First post. LVT recovery and exercise

[Eagle69]

Hi all, been reading posts for the last few weeks and now plucking up courage to post myself. I had a HA on Xmas day while half way on a 30 mile ride. Hindsight says I shouldn’t have ridden home but I did, silly boy!

Troponin of 4K+ suggests a bad one and ended up with one stent and, 2 weeks later, back in Kings being told my heart was damaged and I’ve got a Left Ventricle Thrombus (clot).

I had just about accepted the HA and was coming to terms with that and looking forward to the cardiac rehab. To then be told that I need to do very little until the clot is gone to avoid risk of breakaway clot causing havoc elsewhere was difficult to take. I’m on all the normal meds but recently taken off bisoporol as my heart rate was dropping to low 30’s.

I’ve always done sport and pushed myself to limits etc so I’ve found this difficult to deal with, but I’m getting there. I have a stress echocardiogram in a couple of weeks to see how the heart and clot are progressing.

I just wondered if there were others out there in heart land that have had a similar experience and how the recovery from an attack, stent, LVT has gone and are you back exercising?

Cheers all

[jrcsheffield]

take a look at my profile if you can...to save retyping which isn't easy with a broken colllar bone through riding.

[Eagle69 in reply to jrcsheffield]

Hi jrcsheffield, thanks for the reply. You’ve been through it mate but great that you’re on the bike again albeit an electric one. Getting out in the fresh air must be great. Hope your heart improvement continues but sorry for the collar bone, that’s not nice.

Yeah having the threat of a stroke scares me I must admit. But I’m trying to do the right things, rest, meds, gentle walking, watching what I eat etc so I’m hoping the next scans show improvement so I can get on the rehab sessions. I do need that to keep me going.

Question. So has your clot completely gone? Or is it still being managed?

Cheers

[jrcsheffield in reply to Eagle69]

Took several weeks on drugs to clear clot which originally showed as a shadow on echo scan.Bike is a Specialized Levo Turbo comp, third one (long story only paid for one). It is brilliant with it's infinite dial in smart phone power settings.

For heart problems at the start I set it to 100% turbo all the time,monitored my max pulse rate and gradually reduced to 80% over the weeks..gives me about 40 mile ride...pulse now never goes above 120bpm.

I did wonder what would happen with my heart if I fell off but be reassured, nothing untoward happened.

Collar bone break is a nightmare, only pain killers that don't clash with heart meds are paracetamol and co codomol, neither work for me.

Never give up..you can bike again.

[Eagle69 in reply to jrcsheffield]

I'll take several weeks! I have a stress echo in 2 weeks and a Transthoracic (whatever that is) in April so hoping improvement by then.

I won't be giving up thats for sure. Want to be out and about on bike and swimming again!

I appreciate the feedback. Has helped me.

[Peter-l-h]

I had been on bisoprolol for nearly 20 years and was taken off at my first visit to my cardiologist. Before and after 24 hour monitors showed periods of night time heart block improved. Now pacemaker fitted and also unrelated aortic stenosis addressed by TAVI valve replacement. Getting back to excercise . Rehab sessions really good a re assuring with pulse etc taken pre / during / and after exercise.

one benefit of no bisoprolol is that after years of falling really cold, with freezing fingers etc - it is now me who turns the heat down.

My personal experience of recommencing excercise is don’t expect too much too soon and expect plateau’s in your recovery when improvement slows and you feel you will be stuck where you are for weeks.

Now 14 weeks in, on holiday and at 77 realising I am already fitter than most of my contemporaries with no heart issues. Just ‘hasten slowly ‘

Best wishes PH

[Eagle69 in reply to Peter-l-h]

Thanks Peter-l-h.

Blimey, 20 years? Nice to get off them I bet.

My hands have always been cold as I've always had Raynaud's disease but that has definitely got worse recently and had put that down to one of the meds I was on.

Yeah once I get back to some exercise it'll be slow and steady for sure. The mental side of that will determine that as well as the physical side.

Great that you're feeling fit. Enjoy the holiday!