“I WAS WAKING UP in the middle of the night panting for breath and wondering, ‘did I just have a bad dream?’”
At the end of the summer in 2012, television presenter Michael Lyster was not feeling well. Initially, he thought he had a cold which then got worse. But after a few weeks and a course of antibiotics, “I was not getting better – I was getting worse.”
Luckily, he was eventually sent to Blackrock Clinic for a stress test, where “it was their territory, so they sussed it in a very short period of time” – Michael had heart failure.
He joins over 90,000 people in Ireland who live with heart failure. The HSE defines this as when your “heart does not work as efficiently as it should, [...] mean[ing] that your blood can’t deliver enough oxygen and nourishment to your body to allow it to work normally.”
The Irish Heart Foundation have just launched a heart failure awareness campaign urging the public to pay attention to the signs of heart failure, supported by Novartis.
Although it was a frightening diagnosis to receive, Michael slowly realised that with medical help and a change of lifestyle, there was “a way out of it”:
Obviously, it was a complete shock. But then there’s also the recognition that there’s a resolution to this – you can get back to good health.
Before it happened, Michael admits that there were times when he wasn’t paying attention to his body’s needs:
If I had a busy day, I would be getting up early and not having breakfast, or I’d miss lunch – that was an issue with me. I had lost about four stone – I looked terrible.
He had also been experiencing one of the most telltale symptoms of heart failure, though he initially did not realise why it was happening:
If you’re experiencing a shortness of breath or waking up in a panic as if someone put a pillow over your head – that’s not normal, it’s not a bug or a flu. It’s only when it’s explained to you, it’s so obvious.
The most important symptoms to look out for in relation to heart failure are shortness of breath, swollen ankles and fatigue. Michael urges that if you have any of these three symptoms, you should not ignore them. You can see a full list of symptoms here.
These days, Michael appreciates that he was lucky – the condition of heart failure can be treated, and he still lives a very happy life:
You don’t have to eat lettuce for your dinner. I just make sure that I go for a walk in the park every evening, watch my weight and don’t act the eejit.
Support from your loved ones is paramount too – Michael admits that he gets ‘yellow cards’ from his wife now and again when he needs to be doing better. Ultimately though “nobody has a better hold on this than yourself”.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest in June 2015, ‘The day that it happened, I was feeling fine, I was playing golf in Portumna and had no pain.’
Although the heart failure diagnosis and cardiac arrest were obviously connected, Michael explains that heart failure can be managed and luckily there are signs that people can be on the lookout for – swollen ankles, shortness of breath and fatigue.
His advice to people who are worried is very simple – go and get a heart check. Even if it’s daunting at first, Michael alerts that it’s not bad news you’ll receive, it’s a plan for how to tackle it:
We’re all inclined not to get things checked out in case we get bad news. But if you feel your heart isn’t quite right, you need to see what you can do about it.
As Michael puts it: “Hearts are fixable but only if you know they have an issue in the first place”.
Michael Lyster shares his experience of living with heart failure in the video below.
Over 90,000 people in Ireland live with heart failure. However, heart failure doesn’t mean your heart is about to stop – it is a very manageable condition if caught and treated early. If you’re unsure about your symptoms, please contact your doctor or call our helpline nurse on 1800 25 25 50 (Mon-Fri 9-5pm), or visit the Irish Heart Foundation’s website.
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