Swimming and Diving

[Cherrybubble]

My husband had two stents fitted in January and wondering if anyone has any experience of diving and swimming with a heart condition? He was told he has to be careful. What does that mean?

[Maisie2014]

I had a heart attack and stent fitted in February. When I attended cardiac rehabilitation they kept telling me not to swim. I offered to walk in the pool and they said “No”. Apparently it’s easy to overdo exercise in water. I used to swim regularly before my HA and missed it. Finally they said I could swim but not to overdo it and remember to breathe. They also told me to take the GTN spray with me and keep it at the side of the pool. At my review appointment my consultant told me to go back to swimming if I wanted. I swim now a few tines a week but for a maximum of 30 minutes. Sometimes it’s like swimming through custard. I put that down to the meds. Oh and I make sure I breathe.

[Cherrybubble in reply to Maisie2014]

I’m glad you’re back to swimming now and thanks for the info that’s useful.

[NorthantsSteve]

At my cardio rehab class they mentioned that swimming was problematic because the heart was exercising when the body was prone (couldn’t understand why that was a problem) and the fact that water often masked the symptoms of a HA. I guess it’s a case of taking it easy and building it up over time.

[Cherrybubble]

Ok that’s interesting about the prone position. I suppose more pressure on the heart in that posture perhaps? But yes taking his time to build up seems sensible.

[NorthantsSteve in reply to Cherrybubble]

Found this in the BHF website as I was trying to work out why the heart worked harder in water. bhf.org.uk/informationsuppo...

It seems more blood is returned to the heart. That makes sense.

[Cherrybubble in reply to NorthantsSteve]

Thanks that’s really useful

[Ianc2]

Try and get him to swim with a companion. The danger is of drowning while /if a HA is taking place

[Cherrybubble in reply to Ianc2]

Oh gosh. Just horrible, but take your point.

[SpiritoftheFloyd]

I have an ICD fitted and a booklet given to me by the cardio rehab folks lists sports you shouldn't undertake with an ICB, one of which is swimming on your own - by that they mean swimming in open water as opposed to in a pool in case you have an arrhythmia and the ICD administers a shock.

I suspect the biggest danger is of swimming in open water alone in the event of having an episode

[BillyMct]

I was advised to avoid swimming whilst I was under cardio rehab nurses guidance, once discharged (it was a 6 week programme post stenting) they vaguely advised it can mask HA symptoms as posted above and to if I did swim to ensure I warmed up and down and took it slowly. As a good swimmer I struggled with the take it easy bit and feel a bit of a plonker merely walking around in the shallow end for 10 mins pre and post swimming lengths. However I did use my HR watch to monitor my HR during and post swim to see if there was any indicators there, what it showed was even during arduous lengths I rarely got an HR above 130 where that similar effort on land would I guess put my HR in the higher ranges (I tend to max out mid 160bpm if I push hard so would have expected to see 140/150bpm ranges for land based effort. I also noticed that even after warm down I saw a HR rate rise once I was out of the pool ie going from a cooling down 100bpm to back over 120bpm, whilst sitting in the cubicle . So no real science there but being in the water for me at least seems to put a brake on the HR I can achieve that gets released once out of the water. I had wondered if it was water pressure on the body being greater than normal atmospheric pressure affecting the hearts functions.

[Cherrybubble in reply to BillyMct]

That’s really interesting thanks for sharing. My husband doesn’t wear a monitor. It’s probably a good idea by the sounds of it.

[NathanBlau]

I think the other posts answer the 'swimming' question but you refer also to diving. Do you mean snorkeling/freediving or scuba? Freediving and scuba certainly need some additional and medical advice. I had to undergo physical tests and have a medical certificate in order to resume scuba diving; without it no operator will let you dive

[Cherrybubble]

Thanks for your response - I was referring to just diving into a swimming pool but it’s interesting to hear that you are able to resume scuba diving.