I suffered with paroxysmal AF in the late nineties and had to be hospitalised twice. Since then I have cut out caffeine completely and improved my diet overall. I have also drastically reduced my alcohol consumption (- don't miss it really), and it hasn't happened since (touch wood!)
'Too much sitting is ruining my body'
I've got SVT - thankfully doesn't happen too often and the effects are tolerable - I just feel really knackered and can't run. I can usually get rid of it with a valsalva maneuver but not always. It's only blown me out of a race once.
It took ages to get it diagnosed - I used to get it as a kid and had no idea what was happening. Later on I thought it was hyperventilation. Finally suspected it was heart related when I got an HRM and my HR was 180+ whilst stationary/sitting and wouldn't go down. I had loads of tests that showed everything was fine. Luckily it happed one day when I was out running while I was near my docs and I got it on an ECG!
I've been offered a cather ablation to fix it but don't fancy the 1 in 100 chance of a total heart block (i.e pacemaker time)!
My cardiologist has told me to keep running so it's my usual 5 times a week / 35 miles routine.
Last edited by Deeko; 12-05-2007 at 06:29 PM.
I had Wolff Parkinson White Syndrome and had a 4 1/2 hour operation (catheter ablation) in 2000 to help with the problem. I still get the odd severe palpitation but they are extremely rare compared with the attacks i was having pre-op (I was having attacks when hanging up clothes in the wardrobe etc).....Im convinced that being badly dehydrated helped bring on or make attacks worse but thankfully the heart specialist who operated on me did a wonderful job. It was scary though and enough to deter me from running for 6 full years (1999- 2005).
Id recommend anyone with heart problems to see your GP and try and get a referral to a hospital. They might be able to capture and monitor what happens during an attack (they stuck me on a treadmill in hopsital and got me to trigger an attack).....that way they can porperly diagnose medication or an operation......
I was additionally diagnosed with first degree heart block there after (not as bad as it actually sounds).....but seems to be fine these days....
I have had a few 'attacks' of SVT but always on the bike. One time I had the HR monitor on and I felt a flutter in my chest and watched my HR rise to 222 and this was whilst freewheeling and towards the end of a session that was not particularly hard. I spoke to a sports doctor who suggested it was possibly a combination of a virus/excess caffeine/excess aspartame. He advised checking on aspartime intake as this is a major contibutory factor in SVT. When you look on drinks labels it's in loads of stuff.
http://www.sweetpoison.com/aspartame-information.html
Lots of iso/carb drinks in fact.
I'm gonna get that cwazy gwouse...
I used to get blinding headaches - someone suggested it could be down to aspartime - Now look at labels carefully and have cut it out - result - no more headaches!
Chocolate and ice cream are common makers of bad headaches......especially as ye get older I tells ye.
I was diagnosed with persistent AF (i.e. I'm in AF permanently) 3 years ago. I'd had it for a little while before it was diagnosed and it knocked the hell out of my running - I could only do a very slow jog.
Once diagnosed they put me on Warfarin, Digoxin and beta blockers. This helped the running a lot although the beta blockers made me feel a bit tired. I've now switched to diltiazem and feel a lot sharper. The AF knocks about 2min per mile off my pace but I still enjoy my running (once I'd accepted I couldn't run as fast as before).
I have read that the incidence of AF is increased amongst endurance sport athletes.
Keep running and keep enjoying it Steve3000, thats all there is too it. Good health to ya palOriginally Posted by Steve3000
Hills and Guinness!
I have af and have had 3 ablation ops with no success, in fact the last one the consultant got it wrong and burnt down inside my vein, and now i am waiting to see if i can get a sten fitted to put this right.
In hindsight i wish that i never had any ops and just stuck to medication,
my running now is a slow jog and even worse on uphills,but at the end of the day i am just glad to be able to get out.
So if anybody has this illness i would think twice before having any ops.
wish i had !!!
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote