Hi, I'm a 57 year old male swimmer with atrial fibrillation taking rhythmol twice a day. (I'm in sinus rhythm most of the time.) I also do a 2,800 yard workout four times a week and aspire to NQT for the 50 and 100 freestyle.
I can't seem to get straight answers from my cardiologist. He says that it is fine to swim, but deeper questions are beyond him.
For example...
Is it OK to really press myself in my workouts?
(I'm out of breath at the end of some of my sets, but who isn't?)
Should I be thinking of long even swims rather than sprint swims?
(I do mile and two mile open water swims, but they're not very exciting for me.)
I'm fighting for breath sometimes during my sets. Is this just a matter of conditioning, or is there a direct link to the a fib?
I have the low side of normal blood pressure. Is there any relationship between blood pressure and whether people are better constituted to be sprinters vs. distance swimmers?
Any information from M.D.s and/or others who have heart conditions would be appreciated.
See you at nationals!
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Former Member
New to forum. This topic hits close to home. Have had excersize induced ventricular tachycardia all my life. When my heart would go haywire I would back off until went back to normal then resume whatever activity was doing. In 2004 I had a heart attack after 1 hour postal swim. Since then I have had to take disrythmia medication for the same vt's wich the docs say may be fatal. Almost went down from these vt's during nuclear stress test following heart attack. Attempted ablation failed because cause was to close to aorta and doc said didn't want to perform it. I am taking a beta blocker Natolol. Not as bad for me as atenolol but still causes lumpy feeling in water and seems to cause breathing difficulties. Have seen good electrophsyiologist recently in Birmingham and said has performed many ablations, I think he used the term aortal. In fact he said hundreds more than anyone in the country. Thinking about it but have bad memory from last experiance. Think one slip and I'm a gonner.
Glad to have found topic
Don Jennings
New to forum. This topic hits close to home. Have had excersize induced ventricular tachycardia all my life. When my heart would go haywire I would back off until went back to normal then resume whatever activity was doing. In 2004 I had a heart attack after 1 hour postal swim. Since then I have had to take disrythmia medication for the same vt's wich the docs say may be fatal. Almost went down from these vt's during nuclear stress test following heart attack. Attempted ablation failed because cause was to close to aorta and doc said didn't want to perform it. I am taking a beta blocker Natolol. Not as bad for me as atenolol but still causes lumpy feeling in water and seems to cause breathing difficulties. Have seen good electrophsyiologist recently in Birmingham and said has performed many ablations, I think he used the term aortal. In fact he said hundreds more than anyone in the country. Thinking about it but have bad memory from last experiance. Think one slip and I'm a gonner.
Glad to have found topic
Don Jennings
