JtB
Prepare a way for the Lord
- Location
- North Hampshire
Last week I was rushed into hospital and ended up needing a pacemaker, so no cycling for me for the next 4 weeks. Normally I cycle very regularly and consider myself fit for 53 - my BMI is 23 and I leave many youngsters behind on the hills :-)
For many years though I have been aware of a resting heart rate and blood pressure which (although within the range of "normal") are on the low side. I have also been aware of feeling light headed when standing up too quickly and the odd palpitation when lying down at night time. None of this gave me cause for concern because I figured if I was going to have a heart attack then it was going to be during a hill climb and I never experienced any problems with those.
However, about a year ago I blacked out as I was falling asleep at night and again as I was waking up the following morning. This prompted a whole load of tests, including a 24 hour ECG monitor which revealed everything to be normal. Unfortunately though, things deteriorated very quickly the weekend before last where I blacked out about 12 times each time as I was falling asleep. My wife took me to A&E, but because my vital signs improved so quickly, they sent me home again with instructions to contact my GP the following day. That night, the same thing happened again and so my wife took me back to A&E and dug her heels in until they admitted me to the "Acute Assessment Centre" for over night monitoring. As soon as the lights went out I passed out again while falling asleep and the ECG monitor showed my normal heart activity stopping for about 40 seconds with gaps of over 5 seconds between consecutive beats. The doctors immediately transferred me to the cardiac unit and the following day (after forcing myself to remain awake all night) I received a pacemaker implant.
The heart itself is in very good shape due to my cycling/fitness, but the problem is with the heart's wiring which means that while I am sleeping my normal heart activity stops, resulting in me blacking out and then (once the adrenalin kicks in and re-starts the heart's normal rhythm) waking up and feeling very unwell indeed. The pacemaker is therefore configured to kick in and take over when my resting heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute. Since being fitted I've had good night's sleeps, but I'm still feeling a quite anxious with the whole situation which came upon me with such speed.
During the actual operation (which was under a local anesthetic), I was chatting with the surgeon who is a keen jogger and I asked him if there was a correlation between this sort of heart problem and cycling. In his view there is a very definite correlation between endurance exercise and heart rhythm problems and this is a new phenomena not seen with previous generations. His explanation was that if you looked at our parents' generation they tended not to participate in such endurance exercises. However, both the surgeon and the cardiac consultant (who like myself rides a Bianchi) told me that I was doing exactly the right thing since the benefits of cycling far out weighed the disadvantages.
Long term the prospects are good and I should be able to return to a full active life, both work and social. There are however some situations to avoid relating to close proximity to RF signals and magnetism. This will mean using the phone/mobile on my other (right) ear, not carrying my mobile in my breast pocket and avoiding higher levels of RF. For example I will need to keep 3W RF devices at least 12" from my chest (this could be a problem for me given that my job involves professional 2-way radio).
Since the pacemaker only kicks in while I am resting then it should not interfere with my cycling, so in 4 weeks when I get back in the saddle, I fully intend building up my previous level of fitness and giving my cycling buddies a "good run for their money" again.
For many years though I have been aware of a resting heart rate and blood pressure which (although within the range of "normal") are on the low side. I have also been aware of feeling light headed when standing up too quickly and the odd palpitation when lying down at night time. None of this gave me cause for concern because I figured if I was going to have a heart attack then it was going to be during a hill climb and I never experienced any problems with those.
However, about a year ago I blacked out as I was falling asleep at night and again as I was waking up the following morning. This prompted a whole load of tests, including a 24 hour ECG monitor which revealed everything to be normal. Unfortunately though, things deteriorated very quickly the weekend before last where I blacked out about 12 times each time as I was falling asleep. My wife took me to A&E, but because my vital signs improved so quickly, they sent me home again with instructions to contact my GP the following day. That night, the same thing happened again and so my wife took me back to A&E and dug her heels in until they admitted me to the "Acute Assessment Centre" for over night monitoring. As soon as the lights went out I passed out again while falling asleep and the ECG monitor showed my normal heart activity stopping for about 40 seconds with gaps of over 5 seconds between consecutive beats. The doctors immediately transferred me to the cardiac unit and the following day (after forcing myself to remain awake all night) I received a pacemaker implant.
The heart itself is in very good shape due to my cycling/fitness, but the problem is with the heart's wiring which means that while I am sleeping my normal heart activity stops, resulting in me blacking out and then (once the adrenalin kicks in and re-starts the heart's normal rhythm) waking up and feeling very unwell indeed. The pacemaker is therefore configured to kick in and take over when my resting heart rate drops below 60 beats per minute. Since being fitted I've had good night's sleeps, but I'm still feeling a quite anxious with the whole situation which came upon me with such speed.
During the actual operation (which was under a local anesthetic), I was chatting with the surgeon who is a keen jogger and I asked him if there was a correlation between this sort of heart problem and cycling. In his view there is a very definite correlation between endurance exercise and heart rhythm problems and this is a new phenomena not seen with previous generations. His explanation was that if you looked at our parents' generation they tended not to participate in such endurance exercises. However, both the surgeon and the cardiac consultant (who like myself rides a Bianchi) told me that I was doing exactly the right thing since the benefits of cycling far out weighed the disadvantages.
Long term the prospects are good and I should be able to return to a full active life, both work and social. There are however some situations to avoid relating to close proximity to RF signals and magnetism. This will mean using the phone/mobile on my other (right) ear, not carrying my mobile in my breast pocket and avoiding higher levels of RF. For example I will need to keep 3W RF devices at least 12" from my chest (this could be a problem for me given that my job involves professional 2-way radio).
Since the pacemaker only kicks in while I am resting then it should not interfere with my cycling, so in 4 weeks when I get back in the saddle, I fully intend building up my previous level of fitness and giving my cycling buddies a "good run for their money" again.
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you will be kicking their arses soon enough
