due to cancerous tumour
14/10/13 - Back to work, getting on with life
Grey
Posts: 450
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:04 pm
Location: Chester

Re: Heart attack

Post by Grey »

Methuselah !
After a long time of waiting an anonymous donor has arrived in my life.
Words cannot express my gratitude to this lady and my paired exchange wife donor making it all possible
transplant 19th June 2015...Going very well mind you 2 years later
Shinto

Re: Heart attack

Post by Shinto »

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Last edited by Shinto on Sat Jan 11, 2014 9:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Grey
Posts: 450
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:04 pm
Location: Chester

Re: Heart attack

Post by Grey »

Very interesting Shinto. If you are like me ...getting on in life you are aware that after a certain age we all fall prey to our mortality at some stage or another. Having said that I feel that our chances have improved enormously since the day my grandmother died from kidney failure. In her day when your kidneys stopped working, by en large, that was that. Today we speak about percentages, so even if early retirement is for say 10% of transplant patients, that means that 9 out of 10 people survive. You just have to hope you are one of those 9 rather than the unfortunate 1. For the record I was warned by my Neph and I paraphrase his words, “Kidney failure is unlikely to kill you, if you don't survive it will be your heart or some other complication arising from the whole matter". So Shinto, you are very right, be forewarned and live a life that affords the best "chances of survival" and face the future free of fear based on ignorance or uncertainties. I have a history of heart complications so are fairly and squarely in that percentage that is most at risk and so live my life in the best way I can to reduce the risk. But still I am streets better off than my Gran was back in her day.
After a long time of waiting an anonymous donor has arrived in my life.
Words cannot express my gratitude to this lady and my paired exchange wife donor making it all possible
transplant 19th June 2015...Going very well mind you 2 years later
per156
Posts: 87
Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2011 7:06 pm

Re: Heart attack

Post by per156 »

Hi !

Related to this I´ve seen that the frequency of cardiac incidents is elevated after transplantation. A big influence here must be the anti-rejection drugs like prednisolone, tacro etc. They can raise blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fats, all presenting a risk for the heart. But do not worry too much in advance, surely the docs will monitor this closely after tx and react promptly with a cocktail of BP-medicine, insuline and statines, whatever is needed.

Best regards
Per
cazpi
Posts: 427
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:05 pm

Re: Heart attack

Post by cazpi »

Funnily enough I was talking to a friend about this the other day, he has had his transplant about 18 yrs, and is very pro-active about getting involved with his care, he had just pestered his consulant into putting him through a full heart check, he was worried that as he still has his fistula there may be increased load on the heart because of the flow through it. Haven't seen him since, so don't know how he got on.
MandyV
Posts: 1717
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 10:17 am
Location: Fulham

Re: Heart attack

Post by MandyV »

Hey Shinto I don't think Grey was referring to you at all - just the chap Tibbs saw on the ward!

@Tibbs post tx (also HH) I also had an obnoxious old bloke 2 beds down from me. I asked one of the nurses if my extreme irritation with him was a sign of 'roid rage and they said 'no, he's annoying to everyone!' He kept on telling everyone that he would have a tx in a decent hospital i.e. not HH and went on and on name dropping (he had worked as a film stunt double for years) - only problem most of the nurses on the ward were either too young or foreign so didn't know all the old timers he was 'best buddies' with!!

Going back to the point about heart attacks - I don't think that it is a taboo subject; it is important that the cardiologist working with the Renal people is familiar with the issues (there is an excellent on at HH) and the people who are higher risk are generally screened pre tx although the hospital does take on higher risk tx if there is a reasonable likelihood of real benefit. Otherwise it is there in the mix with all the other issues they look out for (diabetes, high BP etc etc)

It is important to feel that the team who care for you look holistically at your health and that you can discuss your concerns. I am all for being an informed patient but there is no substitute for discussion of your circumstances with your team rather than spending all the time looking at research and case studies which may or may not be applicable. A good team will be happy to discuss your fears.
JMan
Posts: 3470
Joined: Fri Apr 23, 2004 10:21 am
Location: Lives in a slightly weird bit of Shropshire called Telford!

Re: Heart attack

Post by JMan »

Taboo? Maybe in some cultures? My initial reaction.. How strange..

Alternative lifestyles, kinky sex, and mental health.. THOSE seem to be very taboo among many!

Going back to the topic.. I had a 2 min cardiac arrest, after having meningitis. A third failing transplant, being PUMPED with immune suppressive drugs,to keep the kidney going may well have been the cause.. Its rarely the kidney failure that kills, its the complications, infection, stress to other organs such as commonly the heart.. There's no cure for CRF, only treatment...
Its often the ethos of the renal team to think along the lines of.. WE MUST KEEP THE KIDNEY GOING.. never mind if the patient suffers, would be better on dialysis sooner, or explore other avenues. Twice I've had 'leaking valves' due to fluid overload. Twice I've avoided surgery and medication by managing my fluid on dialysis. Can I do it again? Who knows only my future will show.

We are CONSTANTLY influenced by unhealthy foods, told by advertising companies we need x y and z products to live, survive (mostly from 10 HUGE international food and agropharmaceutical companies.. They win both ways , assist in causing ill health and then sell our govs medication when we get ill:)

Its our choice, nay, obligation to educate ourselves,.. You are after all, your own government! :)
"Dialysis! What is this? The dark ages!"
L. 'Bones' McCoy, ST"
Read my blog:)
Live to Fly
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cazpi
Posts: 427
Joined: Sun Aug 15, 2010 2:05 pm

Re: Heart attack

Post by cazpi »

None of that's taboo in my house!

As for being a stunt double, it's no big deal - I was one in one of last year's Oscar winning films, you see the back of my head for half a second, and as for the stunt................................ wait for it..............................I performed a Uturn in a very boring car!

All you autograph hunters please form an orderly queue.
AmandaClare
Posts: 658
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:58 pm
Location: London

Re: Heart attack

Post by AmandaClare »

Cazpi, you have to tell us which film now!

So our entire experience of watching it can be ruined by looking out for the back of your head.
Alports Syndrome
Dialysis 1986, aged 14
Transplant 1988, still going strong!
Baby boy 2010
MatthewC
Posts: 75
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 3:37 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Heart attack

Post by MatthewC »

I used to know someone who had received a heart transplant at about 35 years old. She survived for a further 7 years and she and her husband were just grateful for every day - in fact they always knew exactly how many days extra life she had been given by the transplant. I would guess that many people here may feel the same way.

The trouble with statistics is always the same - are they reliably reflecting the actual events and causes? The large number of variables in kidney transplantation means that you only get some statistically significant (i.e. really reliable) data for any particular subgroup when you have a very large sample for that major subgroup; I doubt that even 7,000-odd (as in one US study linked in Shinto's second post above) is enough when you take the number of combinations of the various factors into account. Given that the sources quoted above seem to be going back a long way (when understanding, skills and procedures were very different), you have got to be careful of reading too much into them and saying that this would apply to someone transplanted today. They give an indication of the current situation, but nothing more substantial than that, in my view.

As a potential living donor, I'd like to see some stats on donor survival and causes of death. No one seems to have any, partly (I suspect) because they seem to lose track of donors - especially when they die for some other reason. I suspect (= hope) that there is no discernable impact, but it would be nice to know. Any long term surviving donors here?
AmandaClare
Posts: 658
Joined: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:58 pm
Location: London

Re: Heart attack

Post by AmandaClare »

MatthewC, I can't point you to any stats but I've always understood that donors live longer than the average person. Presumably because to be allowed to donate you've got to be pretty darn healthy.
Alports Syndrome
Dialysis 1986, aged 14
Transplant 1988, still going strong!
Baby boy 2010
Tibbs
Posts: 1081
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:59 am

Re: Heart attack

Post by Tibbs »

The issue is that donors tend to be healthier than the average population due to the stiff battery of tests they have to pass.

What needs to be done to answer that point is a study of donors and people with the same level of health.

I spine to people at HH about this, but they said whilst a study would be interesting, who would pay for it?
26/11/12 - Live donor transplant from my dad
6/1/13 - Discharged - Rejection episode over
7/1/13 - Getting on with life
24/9/13 - Left Radical Nephrectomy of Native Kidney due to cancerous tumour
14/10/13 - Back to work, getting on with life
MatthewC
Posts: 75
Joined: Sat May 05, 2012 3:37 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Re: Heart attack

Post by MatthewC »

AmandaClare wrote:MatthewC, I can't point you to any stats but I've always understood that donors live longer than the average person. Presumably because to be allowed to donate you've got to be pretty darn healthy.
Yes, I've been told that and I reckon your reason is spot on - it's not a consquence of the donation, it's a consqeuence of being fit enough to pass all the tests. Just goes to show that you can make statistics say what you want them to say, and they need careful interpretation to be of any real value.
Tibbs wrote:The issue is that donors tend to be healthier than the average population due to the stiff battery of tests they have to pass.

What needs to be done to answer that point is a study of donors and people with the same level of health.

I spine to people at HH about this, but they said whilst a study would be interesting, who would pay for it?
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I guess that's the point - there is no point!
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