DP diagnosed woth heart failure, worried and depressed

[Fatfreefatball]

So this saga all started when DP was hospitalised after catching Covid in the first wave. He had to have cardioversion for an extremely high heart rate and was ok for a while. Unfortunately, covid seems to have damaged his heart as he was told last year that he has Afib and put on digoxin and apixaban.This year he has really struggled in the heat and been very tired and breathless walking up hill, swollen ankles etc.

He had an echocardiogram last week and they have kept him in due to a fast heart rate. It was 170 and is now down to 130 which is still too high. They are trying a cocktail of drugs and he is on fluid restriction. He may have to have another cardioversion so will be in hospital for 2 weeks. He has put on a lot of weight due to giving up smoking a few years ago but is losing weight due to hospital food!

The cardiologist said that his heart has been weakened by the afib but I don't know what the EF is as he was not told. DP is feeling depressed especially as he cannot drink freely in this boiling weather. The future looks pretty shit. Google says 50% of HF patients are dead in 5 years! The list of things he won't be able to do according to BHF is awful - swimming, eating grapefruit, taking painkillers, carrying stuff etc. He says he can't stick to 1.5L of fluid for the rest of his life.

I feel his life will be so restricted and I'll be doing lots of stuff alone. He is on a high dose of amiderone at the mement to try and treat the arrythmia.This drug has serious side effects including lung fibrosis! I am putting on a positive face for him but don't know what to do next 😪

DH was diagnosed with AFib about 5 years ago, and he's just recovering from his second catheter ablation which may not have been as successful as they'd hoped. He had a cardioversion done 3 months ago as a day case but it only worked for 4 days then reverted so they've not tried again. He's on bisoprolol but a "normal" heart rate for him is anything between 70 and 130. He's 62, and my only "gripe" if I'm allowed to say that is that it's made him into a very old man before I'd expected it. He's permanently exhausted, understandably but there are days when I struggle around it.

I appreciate your DH has got general failure on top of this so it's a very different ballgame. He's better off as an inpatient, while they get to grip with the meds. They've tried several on DH which haven't worked at all and made him very unwell in the process. I hope they manage to find the right combination for your DH soon.

@Victorius19 luckily his lungs are ok and he's not diabetic. His BP is perfect. He won"t take bisoprolol because he tried it before and it turned him into a zombie with heavy nose bleeds. I get the 'old man' comments because DP is 65 and already labelling himself as 'fucked', 'broken old man' etc. Yes, it is frustrating when he is always tired and it affects my life. I am hoping this will spur him into losing weight as that will improve his condition.

It's very hard to stand by and support when you're so weary of it all, and if your DH is anything like mine they're not the best at helping themselves. Sigh.