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I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction
Fatigue has been found to be the most frequent and bothersome symptom after myocardial infarction (MI), influencing health-related quality of life negatively. Moreover, fatigue after MI has been described as incomprehensible due to its unpredictable occurrence and lack of relationship to physical ef...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Co-Action Publishing
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3683631/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23769653 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v8i0.20836 |
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author | Fredriksson-Larsson, Ulla Alsen, Pia Brink, Eva |
author_facet | Fredriksson-Larsson, Ulla Alsen, Pia Brink, Eva |
author_sort | Fredriksson-Larsson, Ulla |
collection | PubMed |
description | Fatigue has been found to be the most frequent and bothersome symptom after myocardial infarction (MI), influencing health-related quality of life negatively. Moreover, fatigue after MI has been described as incomprehensible due to its unpredictable occurrence and lack of relationship to physical effort. The aim of this study is therefore to explore persons’ experiences of consequences of fatigue and their strategies for dealing with it 2 months after MI. In total, 18 informants, aged 42–75 years, participated in the study. Interviews were conducted and analysed using constructivist grounded theory methodology. Grounded in the data, the main consequence of fatigue, as illustrated in the core category, was: I’ve lost the person I used to be. It indicates a sense of reduced ability to manage daily life due to experiences of fatigue. The core category was developed from the four categories: involuntary thoughts, certainties replaced with question marks, driving with the handbrake on and just being is enough. Furthermore, attempts to relieve fatigue were limited. These findings indicate that patients with symptoms of fatigue should be supported in developing relief strategies, for example, rest and sleep hygiene as well as physical activity. In conclusion, the results show that fatigue can be understood in light of the concepts “comprehensibility” and “manageability.” They also indicate that, working from a person-centered perspective, health-care professionals can support patients experiencing post-MI fatigue by giving them opportunities to straighten out the question marks and by inviting them to discuss involuntary thoughts and feelings of being restricted in their daily life functioning. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3683631 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2013 |
publisher | Co-Action Publishing |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-36836312013-06-19 I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction Fredriksson-Larsson, Ulla Alsen, Pia Brink, Eva Int J Qual Stud Health Well-being Empirical Study Fatigue has been found to be the most frequent and bothersome symptom after myocardial infarction (MI), influencing health-related quality of life negatively. Moreover, fatigue after MI has been described as incomprehensible due to its unpredictable occurrence and lack of relationship to physical effort. The aim of this study is therefore to explore persons’ experiences of consequences of fatigue and their strategies for dealing with it 2 months after MI. In total, 18 informants, aged 42–75 years, participated in the study. Interviews were conducted and analysed using constructivist grounded theory methodology. Grounded in the data, the main consequence of fatigue, as illustrated in the core category, was: I’ve lost the person I used to be. It indicates a sense of reduced ability to manage daily life due to experiences of fatigue. The core category was developed from the four categories: involuntary thoughts, certainties replaced with question marks, driving with the handbrake on and just being is enough. Furthermore, attempts to relieve fatigue were limited. These findings indicate that patients with symptoms of fatigue should be supported in developing relief strategies, for example, rest and sleep hygiene as well as physical activity. In conclusion, the results show that fatigue can be understood in light of the concepts “comprehensibility” and “manageability.” They also indicate that, working from a person-centered perspective, health-care professionals can support patients experiencing post-MI fatigue by giving them opportunities to straighten out the question marks and by inviting them to discuss involuntary thoughts and feelings of being restricted in their daily life functioning. Co-Action Publishing 2013-06-14 /pmc/articles/PMC3683631/ /pubmed/23769653 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v8i0.20836 Text en © 2013 U. Fredriksson-Larsson et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Empirical Study Fredriksson-Larsson, Ulla Alsen, Pia Brink, Eva I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
title |
I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
title_full |
I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
title_fullStr |
I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
title_full_unstemmed |
I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
title_short |
I’ve lost the person I used to be—Experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
title_sort | i’ve lost the person i used to be—experiences of the consequences of fatigue following myocardial infarction |
topic | Empirical Study |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3683631/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23769653 http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/qhw.v8i0.20836 |
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