From the heart. Is it possible to make love after a heart attack | Healthy Life

Our expert is cardiologist Alexander Popov .

Arrhythmias and other cardiovascular diseases have become much younger in recent years. And their victims are often men in the prime of life. And often, after suffering from an illness, a person begins to approach love games with some caution.

However, it has been experimentally established that the load on the heart and the need for oxygen during sex is no higher than when walking quickly or climbing stairs. So if you don’t have problems in these situations, then most likely you shouldn’t expect any health problems in bed.

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Is sex after a heart attack safe?

During sexual activity in men and women, blood pressure rises and the heart begins to beat faster. The changes are especially pronounced at the moment of orgasm, but their duration is insignificant. After 10-15 seconds, the heart rate calms down, blood pressure (BP) normalizes. The heart of a healthy person can easily bear such a load. But even after a heart attack, the body can adapt to these minor fluctuations.

Therefore, the answer to the question is it possible to have sex after a heart attack - yes, if your health condition has stabilized, precautions are observed. Moreover, regular sex life reduces the risk of developing a heart attack due to improved physical endurance.

Sex in patients with cardiovascular diseases

In a healthy person, at various stages of sexual arousal, heart rate and blood pressure do not change very significantly. The greatest dramatic changes in these parameters are observed when orgasm is achieved. Then their values just as quickly return to normal levels.

In people who have had a heart attack, excessive excitement leads to depletion of the body's reserve capabilities, which provoke an exacerbation of the disease, even death.

The importance of sex for the body cannot be underestimated:

provides the necessary physical activity after a heart attack;
the cardiovascular system is strengthened;
blood circulation improves, ensuring oxygen saturation of the whole body;
partners receive powerful emotional and psychophysical relief.

Women who have had a heart attack often complain of decreased libido, pain during sexual intercourse, and lack of orgasm. These sexual disorders are most often explained by a psycho-emotional state. During this period, attention and understanding of a partner is very important for ladies.

Often, men, having heard common myths about frequent deaths during sex, begin to experience fear of intimacy. However, official statistics claim that cases of repeated heart attacks after a heart attack are observed in only 1 man out of 100. Moreover, in these cases, patients do not follow the recommendations of doctors.

Adjusting daily life can be difficult for heart disease patients. In particular, you have to think about previously unconcerning questions. For example, should you eat this food? Is it possible to do this activity? Will the body be able to cope with stress? Among the many similar questions, the burning desire to know whether heart disease, also called cardiovascular disease, will affect your sex life stands out.

In particular, many post-MI patients are interested in whether it is safe to have sex at all? According to a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association, it is likely safe to have sex if your cardiovascular disease is stable. “Sexual activity is a serious area of life for men and women with cardiovascular disease and their partners,” Glenn said. N.

Levine, the lead author of the statement and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Cardiovascular disorders, such as myocardial infarction or chest pain caused by heart disease, rarely occur or worsen during sexual activity because this type of activity usually takes a short period of time time interval.

“Some patients are afraid to maintain sexual activity when in fact it is relatively safe for them,” said Levine, who is also director of cardiac care at Michael E. DeBakey Medical Center in Houston. “On the other hand, there are some patients for whom it may be wise to hold off on restoring their sexual life until their condition is stabilized.”

“If you have unstable cardiovascular disease or serious clinical signs, you should be treated and stabilized before sex,” notes Levine, who is also a volunteer for the American Heart Association. Don't be shy about starting a conversation with your doctor about heart disease and your personal sex life. If If you have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease, it is important to do the following:

Ask your healthcare provider for a health assessment before resuming sexual activity.
If you have previously been diagnosed with heart failure or a heart attack, performing cardiac rehabilitation and regular physical activity may reduce the risk of complications associated with sexual activity.
If a woman who is thinking about contraception or the possibility of becoming pregnant has had to undergo an MI, she must first talk to her doctor.
If you experience sexual dysfunction, you should consult a doctor to find out whether it may be related to cardiovascular disease or to anxiety, depression, or other factors.
You should not skip prescribed medications that may improve your cardiovascular disease because you are concerned that they may affect your libido. Treatment of the heart should come first.
Erectile dysfunction drugs are generally safe, although they should not be used if nitrates are being used to treat chest pain secondary to coronary artery disease. Also, you should not administer a drug for the treatment of erectile dysfunction for 24-48 hours, since much depends on the pharmacological properties of the drug used.
For postmenopausal women with cardiovascular disease, it is generally safe to use estrogen, which is used topically or vaginally to treat painful intercourse.

The need for further research on the regulation of sexual activity is often associated with the characteristics of the course of cardiovascular pathology, especially in relation to women and the elderly.

When can I return to intimate life?

The period of abstinence from intimate relationships after a heart attack is very individual. Doctors equate the stress on the heart during sex to walking up two flights of stairs or walking briskly. If you can do such tasks (no shortness of breath, no angina attacks), you can return to sexual activity.

Patients who suffered a “mild” heart attack resume sexual activity without complications after 7-10 days. More severe cases require a long recovery period.

Alarming symptoms

Sometimes all the rules are not followed, as a result, problems arise directly during sexual intercourse, the organs and body signal that not everything is in order. Among the alarming symptoms are:

Dizziness and loss of consciousness.
Color vision impairment.
Pain in the left chest, which can radiate to the shoulder blade or arm.
Severe muscle weakness.
Shortness of breath that gets worse.
Increased or slow heart rate.

If such signs occur, regardless of location and situation, you need to get to a doctor as quickly as possible.

How to prepare for the first sexual intercourse after a heart attack?

It is normal for some tension between partners if one of them has had a heart attack. Unspoken fears cause many people to avoid intimacy. Relationships need to be restored gradually.

Before engaging in sexual intercourse for the first time, it is recommended to gradually practice other types of sex. This way you can prepare yourself and your partner for closer contact. Begin your return to an active sex life by:

Kisses, hugs, tender words, shaking hands with each other.
Communication is the key to a loving relationship. Discuss with your partner your fears, changes in your body, and sensations.
Explore each other anew. Perhaps what used to be enjoyable is now painful or unpleasant. Find other ways to enjoy mutual intimacy.
Physical activity helps you get back into good shape, adds confidence, and reduces the risk of unpleasant consequences.
Try to take care of yourself and your appearance. This will improve your well-being and strengthen your self-confidence.

Rules for pleasant contacts

Do not make love within three hours after eating or drinking alcohol. It doesn’t matter what kind - strong, dry wines or beer. Alcohol and food, especially meat, sharply increase the load on the heart. If you feel tired or heavy in the stomach, put off sex. You should not start love games even if you are upset or unsure of your abilities. Clue:

In order not to harm your own condition, you should carefully return to sexual activity after a heart attack. The first step is not to “drive the horses”, start with preliminary caresses, which will help the body not to suddenly plunge into a state of excitement, but gradually. This is very important for the heart.

A familiar bed and a reliable partner guarantees the success of returning to sex after a heart attack. More rules that are best followed:

Do not have sex earlier than 3 hours after eating or drinking alcohol. These processes put a lot of strain on the cardiovascular system.

It is better to avoid such pastime if you are feeling restless or anxious.

There is no need to worry about the deterioration of erectile function. This is possible, but it is not related to the disease factor and the medications used for treatment. Often this is the result of depression and a nervous state due to lack of confidence in one’s abilities.

After a heart attack, a woman is advised to discuss approved oral contraceptives with her gynecologist. Not all of them can be combined with heart medications.

You need to have sex with a loving, reliable partner in whom you are confident.

Position is key. It is better for the healthy partner to be on top or both on their sides. In this case, the load on the heart is minimal.

The optimal time for making love is the morning, when there is unlikely to be emotional stress, bad mood and overeating.

It is important to adhere to your medication regimen. The process of returning to a full life, including sexual life, requires close supervision by the attending physician. You can consult with him about this, especially regarding taking medications before and after.

You need to give up sex in extreme conditions, that is, any place other than the bed is taboo.

The room should not be cold or hot.

To prevent physical activity (including sexual activity) after a myocardial infarction from leading to irreversible consequences, you should remember:

The first intimate pleasures should be limited to foreplay and petting. At the same time, monitor your health. Later you can move on to oral sex.
You should not make love for about 3 hours after eating heavy food (especially meat) and alcohol, regardless of its strength.
If it is necessary to use drugs to stimulate potency, consultation with a cardiologist is required. If a heart attack occurs after taking these drugs, taking nitroglycerin is strictly prohibited.
Women should consult a gynecologist and choose the optimal methods of contraception, since pregnancy in the post-infarction period is extremely undesirable.
It is better to postpone sex if you feel physical fatigue or emotional instability.
Extreme sex is strictly contraindicated. The conditions of a sauna or shower, when there is increased temperature and humidity, significantly increase the load on the heart. Uncomfortable postures, uncomfortable surroundings, and haste can also negatively affect the functioning of the cardiovascular system.
When having sex, you should have cardiac first aid supplies on hand.
Energy stimulants should be avoided.

If you follow all the rules and recommendations, intimate pleasures will only bring you the joy of intimacy with your loved one.

Risks

Mortality during sex is only 0.6-1.7%. Men are at risk (82-93% of deaths). However, according to statistics, the probability of dying during intimacy is the same among representatives of the stronger sex, survivors of a heart attack and people free from cardiovascular diseases.

What is more important is not the pathologies suffered, but the absence of risk factors. 75% of deaths are associated with:

excessive sexual activity;
overeating before sexual intercourse;
alcohol abuse.

Until death do us part

One day, a patient suffering from heart disease and leading an active lifestyle admitted that more than anything else he was afraid of sudden death during sexual intercourse. Such cases really do happen! True, according to statistics, cardiac arrest during sex accounts for only about 0.5% of sudden deaths.

Moreover, in these accidents, as a rule, it is not the sex itself that is to blame, but the circumstances. For example, statistics show that most men at that time were not with their wives, but with their mistress. And this fact can directly affect a man’s well-being.

Firstly, lovers often have a large age difference. An older man tries to live up to the expectations of a young woman and goes beyond the weight limit.

Secondly, before sex with their mistress, people often drink and overeat. And such excesses strain the heart.

Thirdly, the novelty of sensations when going to the left is often combined with a feeling of guilt in front of the wife, and these additional experiences negatively affect the heart and blood vessels.

Finally, when having sex with a lover, in front of whom you want to look good, a person tries not to complain about the pain that appears behind the sternum or in the area of the heart. The man is simply trying to wait her out. And this is a direct path to cardiac catastrophe.

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More details

Precautionary measures

Sex after a myocardial infarction will probably be safe if you follow simple rules:

Feel free to talk to your doctor about questions about starting sexual activity. No general recommendations are completely universal. Your cardiologist always knows best what exactly you need.
Follow the rehabilitation program and be physically active. This way you will reduce the risk of complications to a minimum.
Start having sex from gentle positions. It is better for the healthier partner to occupy the top position at first, and the less healthy one to occupy the bottom position. A good option is for a man and woman to lie on their sides. After a while, you can afford to experiment a lot more.
After heart surgery, wait until your breast bone heals completely. On average, recovery takes 6-8 weeks. Later, it is enough to avoid putting pressure on the chest. Experiment with poses. Some will be more comfortable than others.
Men should be especially attentive to their health. Most heart attacks during sex are caused by trying to be a passionate lover with a younger partner.
Women of childbearing age are advised to discuss with their doctor all the risks associated with possible pregnancy, as well as contraceptive options.
Do not stop taking blood pressure pills to improve your erection. Having another heart attack certainly won't make your life better. Contact a sexologist, he will help you find a solution.
Potency enhancing drugs are generally safe. But they should not be taken by people taking nitrates.

What can you do to improve the tone of your intimate life?

To increase and lengthen an erection, men use special drugs from the group of phosphodiethylesterase-5 inhibitors or IPDE-5 for short, there are several of them depending on the main substance. If the patient is prescribed nitroglycerin and its derivatives - nitrates, nicorandil and other cardiac drugs of similar action, then erection stimulants are prohibited. The reason is the coincidence of the effect on the blood vessels, due to which the pressure can drop to zero.

It is necessary to discuss the problem with the treating cardiologist, but if it so happens that you could not restrain yourself and sinned by taking sildenafil (Viagra, Revatio and a quarter of a hundred other drugs of other trade names), then you should not take nitrates for a day. What if you have a heart attack? Call an ambulance or an ambulance if your heart is really bad. Nitrates are also prohibited for 24 hours after taking vardenafil (Levitra). Cialis, created on the basis of tadalafil, creates a risk of complications when taking nitrates for two days.

The supposedly harmless and terribly effective “male strength” stimulants advertised on TV actually consist of the same sildenafil and tadalafil, only the dose of the active substance is much higher. Of course, the manufacturer does not report this, but inspectors identified a dangerous violation of the recipe, and the regulator banned the trade of many pseudo-dietary supplements. With this fraudulent approach, the manufacturer reduces the time it takes to bring the medicine to the shelves by years, because clinical trials are not required for dietary supplements.

What should a heart attack survivor do if dangers lurk where you don’t expect them? All questions will be answered by the attending cardiologist, who can offer other cardiac medications, so to speak, alternative anti-ischemic drugs without nitroglycerin in the composition, so that your sex life sparkles with all its colors.

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Recommendations

Complete restoration of all signs of a healthy life, including sex, can play a key role in the recovery of a patient after a heart attack. But don’t delude yourself that this will go away like a mild cold. It is necessary to adhere to the recommendations of specialists. This applies to limiting, or better yet completely refusing, the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

Alcohol gives a slight emotional relaxation, followed by vasospasm. This is detrimental to the heart. The simultaneous use of erection stimulants and alcohol is unacceptable, as well as the same substances together with nitroglycerin. The same instruction can be applied to rich foods. Eating a heavy meal an hour or two before sexual intercourse can significantly worsen the tone of blood vessels and the heart.

A calm, trusting attitude of partners to each other will only have a positive effect on the quality of sex and will lead to positive emotions. Stress caused by a nervous environment is strictly contraindicated under such circumstances. For a person who has suffered a heart attack, it is preferable to choose positions in which his partner will be more active. Trust and mutual understanding between two close people is also important here.