A Hearty Life

Mark Herpel and Congestive Heart Failure - Part 3

by Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD on January 31st, 2007

In part 3 of our interview with Mark Herpel of Digital Money World, we find out how Mark manages to stay so positive and upbeat despite having lived with congestive heart failure for over a year. He also has some advice for how you can do the same no matter what chronic illness you may be living with.

Hsien Lei (HL): Although you say that it’s hard to wake up each morning knowing you have a chronic heart condition, it’s apparent to everyone that you have a very positive attitude. What keeps you going day-to-day?

Mark Herpel (MH): I must tell you that right before this, a friend was ill and dying so funeral items had to be discussed. Then when this illness happened to me, that 6 weeks after the ER but before the US specialist, death was all I thought about, because depression hit me hard from the lack of strong blood flow. You actually think about coffins etc and who will take my dog. It’s a real bummer but Dr.s don’t know everything, no one is going to tell me I’m dying soon…well that went on for a few weeks…denial I think its called. There are stages of this type of illness, anger, denial, acceptance etc.

What gets me out of bed every AM? My dog needs to go out. There is no great spirituality to this illness, we are all human….I open my eyes each day, smile and get on with it. My dog walks me 3 miles on the beach each day and I get stronger. I’ve lost 35lbs, eat right, work hard and I suppose the Prozac is working because I’m not bothered by any of it. I learn more each day about the stem cell research and read helpful info on blogs such as yours and it gives me hope of a healthier future. You can’t get through life listening to others tell you how sick you are, pardon my language but screw them no one is telling me I can’t get better. As the heart webs slogan reads, “Failure is not an option” which is pretty corny but very true

HL: What advice would you give to other people with congestive heart failure?

MH: Wake up every AM, smile brush your hair and get on with your life. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

(1) NO SODIUM, no sodium, and again say it NO SODIUM get rid of that extra fluid which makes your heart work double time.

(2) EXERCISE, get a dog, walk 3-4 times daily 5-30 minutes each time. If you feel weak, stop and sit, but continue your exercise the next day. That is critical.

Seven weeks after being told I needed a transplant, I still could not walk up a flight of stairs because of the leaky values, but I grabbed the dog and went for a walk, just over 2 miles. I was sweating, and had to stop and sit like 20 times, I think it took about two hours, but I made it and the next day I felt a lot better. It got easier from there and now I very little irregular heart beats while walking. Buy a pedometer and keep track of how many steps you take each day on your walks. (I was thinking of a dog adoption service for heart congestive heart patients :-)

(3) Lose weight, when you can’t eat most of the usual foods, you will automatically start to lose, then exercise and you will lose more –so the weight lose will be a bonus if you follow the rule. No doughnuts.

(4) No beer, booze or wine. The extra fluid which builds up from just one or two beers can take days to normalize. I now feel terrible if I have one beer.

(5) No caffeine. This speeds up your heart artificially and while it won’t kill you, it will not allow your heart to get well while you are recovering which is very important that is the medication working slowing things down so you can heal. Caffeine works again it.

(6) Get on the Net and learn as much as you can about your illness. In this case, ignorance can kill you. People with this problem need to be able to recognize symptoms and learn what makes them better and when they are getting worse. When I first began improving I could still lay flat on the bed until just a few months ago, I started to require several pillows. This lead to a change in the meds. You have to recognize symptoms, both good and bad and take corrective action. A lot of webs say, keep a journal of how you feel each day, but who has the time for that? However, recognizing changes in your symptoms is critical.

I am very strong now, no lethargy, no dizziness or shortness of breath so there is no doubt that the items listed above can make you feel better. Take your meds. Get a dog. When you hear bad news from the Dr(s), remember they are not always correct and don’t know everything. You don’t have an expiration stamp on the bottom of your foot and you are never limited by what someone tells you. Just ask that journalist from CNN [Charlie Hoff] who received his own stem cells, after three heart attacks he is out playing golf. Of course now that I have written that down, I’ll probably fall out a window next week, but TODAY and this week have been a very good one :-)

Don’t you just love Mark’s positive outlook? Here’s one more tidbit of information that I found astounding: Mark pays cash for all the medical care he receives in the U.S. since he has no health insurance and lives in Central America. For more about the world of online currency and digital money, visit Mark at Digital Money World!

Tags: mark herpel, congestive heart failure, chf, heart, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diseases, illness, health

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POSTED IN: People With Heart Disease