Heart attack -- advice?

almostdied wrote:

How Not To Die. great book... only true plaque regression is strict vegetarian diet. Its not fun or fancy but i had a fully blocked LAD not stentable and survived to run ultras. I can tell you whats worked for me...

bench815@gmail.com

Dr. Michael Greger, author of "How Not To Die," provides more nutrition information at:

For what it's worth there were two studies done that found that light jogging / running short distances (1-2.5 hours per week) is associated with a longer life span. Running long distances (marathons, ultras, etc.) is associated with decreased longevity. I know it may not be too popular on a running board, but there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing. The OPs issue might be a hereditary issue. I had a coach in college that was by all outward appearances a model of fitness. Had a heart attack at 60 and was running a month or so later. Eventually died about 6 years later. Hard to say if the running helped or hurt as he had a family history.

joedirt wrote:

For what it's worth there were two studies done that found that light jogging / running short distances (1-2.5 hours per week) is associated with a longer life span. Running long distances (marathons, ultras, etc.) is associated with decreased longevity. I know it may not be too popular on a running board, but there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing. The OPs issue might be a hereditary issue. I had a coach in college that was by all outward appearances a model of fitness. Had a heart attack at 60 and was running a month or so later. Eventually died about 6 years later. Hard to say if the running helped or hurt as he had a family history.

This is correct . The benefits of exercise training reverse above a certain exercise dose for people with heart disease. The inflection point corresponds to about 30 miles per week. Also there is evidence that plaque becomes unstable with dehydration that comes with long endurance exercise. Rule of thumb is stay hydrated, keep training moderately under 30 mpw and don't run marathons if longevity is important to you. Trust me I've spent a lot of time reading this stuff as my life depends on it. Also have ex phys and cardiac rehab background in addition to being a young heart attack survivor.

This thread made me wonder if i should indeed worry about my cholesterol.

My Total is around 200 and LDL around 100 but since my HDL is 110 or so, i never thought that i should worry about this since my HDL is almost 3 x above normal in the good direction.

To the guys who had heart attacks, what was your HDL?

longroad wrote:

This thread made me wonder if i should indeed worry about my cholesterol.

My Total is around 200 and LDL around 100 but since my HDL is 110 or so, i never thought that i should worry about this since my HDL is almost 3 x above normal in the good direction.

To the guys who had heart attacks, what was your HDL?

Your numbers are good.

My numbers--

Pre-AMI / Pre-Statin

HDL ~40

LDL ~190

elevated LP(a)

bad sub-particles

Now on max dose of statin

LDL under 90

I had a significant heart attack and stent at age 43. Like you, I spent 4 days in the hospital, and then began a gradual return to "normal." For my I physically came back pretty quickly, but emotionally it was tough for the first year or two. Every little twinge would freak me out, and certainly every time I ran I was constantly evaluating how my heart felt.

BUT, I was able to return to competitive running gradually. Although marathons are now forbidden, I've done well at shorter distances, and actually won a US masters championship since the heart attack.

Cardiac rehab is great. It allows you to test running on a treadmill with a EKG and with doctors around before doing the same thing on your own. This gives you confidence with what level of exercise is safe. Each week we would push the treadmill a little further, and then I would make a point not to exceed that same pace when training outside of cardiac rehab.

Also check out

http://www.cardiacathletes.com/

and

http://heartorg.forumotion.com/

There is great information on those two website from people who have been runners before and after cardiac event.

I want to thank (almost) everyone for their responses, which have been very enlightening. It's good to know that others have had the same, or worse, happen to them, and many have successfully been able to get back to running.

I'm 4 days post-hospital now and doing short (

I'm 20 years old and a college runner. My right lung has collapsed twice in the past year, so I may have some similarities as you, though you're certainly in a worse spot. It's tough, especially because as an active runner you expect to be at least somewhat healthy. I've had other severe health issues, and my advice ( if it's of any value to anyone) is always to focus on that future and what you can do now, and never worry about what was already happened. Things will be different for you now, embrace it and do what you can to keep running and stay healthy. Don't worry about what would have been.

I hope my experience is of some value, and good luck.

I'll second the recommendation to check out the Cardiac Athletes group run by Lars Andrews who is a cardiac physiologist. The group is both supportive and informative and has a wide range of fitness levels.

due to myriad chronic injuries, not 'a myriad of'

Unless you eat like Scott Jurek being a runner doesn't do much to prevent heart disease. Heart disease is a rampant problem over age 50 and runners put an extra level of stress on their heart that can cause the problem to come to light quite quickly. The rest of the world needs to wait until they go out to shovel snow once in a blue moon.

hope you can slowly recover back to normal, don't be afraid to get second opinions from qualified doctors because two doctors contradicting each other is rather common

is my thinking wrong on this or would the max HR on someone over 60 be so low that your heart would basically be working at maximum all the time for any kind of decent pace, at even the best efficiencies? that's a lot of strain

Advice.. wrote:

Your numbers are good.

My numbers--

Pre-AMI / Pre-Statin

HDL ~40

LDL ~190

elevated LP(a)

bad sub-particles

Now on max dose of statin

LDL under 90

Thanks. i'm surprised your hdl was so low. i had thought that all runners or cyclists had high HDL since it is correlated with exercise.

longroad wrote:

Advice.. wrote:

Your numbers are good.

My numbers--

Pre-AMI / Pre-Statin

HDL ~40

LDL ~190

elevated LP(a)

bad sub-particles

Now on max dose of statin

LDL under 90

Thanks. i'm surprised your hdl was so low. i had thought that all runners or cyclists had high HDL since it is correlated with exercise.

Understand. There is a misconception that if you eat healthy, exercise and perhaps drink red wine in moderation that your HDL and LDL numbers will follow. Not so for those of us with genetic predisposition to having bad numbers. I can tell you back when I was running 60 mi a week in college my HDL was actually even lower...this isn't just a lifestyle disease it is also genetic. The real game changer for my risk is a set of meds that I will take for the rest of my life: a baby aspirin a day, b-blocker, ace inhibitor and especially a statin.

cardiac issues == scary wrote:

I met a runner who had cardiac stents done. He said he was cleared for short races, but not marathons. I was surprised because the short stuff is higher intensity, and he raced those 5k-10ks very hard. Does it all depend on the damage that was done?

I worry about my cardiac health too. I've had stress tests done, but was cleared. This was long ago though.

I now get really bad acid reflux(self diagnosed). Sharp pains. Usually it's accompanied by constant burping. Can heart episodes produce burping? This thread motivates me to check it out. I always figure since I'm burping that it is probably reflux. Antacids usually calm it done and I'm not getting increased pain from running.

Have you ever been checked out by a GI doctor?

No it's not...it's a noun that can be used before the word "of."

A heart attack at 61 indicates a genetic disposition towards heart trouble. Running isn't even worth mentioning, though it's possible it kept you alive longer if anything.If I was 61 and suffered a heart attack, I would be very, very concerned and would ensure my doctor is someone I trust.

I'd like to see the ekg. Sounds like at the least non-stemi. What were your troponin levels like? Who knows what cardiac enzymes/ekg look like s/p run as well.

Troponin was, I believe, around 7 when I came to ER, so well above normal but not as high as (I believe) many heart attack patients.