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Heart Disease: Depression and Heart Disease

Taking care of yourself after heart failure can add stress to your life and may even affect your relationships.

This stress can build until you feel sad, alone or set apart from your friends and family. You may feel like you're losing control of your heart condition. Tension between you and your doctor – from complications or changes in your treatment or progress – may make you sad and leave you feeling frustrated.

The feeling of sadness and frustration is very common and sometimes leads to depression, keeping you from paying proper attention to your heart failure treatment. If you are depressed and have no energy, chances are you will not feel up to your regular and important self-care tasks. Feelings of anxiety or sadness may cause you to lose focus on your healthy diet, or you may not feel like eating at all. You might lose track of your medications or forget to follow your schedule. Often, your primary care provider or your cardiologist can help. Many people also do well with psychotherapy or a combination of medication and psychotherapy.

It is very important you do not stop taking any of your medications without telling your doctor. Before you start any new treatment or medication for depression, discuss with your primary care provider the side effects or interactions with your current medication and therapy.