Atrial fibrillation

[fat buddha]

well, it turns out I have AF which will explain why my running and biking has been pants this year - I was putting this down to age and loss of mojo, but it seems there was more to this than I realised at the time.

this all culminated in me having a minor stroke on the 24th November and I'm on the mend and have nearly 100% movement back in my left arm and leg (no speech or facial problems thankfully). for the mo, I'm on anticoagulant and beta-blocker therapy, can't drive for a month, and now waiting to see a cardiologist to discuss treatment of the AF - probably cardioversion or ablation.

but I want to get back to some form of CV exercise while I wait for this (I might go privately if the wait is long) and wondered if anyone out there who's had/has AF has any tips they'd like to share or help me with.

cheers
_________________
And the lord said unto John; "come forth and receive eternal life." But John came fifth and won a toaster.

[explorerJC]

Very sorry to hear that FB.

On the AF, I have friends who have suffered and recovered although one (multiple ETU/ITU champ) never got completely back to speed.

As for recovery from a stroke, I had one in 2001 (in fact, I probably had more than one) and it took a couple of years to really make progress and start to recover my fitness properly..I think I was back in the GB AG team by 2004 or 2005
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[Roscoemck]

FB, sorry to hear that.

Can't offer any advice, just want to let you know I'm thinking about you. Take it easy.

[fat buddha]

thanks for the comments guys.

having the stroke came as a bit of a shock but thankfully, and compared to many others, I have come out of this very lightly and am expected to have a full recovery. from what I have found, exercising with permanent AF (which is what I have, not the transient variety) is OK provided I put a lid on matters and don't try and go eyeballs out - just take it calmly.

swimming and using the turbo/rower seems to be best at the mo so I'll start with that and see how the body reacts. might hang back from running until I feel fully confident that my left leg knows what it's doing - it seems OK walking but running might challenge it a bit more, so leave that a few more weeks.

the big pisser is not being able to drive as I am now dependent on Mrs FB and what little public transport we have around here. hey ho - only a month and not a year!
_________________
And the lord said unto John; "come forth and receive eternal life." But John came fifth and won a toaster.

[ed_m]

[fat buddha]

[Banana Boy]

FB, I'm a very occasional poster on Tritalk but I have AF.
I had a pacemaker fitted in 1997 for irregular heart beat and have taken warfarin ever since, developed permanent AF in 2002 after a virus.

Started triathlon in 2001, have raced sprint to IM so it hasn't stopped me in that way. Much as I'd like to cite it as a reason for lack of pereformance I'm not sure it's had any major impact in that way.

The main impact based on my (non scientific) observation is that the warm up for any activity is harder. I'm nearly always breathless for the first 5-10 mins of any session (particularly running) no matter what pace. If I then stop for a minute or so I feel much better and, in general, my performance improves as the session goes on. In a race situation if I don't warm up (which I don't) then I tend to underperform on the swim.

The other issue for me is that I'm very conscious of not crashing on the bike as any bleeding takes ages to stop (and scars take ages to heal) so I'll avoid risks on downhill.

Good luck with your training!

[fat buddha]

thanks for the input BB - very useful

[JeffB]

Sorry to hear about it FB, hope you recover quickly.

I know someone who has a heart issue that it starts racing from time to time and has to get the electric shock to get it back into rhythm, which I'm guessing is AF. He was a very good athlete in his younger days and although he doesn't really race much now when he trains he is still good for his age, I'd guess in his younger days he'd have been around 2:05 for an Olympic tri, maybe quicker.

Also know (of) several people that have had strokes generally in their late 40's, at least 3 are still very good runners, 18:xx 5k times for V50 cat, as it turned out at least two had undiagnosed holes in their hearts which was the cause.

A lad I work with is as fit as a lat, and other than cholesterol being slightly high even one of the top stroke surgeons in the country couldn't really work out why he'd had one. It took him a while to get over it but as I mentioned he can still run well but has never really been interested in anything longer than about 10k.

The two I know best do have to manage their fatigue and cut back or not train if they are tired.

Do they think the AF has led to the stroke or some other reason?

EJC, having seen what I'm guessing is you, you don't look like an obvious candidate for a stroke either, and would have appeared to have got back to a good level of fitness.

Jeff

[explorerJC]

[fat buddha]

JeffB - thanks for the input - very illuminating!

[doubletriple]

Hi...had AF on and off for @ 15 years....been clear for @5 now.
I had paroxysmal AF as in no obvious underlying cause. in the majority of these cases it usually comes down to lifestyle.
Drugs, stress , Alcohol etc.
Have had cardioversion....chemical and physical , and ablation. Each in turn reverted eventually back to AF episodes.
I have altered my lifestyle choices hugely , and have been AF free for some years.
In my opionion , lifestyle factors are uaually the trigger.
Good luck.

[tin pot]

[fat buddha]

[Laufmann]

FB, found your post via a search I did before posting as a fresh topic. Interested to know how you are getting on a year later, and also if anyone has any thoughts on my situation.

In 2017 after 2 iron distance races that year, I switched my emphasis back to running and really enjoyed getting speeed back with a running club after lapsing into long and slow for some time. Pretty soon I was experiencing a weird sensation about 6-10 mins into a race (mostly 10 ks), accompanied by a sudden loss of power. I was able to run through this while people overtook me, and then after about half a minute or so, returned to my previous pace. I did not think much about it, other than it was annoying and unpredictable.

In October 2018, I had a much worse episode and felt really unwell, but the loss of power was so severe, I was forced to walk for the first time ever in many years of running (outside of extreme conditions such as fell races and hills on iron distance tri). I did recover though and ended up running as normal again within about 2 minutes. But since then I have had a few more incidents, including a Parkrun on Xmas day, from which there was no recovery. 5K felt like a 1/2 M despite being 5 mins slower than my normal time, and it took me about 2 hours to recover from afterwards.

This prompted me to contact my GP who gave me a consultation via phone and gave me some food for thought. She suggested that I monitor the situation and that we review it mid Jan, with the probability that I have some tests done. Since then I have looked on the internet on the basis of what she told me, and Afib seems a possibility. From what I have found out online, Afib incidence is much higher in endurance athletes, especially from middle age onwards (I have just turned 60). But as someone outside the typical clientele of my local surgery, I thought the collective wisdom of the TT community might be helpful ahead of speaking to the GP again. These mysterious episodes which might have nothing to do with Afib, have the following characteristics:

* Come on abruptly mid run without any warning, as if a switch has suddenly been turned off.
* A degree of nausea, but no great chest discomfort.
* No marked change of HR in the earlier episodes, but elevated recently and staying high even with a greatly reduced pace (but highest rates not higher than my normal max rates).
* In all the cases where it has been so bad that I have had to stop, when I resume running again at whatever pace, there is an ache in my right shoulder, which stops when I stop running.
* This has only happened in racing or very fast paced training in running, and I have had nothing similar in swimming or cycling (though I probably have not pushed as hard in them), and I am perfectly ok in my everyday life.

I am very keen to do the last ever Forestman, but have been wary of committing to entry yet. I am also wary of a doctor just telling me to lay off out of precaution, rather than from experience with athletes. Any thoughts?