Bad advice on high cholesterol from Ride London

[pete75]

So it's essentially bad advice to recommend that people who may have heart problems to get their heart checked before they engage in what may be unaccustomed exertion?

No, it's essentially bad advice to recommend that people who have high cholesterol get their heart checked before they continue cycling - I've marked where I'm talking about something different to you in bold, so now you try and keep up

He's not saying someone with those symptoms or conditions shouldn't cycle but that it might be advisable to have a medical check first.

He actually says that people shouldn't cycle until checked because "continuing to ride with these symptoms may shorten your cycling career catastrophically!" which is just BS. If you've only got high cholesterol, moderate exercise will almost certainly help.

People with high cholesterol levels may have heart disease that they're unaware of. No harm in them making sure they haven't. What is your objection to this?

He's trying to scare hypercholesterolaemiacs into stopping exercise unnecessarily until they can get a GP appointment. Both stressing hypercholesterolaemiacs and stopping them cycling are unethical.

The point is folk with high cholesterol levels may have other heart problems and it's worth having a check up to find out. I see you've changed your tune - now only part of his advice is wrong.

Do I detect a touch of over exaggeration in your last sentence? If you really think the man is acting in an unethical manner then report him to he GMC don't whinge about it on here.

[bigjim]

I've just managed to receive my consultants letter to my GP. I wish they would write in laymans language. After worrying about my odd chest pains while riding and having the stress tes,t I get this

He managed an impressive 12 minutes of the Bruce protocol, reaching a peak heart rate of 144bpm which was 94% of age predicated maximum. There were no ECG changes during exercise, but in the post operative period there were very frequent supraventricular ectopics and I wonder if this is what he is feeling.

I think thats good, maybe, but until I can maybe get an appointment with the unavailable GP one is left wondering. "Am I alright then?"

[531colin]

I've just managed to receive my consultants letter to my GP. I wish they would write in laymans language. After worrying about my odd chest pains while riding and having the stress tes,t I get this

He managed an impressive 12 minutes of the Bruce protocol, reaching a peak heart rate of 144bpm which was 94% of age predicated maximum. There were no ECG changes during exercise, but in the post operative period there were very frequent supraventricular ectopics and I wonder if this is what he is feeling.

I think thats good, maybe, but until I can maybe get an appointment with the unavailable GP one is left wondering. "Am I alright then?"

If the cardiologist had been concerned, I think he would probably have told you at the time.
An "ectopic" beat is one that starts somewhere other than the "pacemaker" (sino-atrial node)...."supraventricular" means its starting above the ventricles, that means somewhere in the atria.
He says you were able to push your heart rate up to about what is expected for a man your age, with no ECG changes during exercise, only post-exercise.
You might expect to feel an interruption in your normal heart rhythm, as in "my heart skipped a beat"....but after exercise.
I don't think the cardiologist is reporting anything which would give you "chest pains while riding".....I'm not sure if you mean you also got chest pains while having the stress test....?

[bigjim]

I've just managed to receive my consultants letter to my GP. I wish they would write in laymans language. After worrying about my odd chest pains while riding and having the stress tes,t I get this

He managed an impressive 12 minutes of the Bruce protocol, reaching a peak heart rate of 144bpm which was 94% of age predicated maximum. There were no ECG changes during exercise, but in the post operative period there were very frequent supraventricular ectopics and I wonder if this is what he is feeling.

I think thats good, maybe, but until I can maybe get an appointment with the unavailable GP one is left wondering. "Am I alright then?"

If the cardiologist had been concerned, I think he would probably have told you at the time.
An "ectopic" beat is one that starts somewhere other than the "pacemaker" (sino-atrial node)...."supraventricular" means its starting above the ventricles, that means somewhere in the atria.
He says you were able to push your heart rate up to about what is expected for a man your age, with no ECG changes during exercise, only post-exercise.
You might expect to feel an interruption in your normal heart rhythm, as in "my heart skipped a beat"....but after exercise.
I don't think the cardiologist is reporting anything which would give you "chest pains while riding".....I'm not sure if you mean you also got chest pains while having the stress test....?

Thanks Colin. No pains during test and my heartbeat on the treadmill in the gym hits 188 but they will only let it go so far on the test. So I was a bit confused about continuing to push myself.

[mjr]

The point is folk with high cholesterol levels may have other heart problems and it's worth having a check up to find out. I see you've changed your tune - now only part of his advice is wrong.

No change of tune. My complaint has always been that the advice is bad for hypercholestolaemiacs - see the title.

Another point is folk with high cholesterol levels will almost certainly have been referred for checking when the levels were tested anyway.

Maybe I will complain further. Discussions like this can be useful for refining the explanation anyway.

[pete75]

The point is folk with high cholesterol levels may have other heart problems and it's worth having a check up to find out. I see you've changed your tune - now only part of his advice is wrong.

No change of tune. My complaint has always been that the advice is bad for hypercholestolaemiacs - see the title.

Another point is folk with high cholesterol levels will almost certainly have been referred for checking when the levels were tested anyway.

Maybe I will complain further. Discussions like this can be useful for refining the explanation anyway.

Yep but say that was 3 or 4 years ago - if levels have remained high then there may be heart damage they don't know about.

Personally I feel Prof Sharma knows a great deal more about this topic than you do.

[Mick F]

Prof Sharma knows a great deal more about this topic than most people do.
However, I reckon people know more about themselves personally, than Prof Sharma knows about any specific individual.

[Cunobelin]

I do not see a problem...

If you put the OP in the context of the original web page, then it is simply generic advice for the general public about taking on a sporting event if you have health issues

[mjr]

Personally I feel Prof Sharma knows a great deal more about this topic than you do.

He may well do, but I feel the NHS advice is better than his and if he has a problem with it, he should seek to get it changed and be clear that his advice is different from the NHS's.

[pete75]

Personally I feel Prof Sharma knows a great deal more about this topic than you do.

He may well do, but I feel the NHS advice is better than his and if he has a problem with it, he should seek to get it changed and be clear that his advice is different from the NHS's.

Personally I would take the opinion of a specialist consultant over generalised advice found on the web. You may well think it authoritative I don't.
He doesn't seem to have a problem with it rather you seem to have a problem with him.

[mjr]

Personally I would take the opinion of a specialist consultant over generalised advice found on the web. You may well think it authoritative I don't.

The NHS advice is in line with what the various consultants I have seen over the year have said. None have ever told me to stop cycling until after a test, even when they were ordering me wired up to ECGs and stuff like that.

He doesn't seem to have a problem with it rather you seem to have a problem with him.

As far as I can recall, I've never met him. (I may have done at a certain heart conference in London, but not that I remember.) The problem is with his advice, not him.

[eileithyia]

Have not trawled all through this, but suspect it was general advise given out to those planning to ride Ride London to ensure they have no underlying health problems that might lead to the tragic circumstances we have learned of today.

[mjr]

Rest in peace Robin Chard, but I think we don't know enough details to draw many conclusions about the advice from that case and we should respect the family's privacy request so we probably never will.