Cardiac Swimmers

I have had two heart ablations for A fib. First didn't hold. Not unusual to have a second really. These are more of a procedure than a surgery I would say. Certainly, when compared to others in this thread. I've had no issues and max it out often in practice and some meets. Thankful for modern medicine when it comes to the heart.

It's been just over four weeks since getting my pacemaker implanted, and can finally get back in the pool tomorrow morning! I wasn't allowed to raise my left arm above my shoulder for a month. Tried moving it around a bit yesterday. It's a bit stiff & I don't have full range of motion, so just plan to take it easy and see how it goes. My pacemaker has a low limit of 55 bpm, with no high limit and the auto rate response is enabled. Will be interesting to see how my heart rate tracks when I get going. Unexplored territory.

Nothing wrong with my heart, as far as I know, but I had a calcium score of 109, which is the 76th percentile for my age. Weird because I am going to be 59, and I've always been told I look ten or more years younger than my age. I guess the outsides don't necessarily reflect what's going on inside. Anyway, there is terrible cardiac history on my dad's side, although thankfully, he's still with us at 85 (despite bypass, valve replacement, a-fib). The doc says I have no blockages of greater than 50%, but need to get checked once per year. I'm on statins, baby aspirin, BP meds. The doctor says that as far as exercise, the more the better.

I had an open-heart surgery around 12 years ago. Doctors told me to avoid competitive sports. It depends on your condition. But it's best to take it easy to make sure you won't have any problems with your heart.

Recently rejoined USMS and this is my first blog posting. Hope I'm in the right area, Cardiac Swimmers? Age 69 and I've been swimming off and on for years. I quit for 25 years because of allergy to chlorine. Found a solution for that a few years ago, and slowly switched back from running to swimming. I was making great headway, reclaiming time and distance until March 21, 2016. I finished 2500 yards and had a heart attack in the last 25 yds. After some fumbling around, trying to figure out what was happening, finally ended up at a local Ohio State University Urgent Care and then to the emergency room within 25 minutes. Triple bypass surgery the next day. After a 12 week 2016 summer of cardiac rehab 3 times per week, I started getting back into swimming, very, very slowly, and tentatively since that is where it happened. Today, I am swimming 4000 to 9000 yards per week. Problem: I am much slower than before my Heart Incident. I am facing aging, of course. But, my heart is now clear from major blockages. I am just mystified and irritated that on 2000 yards, for example, my time is 5 to 7 minutes slower than before my heart incident. I'm just wondering if I can ever get back to where I was before my Heart Incident. I wonder if others have had a similar experience, or are aware of people with major heart incidents who have experienced such issues, or perhaps have even improved after major by-pass surgery. My surgeon did joke that I ought to be a faster swimmer since he has cleared my heart. I refer to it as a joke since it has not happened yet! Any thoughts or comments will be appreciated. Regardless of everything, I'll just keep swimming, working on distance, and also making some effort at pushing myself on short distances -- 50, 100, 200 etc. All of this has made some small difference in times. But, for now, I am kind of stuck at a much slower pace than before my Heart Incident. Thanks Skip Cornett Columbus, OH

Yeah, this is a constant topic of discussion on the Cardiac Athletes forum. Are you taking a beta blocker? The purpose of a BB is to limit your heart rate. People on high doses report being tired and sluggish at all time, not just during exercise. Even low doses will trim about 10 beats per minute off the high end. You'll be taking it for a long time, maybe forever. As you get in better shape ask you cardiologist if the dosage can be lowered. Depending on how smooth ECG and echo tests get after a year or two, some can even go off of it completely.

Yeah, this is a constant topic of discussion on the Cardiac Athletes forum. Are you taking a beta blocker? The purpose of a BB is to limit your heart rate. People on high doses report being tired and sluggish at all time, not just during exercise. Even low doses will trim about 10 beats per minute off the high end. You'll be taking it for a long time, maybe forever. As you get in better shape ask you cardiologist if the dosage can be lowered. Depending on how smooth ECG and echo tests get after a year or two, some can even go off of it completely. Thanks for the response. Beta Blockers. Yes, a big problem except I am no longer on them, since my heart attack. My cardiologists---all of them, said no way because my pulse rate is so low, typically around 51 - 55. Before my heart attack, my Primary Care Doc had put me on BB to lower my Blood Pressure, along with another BP med. Well, it wasn't working, and I told her it slowed me down in my swimming, which she dismissed. Finally, I just quit BB on my own, then a few months later had my Infamous Heart Attack in the pool, not because of BP, or BB or anything else other than serious heart blockages. That has been fixed, 15+ months ago, no Beta Blockers, and I am still struggling with speed. Distance, not such a problem. 2500 yards today, not quite as much as before my Heart Incident, but I am more concerned about speed. Knocking off some of those minutes. tks very much. I hope others will comment also.

I've heard of Low QT but know nothing about it. Must be one or more of the denizens of the CardiacAthletes site has mentioned it. It's usually a source of pride to be the rare exception among your peer group, except when it involves the heart. While I don't think I was born with a valve defect, it was detected very early, age 10, and I can remember the Dr telling my mother I should "take it easy" for the rest of my life. I was never allowed to participate in sports, and I was declared 4F during the Viet Nam draft, but sometime in the 1970s I decided otherwise on my own and started running. Swimming is a new obsession. I've been on a beta blocker for more than 30 years now, it never gave me trouble, as I hear from so many others, but then I think my dosage has always been rather low. Trust me Sumo, I experience no pride in having the diagnosis of Long QT. The idea of sudden cardiac death scares me beyond comprehension. My only saving grace is that I'm banking on the fact that I had a long career as a successful marathon runner and never experienced a symptom or problem so maybe I'm okay. I do play mind games with myself about this unfortunately before almost every workout or competition but in the end it's a quality of life thing. If I had to be sedentary my life would be horrible. I'm extremely ADHD and I'm sure the meds for that would be far worse for me than a daily medium to hard core swim workout. I'd even say turning 60 helped me on this because no matter what happens I feel like I've had a full life and have been able to meet most of my important life goals.

... ended up at a local Ohio State University Urgent Care and then to the emergency room within 25 minutes. Triple bypass surgery the next day ... I am much slower than before my Heart Incident ... I am facing aging, of course. But, my heart is now clear from major blockages ... I'm just wondering if I can ever get back to where I was before my Heart Incident. Skip, here are two news reports on athletes who did OK after heart-valve replacement: - www.nba.com/.../five-years-open-heart-surgery-thankful-20170109 - www.nbcnews.com/.../ (A few years after surgery, this swimmer finished his college career with a 50-yard free of :21.59 and a 47.72 in 100 free). And, getting closer to home, I know a 65+ swimmer who scored several top-ten times within a year of his valve-replacement surgery. Mind you, he’s been fast all his life, but he swam events that are, literally, heartbreakers; he’s recovered both speed and endurance. His workouts include a 1650 every Monday and sets of 10 pull-ups all the time: he’s working strength and endurance (Skip, you suggest you’re stuck on a plateau; have you tried short speed swims that reflect the principle that, "if you want to swim fast,you have to swim fast," as a complement to the longer swims you describe? Before you try that, please do study how you can do that safely, without another trip to the ER.). You mentioned age in addition to medical issues. In the past four years, my time in the SCM 50 back has slowed by 2.6 seconds. Though I spent a lot of time visiting doctors during those years, some of this decline was likely the result of age. Consider the case of one of my local age-group competitors, who four years ago was finishing within a few tenths of a second of me in theSCM 50 back. Last year, his time in SCM 50 back also had slowed, and he finished within :00.01 of my time. In other words, nearly all of us in the 65+ age groups are getting slower. One of the reasons we’re slower is we’re losing “heart power.” Before my surgery, I ran 5-Ks in the mid- to high-20-minute range, with an average pulse of 155 to 165. Today, I’ve plateaued over 30 minutes, with an average pulse in the 130s or 140s. Over many years, there’s been a strong correlation between my running times and my pulse: when my heart is stronger, I run and swim faster. My lower level of “heart power” doesn’t have much impact on my 50 back, but it’s killed my 100 back, and my 200 back has gone from a race to a journey. About 20 years ago, I was in such poor shape, I was having trouble running a full half mile without stopping; it took me more than seven years to rebuild my fitness to the point where I could swim fast, and I think that’s what it’ll take to once again swim a fast 200. Hope that helps...