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Aortic Aneurysms – Introduce yourself & meet others
Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: 8 hours ago | Replies (543)Comment receiving replies
Thank you for your reply.
I was not aware of the BP spike. There is no family history of aneurysms. My Dad lived to almost 90 and my Mom lived to 99. So far, the only other health issue that I have is sleep-apnea, which is being handled successfully with a CPAP machine
When I was released from the hospital last July, I volunteered to participate in what the y call a Home Health monitoring program. Every morning, I take my BP. oxygen level. heart rate and weight using equipment provided by the hospital and it is monitored by a set of nurses. They call me once a week just to check-in and call immediately if they see something amiss ( like when the scale added 5 lbs to my weight one morning for no reason)
I will follow my Doctors direction even if it means no pickleball. I was never a hard core player. It was just a fun exercise with other like minded players.
I guess my real concern is with the travel plans that we would like to make.
Thank you again for yoor input
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Based on everything I have read, the trick to travel is as long as you’re in a pressurized plane (and most commercial jets are), don’t hoist your luggage, don’t carry luggage over 30 pounds, and don’t do anything that would make you grunt or hold your breath; you should be okay. Holding breath while lifting something heavy is a natural reaction and it spikes the blood pressure. It’s called the Valsalva maneuver. it raises your blood pressure sometimes as much as 200/100 or higher (in the moment). Do everything you can to keep your blood pressure down and your stress levels down. I would talk with your cardiologist or cardiovascular surgeon regarding any other concerns you have about travel. sometimes high elevations raise blood pressure and heart rate. I’ve been told to keep my heart rate below 130 when exercising and 70 at rest. The lower the better. Some folks go on beta blockers to make sure it stays low. Because of the mechanical nature of 60 beats a minute ( plus) against the weakness in the aorta the lowest heart rate you can have is best. also, if you’re traveling, you might want to get a piece of medical jewelry that says you have an ascending aortic aneurysm because that way if something did happen, they wouldn’t treat you for a heart attack and maybe Realize too late, that your aneurysm was the issue……What a cool monitoring system you have. I like that. We don’t have anything like that in Hawaii ( that I know of).