Lifestyle Changes After Heart Transplant Surgery

Posted by Dr Rajneesh Malhotra on March 8th, 2019

Heart Transplant is a major advancement in surgery for people whose heart stops functioning and they have to undergo heart transplant surgery. However, after the heart transplant surgery, it is important to have certain lifestyle changes done to your daily routine, your food etc. If you undergo heart transplant surgery in India, your transplant would suggest a host of post-surgery changes in eating/lifestyle for faster recovery.

What are the lifestyle changes required after heart transplant?

Upon consulting experts of heart transplant surgery in Delhi, you will get to know that after a heart transplant surgery, it is really important to maintain an optimum body weight to keep a check on the blood pressure, cholesterol, blood glucose levels, etc. Keeping the body weight in check helps in lowering the risk of transplant disease.

  • Maintaining an ideal body weight: It is really important after the heart transplant surgery in India, to keep your weight in control. A higher body weight means more blood needs to be pumped which would further mean higher pressure on the heart to pump. Body weight can be kept in control by-
    • Following a healthy diet.
    • Doing exercise.

It is very important as a post-surgery requirement to plan a right diet schedule and exercises that are required for your body type to stay healthy.

  • Caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco: It is the utmost requirement to stop or keep a strict check on the consumption of these –
    • Caffeine: Caffeine is a CNS stimulant; consuming caffeine puts more pressure on the heart to pump the blood. Some of the serious effects of caffeine consumption are irregularities in heart rate, diarrhoea and insomnia.

Some of the less serious side effects include a headache, nervousness and trembling.

    • Alcohol:  Alcohol consumption should also be strictly controlled or should be altogether stopped. Alcohol affects the working of the liver which is a vital organ for the breakdown and metabolism of food and many medicines. Example – cyclosporine is broken down in the liver; therefore, for the medicines to work properly you should stop taking alcohol.

Apart from this, alcohol is high in calories and does not have any nutrient content. Alcohol increases the level of triglycerides in the body.

    • Smoking Tobacco: One should stop smoking and any sort of intake of tobacco in the body. Tobacco consumption reduces the capacity of the red blood cells to carry oxygen to various body parts; as a result,recovery of the injured tissues takes time.
    • Physical exercise: After the heart transplant surgery in Delhi, it is important to have a daily exercise plan as per the capability and strength of the body. Exercise helps in regaining the muscle strength and keeps the mood elevated.

However, the connection of the heart with nerves is not the same and one should not expect the body to respond in the same way as before surgery.

However, there will not be any chest pain due to angina or any other heart disorder after the transplant. It is important that one gets back to his or her normal routine and do some exercise as it would help in keeping the mood raised up and a faster recovery after the heart transplant will occur.

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Dr Rajneesh Malhotra

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Dr Rajneesh Malhotra
Joined: March 8th, 2019
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