softlips wrote:I work in cardiology and you’d be amazed how many cardiologists cycle.
I suppose there must be many, it's just getting the advice passed down from them to those that you speak to at rehab (I've not been yet though so can't really comment
).
Alan O wrote:That happened to me after I had a heart attack and bypass surgery, but it didn't take too long to get my dosages right.
I've got an appointment with my GP this afternoon to go through the meds and also some other questions, so hopefully will get them adjusted if needed. One of my main concerns now is my Asthma - I'm taking my inhaler daily at the moment whereas before it was only at the start of a ride, I'm thinking it might be down to the Aspirin (which I've always said I'm allergic to due to the Asthma, but never taken, so they started me on them to see how I go).
althebike wrote:A lot has been written about the effects , and how to still do what you want to do and manage the effects, but what about the cause.
It may be worth stepping back to see the bigger picture of how you are really living your life. I know genetics cannot be changed, but what about things like diet ? Too much fat, not enough anti oxidants are counter productive .
You come across as a very determined individual, how much recovery time do you allow yourself? how hard are you pushing yourself? How much anxiety do you give yourself when your goals are in view but still out of reach?
As has already been said, this is a cycling forum and not a medical forum so anything given here has to be seen in that light.
wishing you a speedy and full recovery
Thanks.
I'm fairly certain that the cause is high cholesterol, and is fully down to myself and is my own fault. My diet hasn't been great, but had improved over the last couple of years. In the last couple of weeks before the attack I'd finally got the determination that my mates always complimented on to work with my diet, so was doing even better with it, I was having protein shakes for breakfast and also lunch some days, and had swapped unhealthy snacks in my work drawer for fruit. I was doing a 2-3 mile walk every day at lunchtime, and was commuting 13 miles each way to work and back on my bike many days. I wanted to lose as much weight as possible for the Lake District sportive that I was going to be doing this upcoming weekend. However, none of this made any difference to my cholesterol because I wasn't taking my statins - when I had them I would forget to take them, so I set a nightly alarm to remind me, but then I'd run out and not have time or would forget to go and get a repeat prescription. Therefore my cholesterol will have kept rising, and in my blood test after the heart attack it was up to 7.2 (it should ideally be 3.2 or below). So I'm now on 80mg statins to reduce this, and am taking them religiously.
With regards to the determination, as mentioned above my mates often talk about how determined I am, to get up hills, to keep up with them, to finish long sportives and other rides (including 200 miles in a day last year to fulfill a charity fundraising promise I'd made a year earlier to match miles for £'s donated). But I could just never carry that determination through to my diet - I'd still snack on chocolate and crisps at work and home, refused to have oven chips over fried. That changed a few weeks ago when on a ride with my mate, who is very fit and fast on the bike despite being 12 years older, he was actually struggling to get ahead of me on the flats, but would then shoot past me and leave me for dust on the hills - all down to the excess weight fighting against the climb, so I decided things had to change (oh, I also tried a new cycling shirt on and saw myself in a mirror
).
With regards recovery, I've not tried anything yet other than slow walks, with the maximum being half a mile to our local Tesco (and then walking around there for an hour or so). I felt quite under the weather afterwards, mostly my stomach which felt heavy and bloated (I'm assuming due to the lack of exercise recently). However, I have lost over 1/2 stone since being admitted to hospital a couple of weeks ago. I only had the stent a week ago, so I'm not going to attempt the bike until at least next week, at which point it will be a 1 mile maximum ride up the road and back - completely flat. I'll also have a heart monitor with chest strap by then (hopefully) which I'll hook up to my bike computer so I can monitor my heart rate constantly. I'm aware I won't be back up to even 10 mile rides for at least a month, possibly longer - although I'm determined to do it, I'm more determined to come home to my wife and kids afterwards, they'll always come first.