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Before taking any new medications, check first with your pharmacist about drug interactions with medications you are currently taking that could cause problems.
Always ask your pharmacist about drug interactions with over-the-counter cough, cold, and allergy medicines.
Keep a list of your current medications (names and dosages) in your wallet or on your smart phone.
Know your drug allergies.
If you take medications at set times throughout the day, you could set a timer on your phone as a reminder.
When away from home, ensure you have your medications with you or keep extra dosages in your purse or wallet.
Consider using a pill box or having the pharmacy make a blister pack with a separate day of the week and am/pm compartments to organize your medications.
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health refers to a person’s emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It is a vital aspect of overall health. How we think, feel, act, and make decisions all play a role in our mental health.
Mental health issues can be short-term or long-term and can affect your mood, behaviour, thinking, capacity to relate to others, and even physical health. The effects of trauma, depression, anxiety, and stress on the body, particularly the heart, have been documented in numerous research.
HOW CAN HEART FUNCTION AFFECT MENTAL HEALTH?
Living with heart failure can be difficult physically and mentally. You may feel a variety of emotions after receiving a diagnosis or as you continue to manage your condition, such as fear, frustration, despair, and worry. These feelings may not affect everyone, may come, and go or remain.
Some people also find that living with heart failure affects their ability to cope with psychological and emotional stress.
The mental health concerns for people experiencing heart failure are the same, regardless of the type or severity of their condition.
MANAGING YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
It is common to experience more negative thoughts and feelings during periods of stress, anxiety, or depression. These feelings can lead us to over-emphasize how demanding, threatening, or overwhelming daily events and interactions with others are – this habit is known as “negative self-talk.” As this self-talk can become involuntary and constant, it is common to accept it as fact and to see worst-case outcomes as being unavoidable.
When negative self-talk becomes a regular part of our daily life, it can influence the way we interact with day-to-day events at home or at work. Feelings of worry, anxiety, irritability, and sadness are triggered and maintained by negative self-talk.
As negative self-talk continues, it may give you an imbalanced or distorted impression of your situation, which can further perpetuate the cycle. You may notice a progressive decrease in your confidence about being able to manage challenging situations, including your medical condition. As a result, feelings of stress, anxiety, or depression may become more and more disruptive in your life.
CHALLENGE NEGATIVE SELF-TALK
Here are some strategies you can use to successfully change the tone of your self-talk:
1. Identify your negative self-talk patterns
Identify what your most frequent and powerful self-talk statements are (e.g., I can’t do this, I don’t deserve this, I’m not good enough) and consider how they impact your feelings or behaviour.
2. Interrupt or question these statements.
Try to catch and interrupt negative self-talk to prevent it from escalating by shifting your attention to thoughts or memories that are not negative, or intentionally absorb yourself in a task that you want or need to do.
Try repeating one of the following phrases to yourself: “Let it go,” “Don’t go there,” “Stay focused.
Shift your activity by going for a breath of fresh are or getting a drink of water.
Use questions that lead you to a more balanced view of yourself or your stressful situation.
Try repeating one of the following phrases to yourself: “Let it go,” “Don’t go there,” “Stay focused.
Shift your activity by going for a breath of fresh are or getting a drink of water.
Use questions that lead you to a more balanced view of yourself or your stressful situation.
One key cognitive-behavioural technique is to ask yourself: “Even if I’m in a difficult or stressful situation, how can I best respond to it?”
As you think about your answer, you’ll find that your effort begins to focus on a constructive goal for your situation, and this in turn helps to improve your emotions and mood.
3. Actively practice positive self-talk.
Focus your attention on the positive ways you are addressing your situation. You can also identify at least one positive characteristic about yourself and your efforts. Remind yourself negative experiences help teach us how to respond to difficult situations. Through this process, you may discover how your effort is deeply meaningful, or even a source of personal growth.
Consider gratitude. Write down a list of things you are grateful for in your life, or things that you appreciate about yourself, your perseverance, or those around you.
RELAXATION AND MEDITATION
If stressful situations make you feel anxious, tense, or worried, you may find meditation helpful. Even a few minutes of meditation may help you regain your sense of calm.
Meditation is something that everybody can do. It’s easy to accomplish, free, and doesn’t require any special equipment.
You can meditate anywhere: on a walk, on the bus, in line at the doctor’s office, or even in the middle of a tense work meeting.
WHAT IS PAEDIATRIC HEART FAILURE?
The treatment of heart failure in children often depends on the cause of the underlying problem. Sometimes there are medical, surgical or catheter-based interventions that can be undertaken to either cure or reduce the symptoms of heart failure. Your child will be taken care of with a team that includes physicians, nurses, specialized dieticians who ensure optimal nutrition, and physical and occupational therapists who will provide assessments. Your child will be prescribed medicines to treat both the symptoms of heart failure and to improve or stabilize heart function. Child life specialists and social workers are available to help children and families dealing with the stress associated with a chronic illness.
TREATMENT OF HEART FAILURE IN CHILDREN
The treatment of heart failure in children often depends on the cause of the underlying problem. Sometimes there are medical, surgical or catheter-based interventions that can be undertaken to either cure or reduce the symptoms of heart failure. For children whose heart failure symptoms worsen and they develop what is called “end-stage” heart failure, there may be the option to manage it using devices such as ICDs, or ventricular assist devices. They may also need heart transplantation.
TRANSITIONING TO ADULT CARE
Making the move from a children’s to an adult hospital is a new and exciting chapter in your life. It can also be a time of uncertainty and sometimes fear. These feelings are normal. Your caregiver has likely played an important role in managing your health care so far, however, now is the time that you continue to take charge of your own health and become a more independent adult.
SickKids has a dedicated team of both paediatric and adult cardiologists alongside specialized paediatric cardiac nurses who will help guide you through this transition to the adult hospitals.
What do we do?
Increasing patient knowledge of their cardiac diagnosis, interventions, medical management and lifestyle choices (beginning at the age of 14 years old)
Supporting patients in the development of their self-management and self-advocacy skills
Providing virtual “meet and greet” opportunities for patients to connect with the adult healthcare team
How do we do this?
How do we do this: By providing patients with nurse-lead 1:1 education sessions that are tailored, and developmentally appropriate for each patient. These sessions are available both in person and virtually
Continued support post transfer from paediatric to adult healthcare
CHF CLINICAL PROGRAM AT SICKKIDS
The Cardiomyopathy & Heart Function (CHF) program at Sickkids is the first and largest of its kind in Canada. The CHF program provides expertise in delivering both inpatient and outpatient care for children with all types of cardiomyopathies and those with congenital heart disease and end-stage heart failure.
The CHF program runs regular interdisciplinary clinics each week specializing in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, neuromuscular diseases such as Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Friedrich’s Ataxia, surveillance for heart failure in those who have received cancer treatments, and a regular cardiomyopathy screening clinic for children with affected family members.
The CHF team is multidisciplinary and works to optimize the health and quality of life for children with heart failure.
From a research standpoint, this program is at the forefront of innovation that include novel drug trials, multi-centre registry participation, advanced genomics and stem cell research, cardiac precision medicine, digital technology, and quality improvement efforts.
PAEDIATRIC HEART FAILURE SUPPORTS
Labatt Family Heart Centre
SickKids Family Resources
AboutKidsHealth
Paediatric Transplant Society
ACTION Learning Network
Children’s Cardiomyopathy Foundation
PHYSICAL ACTIVITY
Exercise is essential for good cardiovascular health.
Having heart failure does not mean that you cannot exercise. In fact, studies show numerous benefits of exercise in people with heart failure.
Enrolling in a cardiac rehabilitation program may be an option for you. These programs are an excellent source of information and allow you to exercise in a supervised setting.
Ideally, you should be getting regular physical activity: 30 minutes per day, five days per week. You may need to gradually build up to this level of activity.
EXERCISE AND HEART FAILURE
Exercising regularly helps people with heart failure live longer, improves quality of life, and decreases the need for heart failure related hospital admissions. Other health benefits:
Better energy levels
Increased physical strength and ability to exercise
Weight loss
Improved management of other medical conditions and risk factors, such as diabetes, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels
Management of stress
Improved quality of sleep
Decreased symptoms of depression.
IS IT SAFE FOR ME TO EXERCISE?
You may feel uncertain about starting to exercise. The first step is to talk to your health care provider to find out if it is safe for you to exercise, what type of exercise or program is best for you and how much.