This weekend was our Pacific Masters Championships. It was a close battle between WCM and USF and I don't know who won at this very moment. I don't care.
You see, I left right before the 1000 today (the last event) right after the last relays. I watched some great swims today. Amazing swims. My friend Brendon swam a 2:03 200 fly and really hit his taper (as he's not going to Nationals)- we were teasing about how he does really well the week after a tapered meet. He seemed to finally figure it out this time.
My friend Stephen called me tonight and told me that Brendon also had a great 1000, was warming down, had a heart attack and died. He was 35. I was stunned. I've been crying since then trying to make sense of it all. It doesn't make sense.
I called some other friends and no one else can believe it either. Suddenly, the meet doesn't matter, swimming doesn't matter, what matters is that we lost a really great guy today. He was always so happy, funny, and loved to tell jokes. He was really good natured and fun to be around. I will miss him terribly.
Originally posted by swimr4life
OK! I'm a little scared now! How can you tell the difference between the benign palpitations and the lethal arrhythmias? I've been having an irregular heartbeat for over a year now. I've told my Dr. and he said not to worry. When I have it , my heart almost stops for a few seconds, then feels like its doing flipturns, then races for a few seconds and settles into a normal beat. Is this ok?
Sorry...I don't mean to hijack the thread but this got my attention!!:confused:
Beth, my husband has this exact thing, and so does his dad. It is worth checking out, but after stress tests and everything, they determined nothing major wrong. They just said limit caffeine, especially during stressful times, and that seems to help. He know that when it starts cropping up again, he needs to cool it on the caffeine(big Mountain Dew junky). Also, I don't know how old you are, but I know that racing heartbeat is part of peri-menopause and menopause.
The thing I should mention is my Father in Law did have a heart attack 9 years ago. They could not get his heart to settle into a normal rhythm do to the arrythmia, and after shocking him so many times, said they could not anymore, and had MIL sign a DNR. Miracles happen, and the heart settled down and he is still fine today. He smoked and drank, and that was probably the main problem. 6 months after the heart attack, they went in and tried to stimulate the heart into the bad rhythm so they could zap the part that was doing it, to stop it, and could not. He has since quit smoking and drinking as this episode scared him(obviously).
So ask the Doc for a stress test if it would make you feel better and especially if insurance pays for it, ;), but it probably is how your Doc says. If you are in good health, without too many vices, and fit, this is probably not a problem.
Originally posted by swimr4life
OK! I'm a little scared now! How can you tell the difference between the benign palpitations and the lethal arrhythmias? I've been having an irregular heartbeat for over a year now. I've told my Dr. and he said not to worry. When I have it , my heart almost stops for a few seconds, then feels like its doing flipturns, then races for a few seconds and settles into a normal beat. Is this ok?
Sorry...I don't mean to hijack the thread but this got my attention!!:confused:
Beth, my husband has this exact thing, and so does his dad. It is worth checking out, but after stress tests and everything, they determined nothing major wrong. They just said limit caffeine, especially during stressful times, and that seems to help. He know that when it starts cropping up again, he needs to cool it on the caffeine(big Mountain Dew junky). Also, I don't know how old you are, but I know that racing heartbeat is part of peri-menopause and menopause.
The thing I should mention is my Father in Law did have a heart attack 9 years ago. They could not get his heart to settle into a normal rhythm do to the arrythmia, and after shocking him so many times, said they could not anymore, and had MIL sign a DNR. Miracles happen, and the heart settled down and he is still fine today. He smoked and drank, and that was probably the main problem. 6 months after the heart attack, they went in and tried to stimulate the heart into the bad rhythm so they could zap the part that was doing it, to stop it, and could not. He has since quit smoking and drinking as this episode scared him(obviously).
So ask the Doc for a stress test if it would make you feel better and especially if insurance pays for it, ;), but it probably is how your Doc says. If you are in good health, without too many vices, and fit, this is probably not a problem.
