A third of people who suffer heart attacks discover new meaning to their lives and reconnect with their partner, but others see it as a threat to their well-ordered existence, according to research published in the latest Journal of Advanced Nursing.
Researchers from Switzerland and the USA teamed up to explore the in-depth experiences of 24 couples to see whether the experience had changed their lives and their relationships.
"All the couples experienced a brush with death at the onset of the disease which called for changes in their lifestyle" says lead researcher Dr Romy Mahrer-Imhof, from the Institute of Nursing at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
"Three distinct patterns of dealing with the patient's heart attack emerged. People either made positive changes to their lives, felt negative about the experience or tried to turn their lives around but failed."
Nine couples reported that the heart attack was an important and necessary event which had brought them closer together and transformed their lives.
"He used to be a very normal person but then he became reserved" said one partner. "When he suffered the heart attack he emerged transformed. He is much more open, much more relaxed. Now we can speak together again. We have succeeded in turning our lives around."
This particular couple had also made practical changes to their lives.
"For example, I don't do the grocery shopping anymore" she adds. "He goes now with the bike – cycling is good for him and it brings him out from behind the computer."
Ten couples said that they felt fearful and threatened by the fact that they had no control over an unpredictable future.
"The physician who tested me said my heart is not good" said one patient." I could not understand it. Why did this happen to me? I was always careful to eat healthy food and I never smoked."
"We are always a bit worried" added his wife. "We planned a trip, but now we have to let that go. I know I don't need to be anxious, but it is hard to plan for the future when he is not healthy."
The remaining five couples looked at various possibilities for positive change as the result of the heart attack. But they did not achieve them and felt that they had missed their chance to make things better.
One partner in her mid 60s talked about how she wanted her husband to take more exercise, work less and spend more time with her after his heart attack.
"Work and other things are much more important than that we spend time together" she said. "I have to rely on myself. I do not want to wait and be frustrated all the time. I could start nagging – how awful. So we live as we did before."
The study focussed on patients who had been hospitalised in north-west Switzerland in the last year after an acute cardiac event, together with their partners. The patients had all attended a cardiac rehabilitation programme.