Heart Health

I just got news this morning that a motorcycling buddy of mine passed away from a heart attack. He was in the danger zone with age, high pressure job and carrying excess weight while not being very active at all. I know the last part doesn't really apply to most of us here, but that doesn't mean we aren't susceptible. Case in point is Chad Christy who passed away after having a heart attack while out riding in Whistler. If you've never had your ticker checked and aren't really aware of your family history take some time to look at your potential risk factors and consider getting in to see your doctor for a stress test to see where your risk level is at. If you don't know what going on then you can't do the right things to improve your heart health. Screening is something that could potentially save your life.

Here's a couple links that are worth taking the time to check out.

https://www.heartandstroke.ca/get-healthy/health-etools?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_sTdoP2F5gIV5x6tBh1wiAijEAAYBCAAEgJuTPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.myheartmatters.ca/?utm_source=Google-Search&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=heart%20disease%20disorders&utm_campaign=Proof-2019%20-%20Search%5BEng%5D%3A%20General%20Heart&utm_content=Heart%20Disease%20-%20Disorders

.

It's a great FYI/PSA reallistically.

From my own experience(s): After many heart palpitations just after lying down for bed, I had a Dr agree I had a small murmer on the stethescope (I described my issue as my heart gets up and dances for 2-3 seconds... then settles back down). So at 39 years of old, I went for an ecg and it came back clear (but that was daytime). I was surprised how good or nominal my numbers were as I was smoking a pack and a half day. I did quit smoking, again, in May 2018... for the cost savings though.

It doesnt take much for a bad decline to happen. Shitty foods and shitty habits or hours can do it.

Similarly: A friends coworker had a stroke recently at 44. After open heart surgery post stroke, he had multiple small heart attacks leading up to it. He did not take care of himself.

If anyone gets motivated by this - ease into any work out or routine.

Gentlemen, take it from a guy with a pacemaker, don’t ignore the symptoms.

one of my ski buds has a super healthy lifetyle but he has a heart that runs slow or even stops,  he had open heart surgery in his early 60's but buddy was still hard to keep up to on the skin track. Now in his late 60's  his heart runs slow, misses beats, a couple years ago he felt poor so went to emerg, heart  stopped twice in the local hospital and twice down in st Pauls ... don't ignore the signs. So now its no problem keeping up to him, buddy is still hiking still cutting ski run still pushing hard

Posted by: FLATCH

Gentlemen, take it from a guy with a pacemaker, don’t ignore the symptoms.

Ditto...sick s-node for me.  My heart liked to take breaks.  Would stop for up to 30 seconds then magically restart.

Highly recommended read...

https://www.velopress.com/books/the-haywire-heart/

Cheers,

Mike

Most of us are not young and indestructible anymore, are we?  Great reminder Syncro.

Posted by: XXX_er

one of my ski buds has a super healthy lifetyle but he has a heart that runs slow or even stops,  he had open heart surgery in his early 60's but buddy was still hard to keep up to on the skin track. Now in his late 60's  his heart runs slow, misses beats, a couple years ago he felt poor so went to emerg, heart  stopped twice in the local hospital and twice down in st Pauls ... don't ignore the signs. So now its no problem keeping up to him, buddy is still hiking still cutting ski run still pushing hard

My father in law did the same thing at around 60.  He lives in Whistler, lives clean, rips it up on his skiis and on his mountain bike but ignored that he got dizzy at the top of hills.  Next thing you know his doctor is telling him to stop all activity and he is off to St Paul's a few weeks later for a carbon fiber aortic valve.

Posted by: syncro

I just got news this morning that a motorcycling buddy of mine passed away from a heart attack. He was in the danger zone with age, high pressure job and carrying excess weight while not being very active at all. I know the last part doesn't really apply to most of us here, but that doesn't mean we aren't susceptible. Case in point is Chad Christy who passed away after having a heart attack while out riding in Whistler. If you've never had your ticker checked and aren't really aware of your family history take some time to look at your potential risk factors and consider getting in to see your doctor for a stress test to see where your risk level is at. If you don't know what going on then you can't do the right things to improve your heart health. Screening is something that could potentially save your life.

Here's a couple links that are worth taking the time to check out.

https://www.heartandstroke.ca/get-healthy/health-etools?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_sTdoP2F5gIV5x6tBh1wiAijEAAYBCAAEgJuTPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

https://www.myheartmatters.ca/?utm_source=Google-Search&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=heart%20disease%20disorders&utm_campaign=Proof-2019%20-%20Search%5BEng%5D%3A%20General%20Heart&utm_content=Heart%20Disease%20-%20Disorders

Sorry you just heard - we're all totally gutted and were caught by surprise. We lost a really good one way too early. PM if you want to chat.

Posted by: XXX_er

one of my ski buds has a super healthy lifetyle but he has a heart that runs slow or even stops,  he had open heart surgery in his early 60's but buddy was still hard to keep up to on the skin track. Now in his late 60's  his heart runs slow, misses beats, a couple years ago he felt poor so went to emerg, heart  stopped twice in the local hospital and twice down in st Pauls ... don't ignore the signs. So now its no problem keeping up to him, buddy is still hiking still cutting ski run still pushing hard

That interests me as my heart seems to stall. Then just start up again.

Is there a condition or did he have a bypass?

Posted by: Mbcracken

Posted by: FLATCH

Gentlemen, take it from a guy with a pacemaker, don’t ignore the symptoms.

Ditto...sick s-node for me.  My heart liked to take breaks.  Would stop for up to 30 seconds then magically restart.

Highly recommended read...

https://www.velopress.com/books/the-haywire-heart/

Cheers,

Mike

I don’t like to make diagnosis on other folks, but my experience was very similar. My heart rate was slow to the point where I would pass out. And I was diagnosed with a condition known as bradycardia. One node in my heart does not play nice with the others gets out of rhythm. Your body’s natural reaction to that is to slow the heart until the out of rhythm node gets back online.  Sometimes it would work with just a couple of off beats, more often than not it would result in me passing out. I’m very lucky that it never happened while I was driving. The very first time it happened I was descending  a rather fast trail on bear Mountain when suddenly I felt a little weird then woke up in the ferns.  It took a long time almost a whole year to figure out what it was. Every time I wore a halter monitor it would never happen . Finally after a very serious one the doctor made me wear one until it happened again. Sure enough when it happened again I wiped out at home pretty good.  Ended up with a concussion and spent a week in the hospital and ended up with a pacemaker.  When the information on the monitor was downloaded it turned out my heart had stopped for more than 40 seconds. Kind of a wake up call. Don’t ignore the symptoms.

Posted by: aShogunNamedMarcus

Posted by: XXX_er

one of my ski buds has a super healthy lifetyle but he has a heart that runs slow or even stops,  he had open heart surgery in his early 60's but buddy was still hard to keep up to on the skin track. Now in his late 60's  his heart runs slow, misses beats, a couple years ago he felt poor so went to emerg, heart  stopped twice in the local hospital and twice down in st Pauls ... don't ignore the signs. So now its no problem keeping up to him, buddy is still hiking still cutting ski run still pushing hard

That interests me as my heart seems to stall. Then just start up again.

Is there a condition or did he have a bypass?

I think the pro's had whole fucking heart  out to work on it the first time, they put in a pig valve which created aneurysms which fucked up the blood vessels in his legs so now he can actualy go up hill easier than he can ski down. Buddy should have been dead several times over instead he oversaw the ski run cutting program at the hill this year, negotiated a better deal for us and we cut some new stuff

I had a bit of a scare a couple years ago, had a few drinks with a ski bud but not an abnormal amount for a seasoned ski bum, so I had fallen over at some point but it was all hazy, so when i woke up at midnight with chest pains which didnt go away so I went to emerg in the am, in a situation like that they do blood gases and 45 min later told me I didnt have a heart attack.

So a few days later i'm talking to bro who tells me yeah you fell over at some point, yeah maybe you hit the counter ( which would coincide with the chest pain) but I duno.

Then a week later " hey you know that container of smoke i told ya was lame, well i must have thrown part of an old bag in there that was really dynamite, cuz I smoked some touring up the hill at midnight and i was right fucked eh ! "

Kind of like a real scare but not a real scare

Posted by: XXX_er

Posted by: aShogunNamedMarcus

Posted by: XXX_er

one of my ski buds has a super healthy lifetyle but he has a heart that runs slow or even stops,  he had open heart surgery in his early 60's but buddy was still hard to keep up to on the skin track. Now in his late 60's  his heart runs slow, misses beats, a couple years ago he felt poor so went to emerg, heart  stopped twice in the local hospital and twice down in st Pauls ... don't ignore the signs. So now its no problem keeping up to him, buddy is still hiking still cutting ski run still pushing hard

That interests me as my heart seems to stall. Then just start up again.

Is there a condition or did he have a bypass?

I think the pro's had whole fucking heart  out to work on it the first time, they put in a pig valve which created aneurysms which fucked up the blood vessels in his legs so now he can actualy go up hill easier than he can ski down. Buddy should have been dead several times over instead he oversaw the ski run cutting program at the hill this year, negotiated a better deal for us and we cut some new stuff

Sweet, so I can like, walk this off then eh?

maybe, the bri guy has spent  a lot of nights in emerg, the free plane rides to st Paul, a lot of weeks in Vangroovy rehabbing, I supose he might be leading a charmed life in that he is not dead ...  but ever buddy is different

Posted by: FLATCH

Posted by: Mbcracken

Posted by: FLATCH

Gentlemen, take it from a guy with a pacemaker, don’t ignore the symptoms.

Ditto...sick s-node for me.  My heart liked to take breaks.  Would stop for up to 30 seconds then magically restart.

Highly recommended read...

https://www.velopress.com/books/the-haywire-heart/

Cheers,

Mike

I don’t like to make diagnosis on other folks, but my experience was very similar. My heart rate was slow to the point where I would pass out. And I was diagnosed with a condition known as bradycardia. One node in my heart does not play nice with the others gets out of rhythm. Your body’s natural reaction to that is to slow the heart until the out of rhythm node gets back online.  Sometimes it would work with just a couple of off beats, more often than not it would result in me passing out. I’m very lucky that it never happened while I was driving. The very first time it happened I was descending  a rather fast trail on bear Mountain when suddenly I felt a little weird then woke up in the ferns.  It took a long time almost a whole year to figure out what it was. Every time I wore a halter monitor it would never happen . Finally after a very serious one the doctor made me wear one until it happened again. Sure enough when it happened again I wiped out at home pretty good.  Ended up with a concussion and spent a week in the hospital and ended up with a pacemaker.  When the information on the monitor was downloaded it turned out my heart had stopped for more than 40 seconds. Kind of a wake up call. Don’t ignore the symptoms.

Amazing how similar stories can be but end up with different results and treatment options.  My story is a bit long but the end results for the electrical side of the heart...it can be controlled/influenced by both the brain and cardiac electrical systems.  

+ 22 years ago now, I had very odd "fainting" episodes with slight twitches.  Lasting maybe 30-45 seconds.  But, they would only happen once every 1-3 years.  At the time, I was diagnosed as having epilepsy.  Halter device, multiple MRI's and EEGs over the years all gave no results.  Maybe the epilepsy meds (dilation 10 years then Keppra for 10 years) "helped" because they act as sodium controls for neural transmitters in the brain but could have helped the cardiac system too.   The best diagnostic tool for me was what is known as a cardiac loop recorder.  2.5 years ago, I had one installed over my heart just under the skin.  It would track my cardiac rhythms and I could mark "events" or odd feelings. These devices are really great.  Battery life is about 2 years, easy to install and great data capturing for your docs to review. I could also download those via a communication box I had at home.  This device is what truly saved me and finally figured out my cardiac events. In August of 2017, I took the "calculated risk" and weened myself off the epilepsy meds.  Xmas of 2017, I had a passing out and scared my family.  Dec 27, 2017, I had the pacemaker put in.  The settings for me are to catch my heart in what is called rate response.  So, If I am lounging and my heart drops suddenly from 55bpm to 20bpm...the pacemaker(PM) will take over and bump me backup to 50bpm.  Same goes for if I am doing a hard MTB climb...say my heart is at 160bpm and suddenly wants to drop/stop...pacemaker will take over and bump me up to a 150bpm then slowly bring me down as I recover.  

I have backed off on riding less tech/gnar but have gotten back into XC racing.  I get a bit nervous about super big crashes with having a pacemaker and a couple leads going into my heart.  It is quite secure and all now but I still have a big huge voice screaming don't crash and mess-up my pacemaker.

No docs can say why my heart likes to take a break.  I have one neurologist that is still convinced it is in my head.  My cardiologist admits it could be either and/or both heart & head.  The only way to really verify either one is via an autopsy.  

So, as Flatch suggests...don't ignore symptoms and I would add to also get multiple opinions.  Remember, they call it "practicing" medicine for a reason.  

Cheers, Mike