Heart Problems

[Bill Gates]

Seeing the thread on cycling and MS has prompted me to seek out the experiences of other riders who ride and have had a heart attack or suffer from angina, and how this is affecting their riding.

I've had 2 heart attacks and, some might think foolishly, still have aspirations to race competitively. I've not raced so far this year, as I've had a bad year's training mainly due to a dodgy knee. I recently had an arthroscopy and can now manage to do some high quality training rides.

The problem I find is recovery. My MHR is around 176 and 'm 60. I can manage to do some decent training @ 90-95% MHR for 2 x 20 minutes to improve my LT but it knocks me out for the following 2 days. Riding at steady or tempo pace doesn't have the same effect.

 

[ComedyPilot]

I would never take the opinion of an online forum as gospel in this sort of matter. Medical advice is the ONLY way forward.

I'm not saying you can't race, but at 60, (and after TWO heart attacks) why would you want to?

Also you sort of answer your own question at the end by saying riding at a steady pace doesn't knock the wind out of your sails. Your body is telling you something, listen to it.

 

[numbnuts]

Bill I think you should talk to your doctor first

 

[Will1985]

*Waiting for HeartAttack to post on this thread*

The OP isn't asking for opinions...he is asking for other people's own heart attack experiences.

 

[dellzeqq]

exactly - and there is a place for advice from fellow cyclists. Earlier this year I was told by a consultant to stop cycling. My friend Lincoln at Brixton Cycles summed it up perfectly. 'Medecine is a small village'. The health benefits of cycling far outweigh the minor problem that it might cause.

Quite a few cyclists have returned to competitive cycling after a heart attack, and I was once overtaken (bah!) (at 4 am on the A40) by somebody who had started cycling after a heart attack. I hope it won't displease Shaun too greatly to mention that you might find some of them on the CTC forum. You could also ask British Cycling for advice, or for directions to a doctor who has the right experience.

 

[Bill Gates]

Medical opinion is the only way NOT to go. They do not understand athletes. Having described in detail the side effects I had from taking Atorvastatin, to my heart consultant he proscribed Omacor. He told me that it was no more than concentrated omega 3. Two months later I was suffering from total exhaustion etc. etc. from taking them, and that ruined my winter's training this year.

Everyone harps on about reducing cholesterol. Not one medical person I come across fails to give me a lecture about it. I keep getting letters from my GP asking me to take a blood test. Why? If my cholesterol is high so what? I'm really not bothered about it. My liver has functions which includes producing cholesterol, and this perfectly normal. i have no wish to artificially stop my liver from doing what it should do.

My GP told me two years ago that if I didn't take statins I would be dead within 2 years. I've got news pal I'm still here.

On the other hand my knee surgeon couldn't believe my age nor that I had had 2 heart attacks. He asked me if the heart attacks were real. I took that as a compliment.

Nah! medical opinion on this subject stinks.

 

[numbnuts]

It seems to me that you have all ready made your mind up what to do, so good luck with your training

 

[jimboalee]

You could knock on the door of your local University and volunteer yourself to their Sports Science laboratory as a Heart Attack history athlete.

They might give you a full ECG while you are on their ergonometer and tell you which parts of your cardiac are damaged.

 

[lukesdad]

Its your funeral mate you do what yer like !

 

[Davidc]

I had one a year ago, and had bypass surgery. Fortunately I'm still here. A first in my family.

I was told that one of the reasons I did as well as I did was because I was reasonably fit, another was that I had been very fit at some point in the past, and another was that I had been exercising vigorously when it happened. The last was walking, the rest are down to cycling. I was one of the 1 in 200 who walk into A&E. I've increased the cycling since then.

I don't want to do anything competitive, but enjoy cycling. I've been told by all of the medical people I've spoken to that it's a case of the more the better. The only issue is to avoid going absolutely flat out for more than a few seconds at a time. I can't any more anyway!

Despite your reservations I think it's sensible if you've had CHD problems to take advice from the medics. Just cross check it and pick up on anything that doesn't make sense. The reason for keeping cholesterol down is to reduce the gunk in your coronary arteries - which is what creates heart attacks. You can reduce it with lots of exercise, so if you don't like the statins, get on your bike!

If like me you're diabetic as well (that's inherited from the other side of the family - the heart surgeon quipped that I should chose my parents better next time) then extra exercise also helps with that. Keeps blood sugar down and makes muscles respond better to insulin.

In brief - every bit of advice I've had has been to get as much hard exercise as possible, and cycling is among the very best types of exercise. Suits me fine!

My sympathies go to those who survive heart attacks but are then unable physically to do the activities they'd like to. One of my greatest fears when I was told I'd had a heart attack was that I wouldn't be able to cycle or walk properly afterwards. I can; I'm lucky.

 

[Bill Gates]

Its your funeral mate you do what yer like !

Sorry, I didn't know I was asking for your's or anyone else's permission.

 

[Bill Gates]

The reason for keeping cholesterol down is to reduce the gunk in your coronary arteries - which is what creates heart attacks. You can reduce it with lots of exercise, so if you don't like the statins, get on your bike!

My two heart attacks coincided with 2 very stressful situations in my life. I know all about cholesterol and heart attacks and I don't believe that it is a contibutory cause. AND people who live the longest have higher than normal cholesterol. Did you know that?

 

[Bill Gates]

Now I know that there are quite a few veterans of my age or more who race and I wonder whether this recovery problem after hard training is an age thing.

 

[joolsybools]

Take advice from as many sensible peopple as possible and make a an educated judegmeent from that. Remember no-one thought a mile could be run in less than 4 minutes though.

My uneducated but intuitive advice would be keep riding but maybe don't push yourself too hard.

 

[Fab Foodie]

My experience is similar to Davidc except my angina (at 42 yrs old) would not have allowed me to walk into A&E, I had the whole paramedic, ambulance and emergency theatre opened just for little ole me (If any F*in yank wants to diss the NHS, they can come to me first ). God Bless the JR Hospital Oxford.
I was stented and the recovery was miraculous. I also had a course of Cardio-rehab which was very important to me as I wanted to understand my limitations. They really stressed the importance of not pushing high heart rates for anything other than a few seconds to avoid suffocating areas of the heart where capillary flow might be compromised. For me the recommended a ceiling of 120bpm was suggested (and I'm on beta blockers). I've increased this gently over time to 130-140 and feel no ill effect. It allows me around 20-22 mph on the flat which is enough. On our regular circuit we used to have a Champs-Elyses style sprint down St Aldates, one evening I overreved 160 ish bpm and felt a warning twinge, so I've stopped.
Don't underestimate the power of Cholesterol to kill you. 15 years ago (in my 30's) I was recommended to take statins... I wish I had. I'm on shed-loads now. because they've cleadred one blockages does not mean that another will not occur soon.
So, cycling is good, hell after my stenting I even started running, but don't overdo it. Excercising my heart regularly is a good excuse to ride, which also improves my generally depressive mood too. So that's the upside.
The downside is the constant sluggish feeling due to the Beta-blockers and statins and a slightly weird side effect that I cannot use my arms for anything strenuous for more than a few seconds. Even stir-frying or whisking pancake batter causes them to go lactic and heavy. Cycling and running seems OK becasue the movement helps return blood to the heart, whereas with the arms the heart has a harder job fighting gravity. Just as well my brain's not too active.

So here's the philosophy bit...
I could have died on a rented bike in the centre of a small Dutch town on my way to work, but I didn't. I was given a second chance. I'm gonna make the most of it, the Statins may or may not eventually rot my liver, but my high Cholesterol certainly will kill me and soon without them. I can't run or cycle as fast as I'd like, I probably will never step into a Squash court again and swimming is very hard too, but I can ride, quickish and many miles and enjoy the scenery, plus help preserve my life a bit longer. The overall reduction in physical performance is more than compensated for by the time I have with my family.

You can take advice and make your choices just the same.