Heart Trouble

Business Week ^ | OCTOBER 29, 2007 | Arlene Weintraub

[Squantos]

Yep........that was my first question at end of test..... Did I really have one ?

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Both of you are doing an excessive amount of exercise. I have a friend who used to run 5 miles a day. He's still young, but ended up with hip problems. It took a long time for his hip pain to go away, and I think it's still there; he just doesn't like to talk about it. He doesn't walk at the same speed that he used to. So, it's not just your heart you need to consider, but your joints, bones, tendons, ligaments, etc. Unless you're both world-class athletes or marathoners, there's no reason to jog that many miles a day. You're doing your body a disservice that you aren't even aware of. You're wearing your body out. I used to warn my friend about the dangers, too, and he didn't listen to me.

So, my question is, if you both aren't athletes (and I have no idea if you are or aren't), why are you doing so many miles of running, walking, and cycling a day?

[Lurker]

When my doctor suggested a stress test I replied:

"I'm sure I got plenty. Let me know if any of your patients are short. I'll gladly give 'em some of mine".

Take care you cantakerous nogoodnick....

Got a line on a Glock 21. Guy says "I beat it up pretty bad. Probably shot it 500 times and haven't cleaned it once. Does $300 sound fair?"

A lesser man might feel guilty.....

L

[Yossarian]

Why do I run that much?:

1. Because it feels good (runners high!),
2. it helps my heart (50 minutes of cardiac exercise),
3. it helps me lose weight,
4. it helps keep my legs strong, and
5. It lets me enter races, so I get cool T-Shirts, just like I did when I was a kid.

I am aware of wear and tear issues on the body with running. That's why I:

1. only run on dirt or grass cross-country trails,
2. have an extra layer of insole ("SuperFeet") in my shoes,
3. run every other day, mostly, and
4. rotate through 3 pair of running shoes, and replace my shoes often.

All I have to do is add back in swimming, and I'll be able to do at least Sprint-distance triathlons again. And Triathlon is a great sport for doing workouts that don't abuse your body. (Ah, bike crashes and drowning excepted....)

[Yossarian]

Oh, and 4.5 miles isn't an excessive run at all. In cardiac rehab, you learn that a cardiovascular exercise should last 50 minutes or (somewhat) more - and that's what we did at rehab, all under doctor's orders.

4.5 miles = 45 minutes at 6 MPH, then add in 10 minutes warm-up & 10 minutes cool down.

[Yossarian]

One last reply to your note. Tell your friend to get one of these:

(I mean the roller, not the girl. OK, the girl too.)

What she is doing is stretching out her illio-tibial (IT) band. I used to have an upper IT band problem as well - right around the hip - until I learned how to properly stretch it out. The roller is the best way of doing that - it is torturous at first, but you rapidly learn to appreciate it.

[Proud2BeRight]

“So, my question is, if you both aren’t athletes (and I have no idea if you are or aren’t), why are you doing so many miles of running, walking, and cycling a day?”

I am not an athlete but really want the cardiovascular workout every day. (In reality its 5-6 days per week). I’ve had sore knees for many years from age and spills and hits during skiing and other sports. I take glucosamine/chondroitin daily and live with some pain. I mostly do low impact miles. The jogging is usually a fraction of the total workout and it’s generally slow and on a soft track. Oh, and about once a week I substitute a round of golf, walking and carrying my clubs.

[Squantos]

LOL Robbery !

You should pay pennance and send it too me to clean yer soul of any guilt ........:o)

I’m there for ya if ya need to get rid of the gun errrr guilt !

21’s are great day to day tools......they stand up to massive amounts of sweat, dirt, abrassive form of carry from holster to as I carry cavalry style with an empty chamber and a full mag of 230gr hydrashok’s.

Combat tupperwear is a durable tool for self defense.....

Glock 35 in 40SW w/ a spare barrel in 357SIG and a advantage arms .22 slide assembly and spare mags is my travel rig......gives me 3 caliber choices on one platform.....

I am searching for a wheel gun called a Medusa ? Was made here in Texas and was capable of using almost every 9 or 357/28 diameter round known. 9mm luger, largo, short (380) etc etc ....38, 38 special, 38 super, 38 short, 38S&W etc etc 380 etc ....it is a multicaliber revolver from Phillips and Rogers........

http://www.kitsune.addr.com/Firearms/Revolvers/Medusa_Model_47.htm

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

So, you ARE a world-class athlete -- a triathaloner. That means you know what you're doing. I hope you're taking vitamins, especially carnitine (the best vitamin out there!), and a glucosamine/chondroitin supplement to protect against wear/tear.

That IT problem sounds exactly like what my friend had. He walks so slowly now; I'm sure he still has it. As a non-professional runner, my friend wasn't doing any of the things you mentioned: running on a soft surface, changing running shoes frequently, running every other day, etc. I wish he'd known all that stuff before. I'm going to definitely recommend the roller for him. Thanks for the suggestion!

[neverdem]

Had a stress test a week ago per my companies demand for annual physical.....in my mid fifties I figured it was a good idea and they used cardiolite ? Anyway long story short...Doc said I was healthy ......no blockages, zero problems ect etc .....

I'm glad to read you received good results after apparently enduring an isotope stress test. Keep up the good work!

[Monitor]

I got two stents implanted in June. The larger of the two was medicated, but the smaller one was not due to it’s small size (apparently, they don’t make medicated stents that small).

My cardiologist leads me to believe that I’ll be on Plavix and aspirin forever, though as I told him, forever is a very long time. At some point, something better will come along. Hell, at some point, they’ll be able to grow me a brand new heart in a petri dish.

I sure would love to be off of Plavix and aspirin, though. The combination of the two can make minor cuts and scrapes bleed for a disturbingly long time. But if this article is to be believed, late stent thrombosis doesn’t sound like any fun, so maybe forever isn’t as long as I’d thought.

[Squantos]

Cool part was the tc99 has a half life of a mere 6 hours so I didn;t set off all the sensors at work........:o)

Last one I had in mid 90’s after my military retirement used the Thallium......it was weeks before I could go back to work ! half life of that little dose set off sensors everywhere so I was allowed to rest at home .....:o)

Damn that 6 hour stuff I was looking forward to another 3 weeks off !!

BTW are these things as accurate as they are advertised to be ? Can a Doc really get a good idea as to the health of a cardiovascular system with this test ?

Stay safe Doc !!

[neverdem]

BTW are these things as accurate as they are advertised to be ? Can a Doc really get a good idea as to the health of a cardiovascular system with this test ?

Cardiologists get a fairly good idea of coronary artery defects and cardiac perfusion of blood from the images. Some are shown on my last link. This imaging is getting more interpreted by software than eyeballs as we get older, but gross perfusion defects with isotope imaging, i.e. ischemia, are pretty obvious.

[Myrddin]

One of my co-workers was sent for a flight physical (the same one I do annually). His EKG didn't look right, so they did a stress test. He died on the treadmill. My boss shared that unhappy report as I joined the program the week following the passing of my co-worker. My EKG was picture perfect.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

I tracked down the Owner's Manual: The (almost) Magical Foam Roller. I'd never heard of it, but it looks like it would be effective. Sold on Amazon. I also found The Stick.

[Myrddin]

I had a co-worker at PacBell who was the fittest person I've ever known. In 1997 his running log (minimum 5 miles daily) was 17 days short of 6,000 consecutive days. He sprained his ankle playing wally ball and broke his consecutive string. Most days he rode his bike 15 miles to work, ran 5 miles at lunch and rode his bike home after work.

I moved to Idaho in 2000, so I no longer saw him on a daily basis at the San Diego office. I received an e-mail on April 16th, 2003 informing me that he died of a heart attack at 2 AM. He was 44. He had ridden his bike to work as usual, then participated in two games of wally ball in the evening. His wife reports he was gasping for breath at 1 AM. She thought it was a nightmare, but quickly realized it was more serious. She called 911. He passed somewhere between his bed and the ambulance.

He wasn't quite a world class athlete, but he did represent PacBell on the marathon team and our new company as well.

[Myrddin]

My wife picked up a section of the foam roller material down at Gold's gym. If you have one nearby, you can probably purchase some at a favorable price. It's really good for rolling out your back too.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

His EKG didn't look right, so they did a stress test. He died on the treadmill.

What a tragedy! If something didn't look right, why induce a heart attack by having him take a stress test? The smarter thing to do would be to schedule an appointment with a heart surgeon immediately. Not give the guy a test that would kill him.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

That was my initial concern when I said these guys were over-exercising.

[Myrddin]

The guy was more interested in passing his flight qualifications than getting sound medical advice. The aviation survival training was labeled "high risk training". That was the next step after passing the flight physical. The part of the training where we had to swim 15 yards under water in flight boots, flight suit and helmet was by far the most stressful part for me. The underwater egress opening a hatch with 5 different latches while blindfolded to simulate the dark was 2nd. It was no picnic, but it is much better to have the experience in a controlled environment. Ditching a plane in the water adds another dimension of stress to the experience.