FAQ

Yes, and it is more common than most people realise. Partners, family members, and others who witnessed the arrest or performed CPR often experience their own trauma, anxiety, and adjustment difficulties. In some cases the distress of the people around a survivor is more acute, at least initially, than the survivor’s own. We use the term co-survivor to recognise this, because the people around a cardiac arrest are not simply bystanders. They live with the consequences too.

The same NHS and private support routes available to survivors are open to co-survivors. Your partner can speak to their own GP, self-refer to NHS Talking Therapies in England, or access private therapy. As a member of our community, co-survivors may also be eligible for the free private counselling sessions available through our SADS UK partnership.

We have a dedicated section on our site for co-survivors, and our community is full of partners and family members who understand exactly what your partner is going through. Encouraging them to connect with others who have been in the same position can make a significant difference.

Category: Psychological Support

Several types of support are available across the UK.

NHS support: Cardiac rehabilitation is available after a cardiac arrest and typically includes physical recovery, education, and psychological support. Ask your cardiology team or GP for a referral. Your GP can also refer you to NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety or depression, or you can self-refer in England without seeing your GP first.

SCA UK: Sudden Cardiac Arrest UK is a peer-led charity supporting survivors, co-survivors and bereaved families across the UK. We offer a large active community, a library of information resources, and access to free private counselling sessions for eligible members through our partnership with SADS UK. Joining is free. Join our community.

Private therapy: If NHS waiting times are too long, private counselling from a BACP-registered or UKCP-registered therapist can be quicker, though there is a cost. Our counselling page covers how to find a suitable therapist.

Category: Recovery

It depends entirely on why your cardiac arrest happened. For some survivors, the underlying cause is identified and successfully treated, which substantially reduces the risk of recurrence. For others, particularly those whose cardiac arrest arose from an ongoing arrhythmia or structural heart condition, some elevated risk remains. This is one of the reasons an ICD may be recommended.

Your cardiologist is the right person to discuss your individual risk with. They will have assessed the cause of your arrest and the condition of your heart, and they can give you a clearer picture than any general answer can. It is a reasonable and important question to ask directly.

Living with uncertainty about recurrence is one of the harder aspects of cardiac arrest survival, and the fear of it happening again is one of the most common concerns survivors raise. It does not mean the risk is high. Many survivors find that understanding their risk, even if it is not zero, is less frightening than not knowing. Peer support from others who have navigated the same uncertainty is something our community offers in abundance.

Category: Cardiac Arrest

In most cases, yes, but not immediately. Following a cardiac arrest, the DVLA in the UK requires you to stop driving and notify them. Whether and when you can drive again depends on several factors, including the type of heart rhythm that caused the arrest, whether you have had an ICD fitted, whether you have a Group 1 (ordinary) or Group 2 (lorry or bus) licence, and whether you experienced symptoms beforehand.

For Group 1 drivers who have had an ICD fitted after a cardiac arrest due to a shockable rhythm, there is typically a period of several months before driving may be considered. The rules are complex and have been updated over time. The DVLA and your cardiologist are the definitive sources. Do not drive until you have explicit confirmation that you may.

Our page on driving and the DVLA after cardiac arrest covers this in more detail, including the relevant guidance and how to notify the DVLA. Many members of our community have been through this process and can share their experience of navigating it.

Category: Practical Issues

For most people, life with an ICD is largely unchanged, with some practical adjustments. The ICD monitors your heart rhythm continuously and will deliver a shock if it detects a dangerous rhythm. Most of the time you will not be aware it is there.

There are a few areas to be aware of. Driving is restricted initially, and the rules depend on several factors including the type of rhythm that caused your arrest. Certain sources of strong electromagnetic fields can interfere with an ICD, though the risk in everyday life is low. Some sports, particularly contact sports, need review with your clinical team. Your cardiologist or cardiac nurse specialist will go through the specifics with you.

What many survivors find hardest is the psychological adjustment: knowing that a device is watching your heart, and wondering what it means if it activates. Many ICD recipients describe an initial period of anxiety that eases considerably with time. Our site has detailed information on living with an ICD, and our community includes thousands of ICD recipients, many of whom have been living with one for years and are happy to share their experience.

Category: Implantable Devices

Yes, very much so. Anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress are all recognised clinical responses to life-threatening events, and cardiac arrest is about as life-threatening as it gets. These are not weaknesses or character flaws. They are your nervous system responding to something genuinely terrifying.

Anxiety is particularly common after cardiac arrest, often centring on fear of another arrest, heightened awareness of the heartbeat (sometimes called cardiac hypervigilance), or avoidance of activities that feel risky. Depression affects many survivors too, often arriving some weeks after the event, once the initial adrenaline of survival has worn off.

If feelings like these are persisting beyond a few weeks, are severe, or are affecting your daily life, speak to your GP. There are effective treatments, including CBT, EMDR, and medication. Peer support also helps many people enormously. Members of our community may also be eligible for free private counselling sessions through our partnership with SADS UK.

Category: Recovery

Most survivors find a new normal rather than returning to the old one. The event changes you, and there is no honest way around that. The question most people are really asking is: will life ever feel worth living again, will the fear ever ease, will I stop feeling like a stranger in my own body? The answer to all of those, for the vast majority of survivors, is yes.

It takes time. How much time varies enormously. Some survivors feel themselves again within months. Others take years. Many describe a gradual shift rather than a sudden moment, where they realise one day that they went several hours without thinking about the arrest, or did something they had been avoiding, or laughed without it feeling odd.

The things that seem to help most are peer support (talking to others who have been through it), appropriate professional help if anxiety or depression are significant, and resisting the urge to compare your recovery to someone else’s. You can read about the emotional journey in more detail on our roller coaster page, and connect with thousands of survivors at different stages in our community.

Category: Fear and Anxiety

There is no single answer, and anyone who gives you a confident one is guessing. Physical recovery after a cardiac arrest is often longer than people expect. CPR can cause significant chest wall injuries (cracked or bruised ribs and a sore sternum are common), and the resulting pain and breathlessness can take weeks to months to resolve. Profound fatigue is also very common and frequently persists long after other physical symptoms have eased. If you have had an ICD fitted, or undergone other procedures, recovery from those adds further time. Returning to normal levels of activity typically takes several months, and cardiac rehabilitation is an important part of that process.

Emotional and psychological recovery is often slower, and less predictable. Anxiety, intrusive memories, low mood and fatigue are all common and can persist well beyond the point where you feel physically recovered. For some survivors, the emotional adjustment continues for years. That does not mean you are doing it wrong.

Progress is rarely linear. Many survivors describe a pattern of feeling better, then having a setback, then moving forward again. If the emotional side is not improving with time, or is getting worse, speaking to your GP is the right step. Effective support exists. Our counselling and talking therapies page covers the options available to you. You can also read more about emotional issues after cardiac arrest and connect with others in our community who are at different stages of the same journey.

Category: Cardiac Arrest