Coronary Artery Disease: How Patients Can Take Back Their Lives

Getting your confidence back
“Maybe your doctors are telling you four weeks after surgery that your stress test looks good, or your stents are doing their job, but you're still not confident about going back to work or managing things at home,” says Leo Pozuelo, MD, associate director of the Bakken Heart-Brain Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. “This is where I think group therapy and hearing from other patients really helps,” says Dr. Pozuelo, who encourages patients to take advantage of the psychological counseling services offered at cardiac rehab.

“The main thing for coronary artery disease is that right now there is no cure or procedure to get rid of it, so it's all up to you. The only thing you can do is prevent it from getting worse,” says Sanson, who tries to exercise every day, takes her medications, and, more than two years after her heart attack caused by CAD, continues to go to cardiac rehab once a week. She also carries nitroglycerin pills with her wherever she goes. And she has made it her mission to educate other women about the risks of CAD.

“You have fears about everything from walking too far to having sex,” says Hayes, who has been living with CAD for more than 10 years. He regained his confidence by helping patients with similar experiences through Mended Hearts, a national volunteer organization affiliated with the American Heart Association. “It's like being in the military with a bunch of guys—you went through an unspoken thing, but you all know what you went through.”

And as for sex, there's no rule, but Dr. Kligfield suggests that if you can walk up two flights of stairs without stopping, you can probably do the deed.