How my heart condition affected my mental health

“It’s very hard to reintegrate into society, to live as usual, when you’ve been told that you technically should have died – there’s no guidebook for how to deal with that,” he says.

Rory Wade, 24, underwent open-heart surgery at age 3 after being diagnosed with subaortic stenosis, which occurs when the flow of blood from the heart’s pumping chamber or left ventricle is restricted. Rory had another surgery ten years later, aged 13, after which he also suffered a cardiac arrest and almost died.

“I interpreted it as a second chance at life – that I absolutely have to live the best life, and that every decision I make needs to lead towards the best life,” Rory explains. “But that means even irrational thoughts like what food to order at the restaurant, what clothes to buy, where to go out on a Saturday night – everything has to be the right decision, and that creates huge anxiety. Interestingly, my therapist’s advice was to make a wrong decision and see what good comes out of it.”

A helping hand

Being diagnosed, or living with, a heart or circulatory condition can be overwhelming. It can mean that things you used to do every day may be harder and you might have to adapt to a new normality. But we are here to help, from helping you to come to terms with your condition and how it impacts your life to connecting you with others in a similar position.

Our support groups and online communities are friendly environments where you can share knowledge and experiences with others affected by heart and circulatory disease. Rory, for example, is a member of the One Beat support programme for 18-30 year olds with heart conditions.

“The BHF has allowed me to put my passions into practice, and I hope that all other young people with heart conditions can have the same experience as me because it’s really transformed my life,” Rory says.

Our hearts and minds are connected

Rory’s experience highlights how having a heart condition can affect your mental health – but can the opposite be true? Can a mental health condition affect your heart?

Dr Lisa Pennells and her team at the University of Cambridge recently found that people who experience symptoms of depression are more likely to go on to develop heart disease than those who report good mental health.

They analysed the health records of over half a million people, with no prior history of heart and circulatory disease, who were enrolled to twenty-two different studies. Upon joining the studies, participants were given a score based on questionnaires assessing their mood and any symptoms of depression that they had experienced over the previous one to two weeks. They found that those in the highest scoring group, and with most severe symptoms of depression, were more likely to have developed heart disease, compared to people with the lowest scores. This increase in risk was small, and less than that seen for other risk factors such as high cholesterol or blood pressure.

“Our research clearly shows that our hearts and minds are connected, but we need to explore this link further if we are to find new ways of helping to improve our heart health,” Dr Pennells explains.

Do you want to hear more from Dr Lisa Pennells and Rory Wade about how our hearts and minds are connected?

Watch our Live & Ticking event