Hi! Folks,
I was just writing a post for the Facebook AAA support group, and then thought it might be good to provide the link here. For athletes with aneurysm issues, other great sites include The Cardiac Athlete and The Athletes Heart Blog.
Keep talking! It helps!
Cheers,
KevinImportant Note: These posts do not provide medical advice. You should always consult your physician before undertaking or significantly modifying an exercise program.
Copyright © 2010 Kevin T. Morgan aka FitOldDog, Old Dogs in Training, LLC.
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I have two new clients - one that just had a heartattack in July with 1 stent and another that has 7 stents in her heart (has been cleared for exercise) and has an abdominal aortic aneurisym that is being watched but not stented. Do you have any suggestions or absolute no nos on what I should/could do with her or what I should not have her do for her safety.
Hi! Laura,
I am still learning a lot about these issues, as a result of my own AAA. Here are my thoughts, as of today, with respect to how you might advise your clients:
1. It is critical to move beyond the associated depression and fear. We each deal with this in our own way, and there are many resources available to help us. I found that reading Lance Armstrong’s book, ‘It Is Not About the Bike,’ was very helpful as I was forewarned as to the process that I was about to go through, and inspired that one can get a life after dealing with such a serious health challenge (cancer in his case).
2. Educate yourself as fast and best you can in order that you understand what you are dealing with and then you will know which questions to ask of medical and other advisers.
3. Work on self-awareness, the state of which varies considerably from one person to another. I have blogged on this a little, but I can expand on any aspect you like as a blog post if you or your clients wish. Note, I am a Veterinary Pathologist at the end of a long research career, and I really enjoy researching things and educating myself, so it won’t be a hardship.
4. Find a support group so that you don’t feel alone. This took me six months of blogging. After my surgery I was just told by my surgeon, who was great guy and saved my life, that I should just get on with my life and train easy at first - i.e. go from being an Ironman triathlete to being scared to death that I might kill myself by moving my stent during training (see my early blogs). To get your clients started on this see links I have posted on my blog to some great people and resources at Angioplasty.org (Burt Cohen provided me with remarkable emotional support by just by noticing me), The Cardiac Athlete, The Athlete’s Heart Blog (he is a really nice man, a cardiologist, and he looks so happy in the blog), and recently the site mentioned by another AAA-athlete (the first I found), Pauline, at Facebook. If you have trouble with these links, just let me know.
5. Understand the underlying mechanisms of your disease, and find a way to slow, halt or reverse it’s progress. This is what Pauline thinks about a lot, I suspect, as she does not have a stent - see her comments under ‘About’ on this blog.
6. Live in the now! Life is brief anyway, and we always have to make the best of things, and some things seem bad but turn out to be OK or even good - for me, having my AAA has led to some great experiences and caused me to be less focused on myself, for instance and to enjoy each day even more.
7. Concerning ‘No Nos,’ in my early blogs I referenced some papers, one of which indicated that rowing is probably a very bad idea with a AAA-stent, and may well be ill advised for an AAA without a stent. We have to avoid excessive lower abdominal pressure surges, in the case of AAA. I am working on a list of things to not do, but there is very little advice for AAA. I haven’t researched this issue for cardiac stents, but I could.
8. Get in shape to help with any potential depression and to improve cardiac, aortic and general health.
9. Don’t give up! I don’t plan to. Talk to people. You cannot imagine how happy I was when Pauline commented in my blog. I was no longer alone with my condition. I had someone to talk to who understood.
I hope things go well for you and your clients, and if you want me to reflect further on these issues, just let me know. Certainly advise them to train/exercise, but do it in a state of awareness (e.g. read ‘The Art of Slowing Down, A Sense-Able Approach to Running Faster,’ ‘The Power of Now,’ ‘Peace is Every Step,’ and books like that), sort out their nutrition (we are what we eat and it does affect our moods, as well as our lipid profile!), and watch out for escape pods that don’t work (alcohol, drugs).
And of course find good physicians (read Bernie Siegel, ‘Love, Medicine and Miracles’ for some advice that I like on how to do that).
I have no idea if that will help, but I hope it does. Please let me know how it goes, and give me feedback as I am still learning, myself.
Cheers,
Kevin
PS Don’t underestimate the role of fear in recovery from these conditions. I describe how this was for me in one of my comments at Angioplasty.org, if I remember correctly.
Hi,
I agree with what Kevin has written, but can also add a few comments from my perspective. I have continued to run and swim with an AAA, diagnosed almost 4 years ago. I continued the running only after discussion with my doctor, and I believe he acquiesced due to the fact that I had run at a very high level for 30 years, so it was not an undue strain for me. I had my blood pressure measured while running on a treadmill, as well (it went down). I would think that easy exercise would be preferable to intense work; I don’t push all out anymore, and always workout with a buddy, a cell phone and in close proximity to a good hospital. A medic alert bracelet is a recent (smart) addition. Athletes are generally pretty in tune with their bodies; it is good to pay attention to what is normal (gas, muscular pain) so you can recognize what is not. I have not hesitated to call my doctor if uncertain about what I was feeling physically.
The person with many stents as well as an AAA - goodness me - one would think the exercise would initially have to be pretty easy, perhaps water exercising?
Kevin’s comment about understanding the basis of the disease is good; I didn’t accept the “its just random, bad luck etc”, but asked questions until I found a possible link that suggested I have to reduce my cholesterol from what would be considered normal to extremely low - whether it will help or not remains to be seen, but taking some sort of action - diet, keeping as fit as possible for the eventually surgery, all help with the psychological stress.
Good luck
Pauline
Hi! Pauline,
Much appreciated!
Kevin
Hi! Laura,
I just had another thought! The education and support of family and friends is critical for recovery, plus they will be scared and they’ll need support too. Including some kind of strategy to address this issue is critical.
That’s it for now.
Cheers,
Kevin