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Life after surviving a cardiac arrest

Did your heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating for seconds?

What's next?
Life after surviving a cardiac arrest.


Did you suffer a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)? Did your heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating for seconds? Well, you have suffered a sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), which is an unexpected pulseless condition that strikes literally a lot of people. Someone saved your life, someone immediately decided to help you, started CPR, and used a Defibrillator to shock your heart back to a normal rhythm in the first few minutes after your collapse.
 

Thank GOD, you are breathing. Your heart is still beating. You are alive!
 

Learning to thrive after surviving SCA can be a challenging journey, but you are not in this journey alone. You are not the only person who had a SCA.
 

Most survivors face not only changes in their health and behavior, but also changes in their ways of thinking about themselves and about life.

 

  • Physical limitations: You may feel movement disorder due to pain, in the first few days and even weeks following your SCA.
  • Memory disorder: Within one to six weeks following the SCA, you may experience short-term memory loss.
  • Depression: Many patients feel anxious, frightened and depression after their cardiac arrest, especially in the early stages of rehabilitation after leaving the hospital.
  • Phobia: The biggest fear is that cardiac arrest might happen again. The reality is that it could. If you've already had a sudden cardiac arrest, you are at high risk of having another one. You have to be educated about SCA and encourage your family members to learn CPR and how to use an automated external defibrillator (AED).

Don’t wait for the second cardiac arrest.


Despite all of these challenges, SCA survivors often return to their normal life.

 

The first few days and even weeks is the most critical period after having a cardiac arrest. You may wonder what it is safe to do, when you can expect to get back to work and when you can start exercising.
 

There are no rules to answer these questions, the time taken to recover from a cardiac arrest depends on many factors and will not be the same for everyone. But, sometimes a little near-death experience makes you realize that you have an important role to play in your health.

 

  • Join a survivor support group.
    Finding other people who’ve been through a similar experience will help you adjust, both emotionally and physically, to your new life as a survivor.

  • Medications.
    Most survivors are sent home with prescriptions for several medications. Some of these medications can help prevent future blood clots, protects your heart from stress and can prevent future cardiac arrest while others help your heart work better and decrease the amount of damage in your heart. It is important to take each of these drugs exactly as prescribed.

  • Follow up.
    You should discuss any signs with the doctor who takes care of your heart issues before doing anything.

  • Exercise.
    The intensity and duration of your exercise depend upon the severity of your heart disease.
     

You should start an exercise program that is safe; this program will consider your fitness level, heart health, any physical limitations, the amount, intensity, and duration of exercise needed to improve heart health.
 

Read more about the wise exercise routine and how it can prevent sudden cardiac arrest in this article: "When You Exercise... Do it wisely."

When your heart needs care, Philips Takes action.


1. Medical devices.

You have to buy an AED, the only known device that can restore the electrical activity of the heart and allows it to re-establish itself to a normal rhythm. Choosing Philips AED is your best decision. All you want to know about AEDs, how to use it and where it should be placed in this article: “The Spark of Life”.

 

2. Reduce risk factors.

You can do a lot to reduce the risk of having another cardiac arrest.
 

  • Quit Smoking. Stopping smoking is the best thing you can do for your heart. Read more about smoking, how does it harm your cardiovascular System and increase your risk of having a Sudden Cardiac Arrest.

  • Treat high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Read more about the bad cholesterol and how can it damage your heart in this article: The Silent Killer.

  • Eat right and manage your weight. Read more about the healthy food choices that can give you a way to control your risk of cardiac arrest in this article: Love your Heart and Eat right.

  • Cut down alcohol. High levels of alcohol can cause enlargement of the heart muscle and lead to abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure, and weight gain. Read more about Alcohol, how does it harm your cardiovascular System and increase your risk of having a Sudden Cardiac Arrest in this article: "Temporary happiness mixed with heart damage".

  • Manage stress. Read more about how does stress affect the heart in this article “Do not underestimate Stress... IT CAN KILL”.

 

Life offered you the best gift ever. This precious gift is called TOMORROW. Now you are not a sudden cardiac arrest victim, you are a survivor.

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