Cycling UK Forum

I'm a very active 46 year old. Training 6 days per week. 3 in the gym, 3 on the bike. In the gym I do heavy weights and on the bike I go fast or long.

Recently I've been getting a pain on the left hand side of my chest - far left and high not middle after even mild exercise (I'm on holiday as I type), once accompanied by a pain in my arm and slight tightness in my breathing.

I don't want to go to my doctor as they panic due to my medical history - I'm epileptic, have very mild asthma, had an enlarged artetory in my 20's due to overtraining, tachycardia - pulse can go to 260, or slow to nothing and make me pass out. So even if I go with a sniffle they call an ambulance and it puts my driving licence, job and future employment at risk. Last time something like this happened I was off work for a year and struggled to get back. Plus it makes travel insurance difficult

So I dont want to go if this is a false alarm, but do want to go if its my heart

So how can I tell if this is heart or muscle?

Hi,
Sounds like a recipe for disaster I am sorry to say

Pain and any difficulty breathing is a bad sign.
Mines very similar but is a result of damage around the diaphragm from an operation where they cut muscles that run through it.

I see your pain (pardon the pun) but what option have you got....................

I would stop doing any physical activity for a week that definately wont hurt you but continuing it in the face of heart problems probably would. If it persists after that go to the quack. My wife who was a sister on a heart ward says get it looked at, arm pain and shortness of breath is the clue.

Al

mnichols wrote:I'm a very active 46 year old. Training 6 days per week. 3 in the gym, 3 on the bike. In the gym I do heavy weights and on the bike I go fast or long.

Recently I've been getting a pain on the left hand side of my chest - far left and high not middle after even mild exercise (I'm on holiday as I type), once accompanied by a pain in my arm and slight tightness in my breathing.

I don't want to go to my doctor as they panic due to my medical history - I'm epileptic, have very mild asthma, had an enlarged artetory in my 20's due to overtraining, tachycardia - pulse can go to 260, or slow to nothing and make me pass out. So even if I go with a sniffle they call an ambulance and it puts my driving licence, job and future employment at risk. Last time something like this happened I was off work for a year and struggled to get back. Plus it makes travel insurance difficult

So I dont want to go if this is a false alarm, but do want to go if its my heart

So how can I tell if this is heart or muscle?

As much as we all get concerned about our health and well being and indeed survival...
I bet we can all relate to also this " So even if I go with a sniffle they call an ambulance and it puts my driving licence, job and future employment at risk. Last time something like this happened I was off work for a year and struggled to get back.

Todays economic climate doesn't help either.
As always I cannot add to what our colleagues have advised you to do other than to say if you do get any further concerns telephone 111 for advice.

I only recently learnt that you can do this for a non emergency and the number for the police is 101.Hopefully I have got that the correct way round but if I haven't then I am sure someone will correct it.

Can you go to the doctor or get checked anonymously? I don't want it going on my medical record

If you are at all suspicious that it is your heart, you should get it checked out. Really. I understand the problems that this can lead to, but if it is your heart it might kill you.

That said, if you go to a walk in clinic or private GP, it may not be connected to your medical record, and if it is, it may take some time for your GP, or a specialist that you see regularly to become aware of it.

If it were me, I'd lay off the training and hard exercise for a couple of weeks and see how I felt meanwhile.
If it is exercise induced muscle aches, the symptoms will go.

I too have a suspicion and fear of doctors etc but if it is necessary, I'll go and see our family doctor, but only if I'm bullied into it.

Ive been on holiday for the last week so no bike and no heavy weights and things have got better.

Was suprised because some light cardio and walking brought the symptoms back although milder.

Flying home tomorrow so was going to go back to training after a week off

Wonder if its a chest infection, or heart virus if there is such a thing

Was looking forward to getting back to training

The risk averse nature of modern society is that doctors, employers, insurance companies always have to assume the worse may happen for fear of being sued....common sense goes out the window

Look at this logically. If you have a check up and there's nothing wrong then the situation with your driving licence, job, etc. will not alter. To speak bluntly, if there is something of significance wrong then having a heart attack at the wheel of a car may very definitely affect your driving licence, job etc. It's bad enough that you might die, it's unacceptable that you are willing to risk someone else's life in order to drive your car. And that is what you are doing right now, because you don't know what is causing the problem. You are gambling that there is no serious problem, and the bet you are placing is someone else's life. I speak as someone who had a heart attack at the age of 38, some 27 years ago. You are quite right about common sense going out of the window. In this case, yours.

mnichols wrote:Was suprised because some light cardio and walking brought the symptoms back although milder.

That sounds suspiciously cardiovascular.

Flying home tomorrow so was going to go back to training after a week off

Might be a good idea to get checked out first. The lower oxygen level at the 8,000ft equivalent cabin pressure could precipitate something worse if your heart is already struggling.

Wonder if its a chest infection, or heart virus if there is such a thing

There are lots of things it could be but it sounds like cardio symptoms. Why is it that people that have chest pains are so often in denial and avoid the doctors? Go and get it checked out and if you are abroad and can use the public health system they will most likely not connect to your doctor but give you a letter to take to them. Which might get round your immediate concern. But as said above the last thing we want is you collapsing at the wheel of your car with who knows what consequences. We've just lost six people in Glasgow with the driver reportedly collapsed over the wheel. Do you really want that possibility on your conscience?I

Do you really want that possibility on your conscience?

Anybody who drives has that possibility on their conscience. The added extra bit of risk to society isnt that much, it just another outgroup who's benefits from driving can be easily dismissed (because they are an outgroup) as they are ever so slightly more of a risk than the rest of us. Rather like the young.

Please get checked out right now and don't drive till you have. Your symptoms are classic. Good luck.

beardy wrote:

Do you really want that possibility on your conscience?

Anybody who drives has that possibility on their conscience. The added extra bit of risk to society isnt that much, it just another outgroup who's benefits from driving can be easily dismissed (because they are an outgroup) as they are ever so slightly more of a risk than the rest of us. Rather like the young.

I'm uncertain what you are trying to say in this post. Are you saying that it is not important that a man displaying classic symptoms of hear disease presents no significant risk to the public at large? That even if he has a definite heart problem it's OK for him to keep on driving? Do you think the same about other potential maladies? Diabetics, epileptics, sufferers of chronic sleep apnoea, the blind even?

I am saying that all drivers present a significant risk and they just like to point to others a tiny bit worse and say "I am not as bad as them, they are really dangerous but I am OK!"

beardy wrote:I am saying that all drivers present a significant risk and they just like to point to others a tiny bit worse and say "I am not as bad as them, they are really dangerous but I am OK!"

It's a good point, I wonder how the risk from people with a ropey medical history compares with the risk of a healthy 17 year old? The problem with judging any performance in relative terms rather than absolute is that no matter how many you eliminate on the grounds that they're the worst on the list, there will still be someone campaigning to remove the worst of the remainder on the same grounds. The problem is that the standards of any objective test are also set relative to public opinion and perceptions, at which point you're back to square one.

(BTW, You must tell DVLA if you have arrhythmia.)