Colin_P
Guru
As the thread title may suggest, this is about those of us who are lucky enough to continue to exist with the help of beta blockers. I doubt there will be many but in the nicest possible way I do hope there are.
This thread is intended to be a place where we can discuss the trials and tribulations of taking betas.
Me personally; I'm a mid to late 40's chap who is on a rather massive dose of betas (Nebivolol 20mg) along with a rather large dose of an anti arrhythmic (Flecainide 200mg) which are used to control my sometimes errant and deadly heart rhythms. In addition to the drugs I have an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator) which keeps watch over my heart. The ICD is like a very clever pacemaker which can act and administer a powerful shock much like the external defibrillators many will be familier with from watching Casualty on the telly, as in "charging to 200, clear..... bad-doom". The ICD will first try and pace me out of a bad heart rhythm and if that fails will charge and zap me.
In the three years I've had the ICD, it has saved my life numerous times in the first year where I'd inconveniently just drop dead for no reason at all. After the first near death escapade they started me on a low dose beta which they would change or adjust after each near death experience. After about 14 months they arrived at my current drug regime which (touch wood) has kept me stable and near death experience free ever since, that is also with some minor but unsuccessful heart surgery in that period. I get the odd flutter, which freaks me out with my mind contemplating certain doom, and the odd bit of AFIB (Atrial fibrillation) which also freaks me out for the same reason! In the time it took to stabilise me I've also been through two 6 month medical driving bans, which whilst inconvenient I quite liked.
As an aside, there are two main problems that can ocurr with your heart.
1, Plumbing, this is a Heart Attack.
2, Electrics, this is a Cardiac Arrest.
Heart Attacks hurt like hell so I've been told but are usually survivable whereas a Cardiac Arrest is painless whereby you collapse never to wake again. A heart attack may lead onto a cardiac arrest either immediately or some time after (months / years) but not always.
My plumbing has been described as 'perfect' but my electrics are a bit dodgy. I just pass out and.....
Obviously having been through all of that, mainly repeatedly experiencing what ordinarily would be death, it knocks your 'life' confidence just a little bit.
Undeterred I thought it would be a good idea to ramp up my cycling a little bit. I've always cycled ever since at the age of about four the stabilisers came off but never seriously. I'd describe myself as a typical leisure type cyclist having done 400-600 miles a year as and when. Last year I set myself a target of covering 2,000 miles which I did with an extra 150 on top much to the amazement of my cardiologist especially being on the hefty dose of betas. This year I've gone all metric and set a reduced target of 2,000 km's.
The thing is, despite the joy of cycling never diminishing, I still love it just as much I did as a child with us burning round the estate on our Grifters, I find it a hard slog these days. On anything other than the flat I suffer, hills are tough. I try to never give in and slowly spin up them and when my teenage sons are also out they always have to wait for me at the top of any hill.
I knew and know how much betas effect me, especially the large dose, but choose to accept it as just one of those things. A small price to pay compared to the alternative. That is until this week.
On Sunday I impulse bought a Garmin Edge 520 and in the box were also an array of additional sensors, one of which is a heart rate sensor. I'd previosuly resisted the temptation to upgrade my trusty old Edge200 as I knew that what is, is, and what will be will be in terms of my cycling performance.
Whilst it is quite lovely having a speed sensor that means there are no longer flat spots where the GPS looses signal in the woods, a cadence sensor, what a novelty that is and of course a heart rate sensor, I think I've made a mistake. Previously I blissfully unaware of how I was doing only having segment times to compare to once I'd uploaded the data from the rather simple Edge200. It wasn't too bad, on flat segments I'd always be somewhere in the middle but on hills I'd be very close to the bottom.
With all the sensors quickly installed off I went straight to my local nemisis hill, a rather unremarkable hill with only about 110ft of elevation gain over a half mile but to me it is the hill I do battle with every day.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my heart rate over 107 bpm! That'll explain the slow then. And when I say as hard as tried I really mean that, to the point of my poor legs being on fire, gasping for breath, feeling dizzy and totally spent. The problem quite obviously is that not enough blood is getting to and from my muscles and there is not a thing I can do about it. Not happy, I already knew the answer but seeing the cold hard data on the screen hit home.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I'd be really interested to hear from anyone else who is on beta blockers and is still out there cycling?
For anyone else that isn't on betas but is still out there having faced serious health problems and survived, please have a look at this thread;
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/any-survivors-on-here-cardiac-arrest-heart-attack-cancer.164623/
This thread is intended to be a place where we can discuss the trials and tribulations of taking betas.
Me personally; I'm a mid to late 40's chap who is on a rather massive dose of betas (Nebivolol 20mg) along with a rather large dose of an anti arrhythmic (Flecainide 200mg) which are used to control my sometimes errant and deadly heart rhythms. In addition to the drugs I have an ICD (Implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator) which keeps watch over my heart. The ICD is like a very clever pacemaker which can act and administer a powerful shock much like the external defibrillators many will be familier with from watching Casualty on the telly, as in "charging to 200, clear..... bad-doom". The ICD will first try and pace me out of a bad heart rhythm and if that fails will charge and zap me.
In the three years I've had the ICD, it has saved my life numerous times in the first year where I'd inconveniently just drop dead for no reason at all. After the first near death escapade they started me on a low dose beta which they would change or adjust after each near death experience. After about 14 months they arrived at my current drug regime which (touch wood) has kept me stable and near death experience free ever since, that is also with some minor but unsuccessful heart surgery in that period. I get the odd flutter, which freaks me out with my mind contemplating certain doom, and the odd bit of AFIB (Atrial fibrillation) which also freaks me out for the same reason! In the time it took to stabilise me I've also been through two 6 month medical driving bans, which whilst inconvenient I quite liked.
As an aside, there are two main problems that can ocurr with your heart.
1, Plumbing, this is a Heart Attack.
2, Electrics, this is a Cardiac Arrest.
Heart Attacks hurt like hell so I've been told but are usually survivable whereas a Cardiac Arrest is painless whereby you collapse never to wake again. A heart attack may lead onto a cardiac arrest either immediately or some time after (months / years) but not always.
My plumbing has been described as 'perfect' but my electrics are a bit dodgy. I just pass out and.....
Obviously having been through all of that, mainly repeatedly experiencing what ordinarily would be death, it knocks your 'life' confidence just a little bit.
Undeterred I thought it would be a good idea to ramp up my cycling a little bit. I've always cycled ever since at the age of about four the stabilisers came off but never seriously. I'd describe myself as a typical leisure type cyclist having done 400-600 miles a year as and when. Last year I set myself a target of covering 2,000 miles which I did with an extra 150 on top much to the amazement of my cardiologist especially being on the hefty dose of betas. This year I've gone all metric and set a reduced target of 2,000 km's.
The thing is, despite the joy of cycling never diminishing, I still love it just as much I did as a child with us burning round the estate on our Grifters, I find it a hard slog these days. On anything other than the flat I suffer, hills are tough. I try to never give in and slowly spin up them and when my teenage sons are also out they always have to wait for me at the top of any hill.
I knew and know how much betas effect me, especially the large dose, but choose to accept it as just one of those things. A small price to pay compared to the alternative. That is until this week.
On Sunday I impulse bought a Garmin Edge 520 and in the box were also an array of additional sensors, one of which is a heart rate sensor. I'd previosuly resisted the temptation to upgrade my trusty old Edge200 as I knew that what is, is, and what will be will be in terms of my cycling performance.
Whilst it is quite lovely having a speed sensor that means there are no longer flat spots where the GPS looses signal in the woods, a cadence sensor, what a novelty that is and of course a heart rate sensor, I think I've made a mistake. Previously I blissfully unaware of how I was doing only having segment times to compare to once I'd uploaded the data from the rather simple Edge200. It wasn't too bad, on flat segments I'd always be somewhere in the middle but on hills I'd be very close to the bottom.
With all the sensors quickly installed off I went straight to my local nemisis hill, a rather unremarkable hill with only about 110ft of elevation gain over a half mile but to me it is the hill I do battle with every day.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my heart rate over 107 bpm! That'll explain the slow then. And when I say as hard as tried I really mean that, to the point of my poor legs being on fire, gasping for breath, feeling dizzy and totally spent. The problem quite obviously is that not enough blood is getting to and from my muscles and there is not a thing I can do about it. Not happy, I already knew the answer but seeing the cold hard data on the screen hit home.
Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I'd be really interested to hear from anyone else who is on beta blockers and is still out there cycling?
For anyone else that isn't on betas but is still out there having faced serious health problems and survived, please have a look at this thread;
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/any-survivors-on-here-cardiac-arrest-heart-attack-cancer.164623/
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