Colin_P wrote:No doctor, unless they to have one of these devices fitted can provide answers to the question of what is it like to live with one of these things.
I've searched and searched for more information about what it is actually like living with ones of these things at my age in my circumstances, to no avail. Most people are a fair bit older and have other heart issues rather than just arrhythmia as I do.
Well look at it this way, from your other posts it's clear you want to cycle.
So you want to hear from other people that it's ok to cycle, I presume?
This is really what you will do with "more information" - you'll just look for stuff that tells you what you want to hear.
This is what we all do with "more information" we use it to reinforce our opinions and ignore
the stuff that says what we don't want to hear.
As such I find it difficult to believe you cannot find good medical opinion about the level of exercise and so on you may be capable of given the device inside you
and it's rather disingenuous to suggest that a qualified medical professional who has put ICDs in myriad patients for years cannot give you advice
because he doesn't have the device himself.
I can believe you don't like the advice you were given. Which is why you're in the pub and on the bike now telling us that you're
going against the advice you were given. In your own words "Self destructive behavior level = idiot"
That's exactly what I would do. I would go out on the bike with my HRM as I do now and I'd take it easy at first
and I'd judge entirely on how I felt and how that feeling matched my previous experiences when cycling and then
I'd take it from there.
But, if I got half way down my road and dropped dead, I wouldn't post anywhere afterwards saying "Sheesh guys, don't cycle!", would I?
Good luck to you (not the least because if you use google to find medical advice you'll need it)