post heart attack

I had a heart attack jan 2007.  i had 95% blockage and had two stents put in.  i take several meds and basically i feel ok.  but i cannot seem to quit smoking.  wellbutrin, been on it for 1 month.  the daily stress i have is bearing heavy on my progress.  i also suffer from extreme anxiety, taking xanax.  but sometimes i get tingling in my arms, legs and face.  it feels like it is my nerve endings.  my dr. says it is anxiety symptoms and i was wondering if anyone else gets these symptoms from anxiety.  my body has gone thru major changes and i'm trying to separate the symptoms.  can anyone help me please?

Can you give us more info on what you need help with. Do you want to lose weight?
How old are you?
Sex?
Age?
Weight?
Goals?
Are you referring to different changes other than the heart attack and the anxiety?
Is the stress from the heart attack or a job, or a relationship...?
What sort of food do you eat usually?

If you fill out your profile and write a short bio then you wont need to fill this out again if someone asks.

There are lots of people on here that can and will offer advice and after listening to it all, you can then decide what seems like the best choice for you.

Good luck

Hi Darliam ~ Welcome to calorie-count :)

Sounds like you're having a rough year!

Kind of hard to diagnose anything over the net... but tingling in the nerve endings could be medication related?  diabetes related or other.   If you don't believe your doc, then consider getting a 2nd opinion on this. 

I know someone who has to manage multiple medications for heart and other things, so it can be overwhelming....

but there are 3 things you can do that can have a big impact

• keep trying to quit smoking.  have you considered the patch too?  i tried from 1983 until i finally made it in 2005, so it's hard.  Check out Allan Carr's book Easy Way to Stop Smoking.  I haven't read it, but a lot of people recommend it.
• http://www.amazon.co.uk/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop -Smoking/dp/0140277633

• try to make the most nutritious food choices you can each and every day...  try to learn how to reduce cholesterol with food choices...  eat a variety of fresh fruits & veggies, leanest possible meats, fat free or lowest fat dairy...  and over time, it should help your recovery :)

• get a move on ~ try to walk 30 mins a day, even if you have to break it into 10 min sessions... if you are up to it and have your doctor's permission...  or go through a cardio rehab program where you can be supervised...  or maybe you are already there & doing more... then gr8 :)  keep up the good work....

hang in!  chat online, watch laff tv, try to have moments of fun or joy or beauty each day in some way... take things 1 day at a time... and stay here...  come chat in the forums, make friends, post in your journal and visit your friends journals...  

anyway... hope this helps in some small way...

Cheers,

Hi Darliam!
As someone who takes Wellbutrin, not for quitting smoking but as an antidepressant, you should know that it generally takes 4-8 weeks to develop a "level" of the antidepressant in the bloodsystem.  I'm not sure what it is in Wellbutrin that lowers the craving for nicotine, or whatever the mechanism it uses for the cessation of cigarette smoking, but it may be the same as for the antidepressant as they are the same drug. 

Talk to your doctor (either the one who prescribed the wellbutrin or your PCP, just make sure he/she knows you are taking it) about the nicotine patch as I know a lot of people who have had a great deal of success with it.

Continue to take your RX's as prescribed.  And talk to your doctor (again!) about the symptoms you described.  They may be symptoms of anxiety, but they may be symptoms of something more serious.  If you had stents placed, you may have a clot or something.  Don't stop until you are satisfied that your questions have been answered.  Come in with a list of your current medications and complaints and GIVE IT TO THE DOCTOR or NURSE when she checks you in with your height, weight, BP, pulse, etc.  Make sure you have another copy for yourself so that you can go over your questions with your doc.  And if he/she doesn't have the answers, then ask him/her who will?  Consider a specialist.

Best of Luck,
Von

Thanks everyone for your input.  Sorry I was evasive but this was the first time ever to join a forum.  Let me give you more info on my health.  I am 49, female.  I did not know I had any health problems until I had the heart attack.  I am about 20 pounds overweight, but I'm active by my job, riding bikes, walking.  I have changed all my eating habits, all low fat, low cholesterol.  I have been on antidepressants for many years  but they changed me to wellbutrin for the smoking cessation.  I do take the usual meds for the heart and cholesterol.  However, it's the anxiety that has me concerned.  I was taken to the ER a week or so after I was released from the hospital, thinking I was having a stroke.  All my extremities were tingling as well as my face.  The dr. said I was having an anxiety and panic attack due to all the changes I had just gone through.  It still happens, but not as severe.  My main question to you all...has anyone had these symptons due to anxiety?  I had an echocardiogram and all was fine with the stents and the heart, so I don't think it has to do with my heart.  Thanks for any info, and thanks for the chance to vent my fears.

I remember reading about people that have had a heart attack and that it can casue anxiety or depression afterwards. I googled   Heart Attack Depression and got 1,300,000 hits..lots to read it seems. I am just about finished reading a book called The China Study and it talks about how all the animal protein in our diets is causing most of our illnesses. It strongly suggests eating a vegetarian diet to prevent going down this negative spiralling path of disease. Since you have had a heart attact it would probably be much more important for you to take some serious drastic action to correct this. I say serious and drastic because that is what you doc would probably think. Eating a healthy balanced vegetarian diet might correct more issuses than you can think of.

Just some thoughts...good luck

Let me preface this by saying that I have absolutely NO formal medical training, so I think you should always see a doctor about those types of symptoms...But...
   It sounds like it could be a side effect from the Wellbutrin, which will typically occur sometime in the first four weeks or so.   I left work early last week because my mother had the same episode in the grocery store....Her face and arms became tingly, tightness in chest, feeling of doom and panic as she thought it may be a stroke. I immediately took her to see a doctor and he confirmed that it was anxiety, a side effect from starting Wellbutrin.  As with any psychotropic, it works for some and for others it creates only more psychological discomfort.  If it happens again, you may want to ask your physician if there is another medication that you can try. 
    Also, quitting smoking is the best thing you can do to ward off another heart attack.  Every drag of a cigarette adds to the narrowing of each artery with tar.  Once they're so tarred up that they're blocked, you'll have another infarct...regardless of stents or bypasses.  Check out the website whyquit.org (maybe .com).  It's a pretty powerful tool.  I just quit in March, hoping to serve as inspiration to my beloved father who suffered and survived a "Widow Maker" three years ago.  He can't seem to quit killing himself slowly though.  Don't be a statistic, just because it's hard to quit.  It will get easier.... and if not, at least you'll be around to bitch about it.  Stay strong. 

I'm not a doctor, so I'm not going to even try to help you with those symptoms.  I did want to tell you somethingh though.  If I were you, I'd read everything that Dr. Dean Ornish has ever written.  He's a heart doctor, and he has the highest heart patient recovery rate in the world.  The patients following his lifestyle guidelines have been able to reverse heart disease and get off a lot of their meds.  Don't take chances with your health.  Get informed and make changes so that you never need surgery again!

Oh, I have one thing to add.  My friend at work tried everything to quit smoking, even Welbutrin, and nothing worked.  Then she tried hypnosis, and that gave her the edge she needed.  She's been smoke free for two years now.  Hypnosis doesn't work for everyone, but it does help a lot of people, so I think it's worth giving a try.

Yeah I am taking wellbutrin XL for 3 years now due anxiety attack and depression. It does help me quit smoke last year aug 2007 of course cold turkey yes but worth to stop smoke for your health. Also Wellbutrin gave me alot of engery that makes my body does not want to rest or sit at all. This is good one keep you busy yourself and as for anxiety I take medicine for my anxiety to take it only when I need it. Or you can take it before you go out. My doctor liked my idea about taking medicine for anxiety before I go out. Only as needed. But only problem is every time I do route to do house cleaning everyday and take a walk on walking track for exercise the longer i kept my body moving and I start feel stress and getting dizzy this could be my anxiety or my high blood pressure? But too much stress can caused you to have anxiety But you are better off stay on wellbutrin it is supposed to reduce your anxiety and depression but it takes sometime to have wellbutrin works in your body system. You can try go out and take walk around at the mall to look around to keep yourself busy.