This past summer, 42-year-old Mark Reyes* suffered a heart attack. After a bypass procedure, he spent a few weeks out of the hospital. He and his spouse, however, haven’t had sex in the previous two months. (You have ten minutes? Then it’s time to start using Prevention’s new 10-minute meals and workouts to permanently reduce weight. Now, get in shape in 10: slender and resilient for life!
Not only is he not yet medically cleared for sexual activity, but he and his spouse find the idea of getting back into the bedroom unsettling.
We joke with one other that if I get too excited, she’ll say, ‘Watch out! he continues. It is a partial truth, though.
I don’t want to experience that once more. Reyes is just one of many men who, in addition to their sexual problems, must deal with the other profound effects of a heart attack. According to new research from the University of Chicago, 31% of males 55 and younger who had no sexual issues before their heart attacks had at least one new issue in the year following.
Among them, 16% felt nervous about their performance, 19% said they had no interest in having sex, and nearly a quarter had erectile trouble.
Continue reading to learn about the intricate web of psychological and medical issues that can interfere with your ability to have relationships after a heart attack, as well as, crucially, what you can do about it.
Mental health issues might also be brought on by heart attacks.
A heart attack can quickly cause someone to become anxious—even depressed—about his health and capacity to carry on with his regular life. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), this leads to depression striking one-third of heart attack victims.
According to Dr. Wright, depression can also obstruct the intricate chain reaction of neurotransmitters needed to experience sexual desire and get an erection.
Low libido is a common side effect of antidepressants, according to a review published in Current Opinions in Psychiatry. After a heart attack, many heart attack survivors experience anxiety around having sex. They may worry about getting too close or fear having another heart attack. And a poor libido is only made worse by that anxiety.
Reyes is all too familiar with this: He developed depression following his heart attack. He didn’t even feel the need to have sex, and it depressed him even more to consider how he couldn’t do all of his duties as a spouse. To help him feel better, he started taking antidepressants, but he was still having trouble feeling lust.
But there is extremely little chance that having sex may result in another heart attack: According to a JAMA study, having intercourse increases your chance of suffering a heart attack by only around one in a million, even if you’ve already had one.
He was probably at risk of losing his erection anyway.
Heart attacks and erectile dysfunction are frequently related since the same factors that make a man more susceptible to having one can also make him fall in love. Arteries congested is one case. The majority of heart attacks are caused by clots that lodge in obstructed arteries, obstructing the heart’s blood supply.
With hindsight, 60-year-old Clark Oliver* understands that his sporadic erectile dysfunction may have been a precursor to the heart attack he suffered in February.
He said that I might not have had the heart attack at all if I had paid attention to those signals early on.
The arteries that provide blood to the penis are among the many arteries that are clogged by heart attack victims, according to NYU Langone Medical Center’s medical director of outpatient cardiology Lawrence Phillips, MD. A male will find it difficult to achieve or maintain an erection if blood supply to the penis is restricted.
Assessing his way of life might have also given him a hint. Research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found that Oliver smoked before his heart attack. Smoking causes blood vessels to constrict, which obstructs the blood flow required for an erection.
The blood flow that powers erections can also be disrupted by other heart disease risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, according to Brad Pfeffer, MD, a physician at Baltimore’s LifeBridge Health Cardiovascular Institute.
Heart drugs can cause sexual problems, too.
This was revealed to Bruce Thomas* following two heart attacks at the age of 71. He was already taking Cialis for erectile dysfunction at a dosage of ten milligrams. He has had to increase his Cialis dosage by double since he started taking beta-blockers to offset their influence on his erection.
In the case that your significant other does not currently experience erectile dysfunction, the same heart drugs that save him from suffering a heart attack can cause or exacerbate sexual dysfunction. According to Richard Wright, MD, a cardiologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, medications known as beta-blockers, for example, can drop blood pressure, which is excellent for his heart but bad for his penis.
Some heart medications only necessitate adjusting the amount of ED medications, while others make it impossible to continue taking them. For example, according to Dr. Pfeffer, men cannot take nitrates, which widen blood arteries and reduce chest pain or pressure, along with erectile dysfunction medications like Viagra or Cialis. The doctor would have to find an alternative method of treating ED because that combination can result in a potentially fatal drop in blood pressure.
You might be anxious, too.
According to Dr. Wright, a partner of a heart attack victim is frequently more afraid about having sex than the survivor is.
Jim Carroll*, 61, who suffered a heart attack at the age of 55, remarks on his spouse, saying, “I think she was more anxious than I was, wondering whether I would do something to injure you. Will there be an issue with this? ” Thus, they approached it gingerly when he and his wife were ready to have sex again, which was roughly nine months following his heart attack. Nevertheless, the nerves soon subsided.
It was as if nothing had happened before we began before he went on.
Thomas also mentioned that when they resumed having sex, he and his wife were concerned about his heart. His wife would interrupt when things got hot and inquire as to whether he was feeling any symptoms. However, similar to Carroll, he and his spouse both unwinded after doing the task effectively.
He remembers thinking, Yeah, okay, we got this.
When and how to resume sexual activity following a heart attack
Within one to six weeks of leaving the hospital, the majority of men can resume their regular sexual life, according to Wichita State University nursing professor Elaine Steinke, PhD. After that, the heart muscle usually recovers sufficiently to be able to tolerate the slight strain that intercourse places on it.
According to Dr. Pfeffer, having sex exerts as much stress on the heart as going up a few flights of stairs. The patient is usually set to go once he can accomplish that without experiencing any symptoms like tightness or chest pain.
Oliver was pleasantly surprised to find himself able to have sex barely a week after leaving the hospital, and that was the case for him as well.
After cleared, return to sex gradually, advises Steinke. Begin in your normal position in a familiar setting. According to Steinke, who authored two sets of guidelines on sex after heart attacks for the American Heart Association, attempting new actions, even if they appear to require less effort, can result in greater stress and strain than the ones you are accustomed to.
Dr. Phillips advises him to stop and take a break if he feels any of the symptoms associated with a heart attack, including dizziness, shortness of breath, chest discomfort, or palpitations. You can try again in a few minutes if they go away, advises Steinke. Make an appointment with your physician if the symptoms persist, or seek emergency care if your chest pain lasts more than fifteen minutes.
When he’s ready, a cardiologist can determine with certainty since details differ. For example, you’ll have to wait longer—roughly six to eight weeks—for the incision and sternum to heal following bypass surgery, according to Steinke. You might have to wait five to six weeks for the leg incision to heal if he has had a stent placed through his femoral artery in the thigh to clear any blockages like Thomas did following his second heart attack.
One word of caution: even though receptive anal sex is a frequent part of your repertory, put it on the back burner for now. According to Steinke, there is evidence that it exerts more pressure on the vagus nerve, which connects the brain and the belly, resulting in symptoms such as chest pain. Consult the doctor about the best time to start up again.
What if he has erectile difficulties after recovery?
Even one successful sexual encounter following a heart attack can give you the confidence to continue, Dr. Nguyen says. That was the situation for Thomas and Carroll, who claim that following the first satisfying experience, their nervousness decreased along with that of their wives.
On the other side of treatment and recuperation, their sexual life even somewhat improved. After a few weeks, if there’s still difficulty achieving or maintaining an erection, he can ask his doctor to adjust his heart prescription or add an ED medicine.
According to cardiologist Bryant Nguyen, MD, if sexual problems persist for three to six months or more, he may need to see a professional such as a urologist or psychologist. at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in San Diego. According to Thomas, it’s as if I had an issue that we weren’t aware of, and it was progressively becoming worse. Now that it’s corrected, we may proceed with the takeoff. That’s a good feeling.
