Aortic Aneurysms – Introduce yourself & meet others

I wasn't told not to lift heavy things by my cardiologist either. I've gotten that advice from this group. I'm not blaming my doctor, but I've found more useful information here than during my medical appointments. I'll take information from anywhere if it's reliable. No, don't carry that air conditioner. 🙂 I guess I won't be hauling bags of garden soil around this spring. 🙁

Here is another video tha was posted in this forum by someone responding to a question regarding exercise, holding breath, exertion, etc while having an aneurysm. It is an interview with a cardiologist, who coincidentally is my attending cardiologist, the man is an aneurysm/BAVs/aortic diseases nerd, I got all my advice from him directly. I am due to see him in January for my anual Echo and check up, hope you all find it useful:

Living with AAA of 4.7, only slightly bigger than when found 7 years ago. For the heavy lifting stuff, I try to break things down into smaller pieces when that’s possible. And I’ve grown to be able to ask for help 😉

I'm sure a sense of humor can help in almost all situations. I admit that it's hard to chuckle when you feel like you have a time bomb in your chest. I try to do what the Brits advise: keep calm and carry on. And no heavy air conditioners. 😉

I can only tell you that my dad had one and never had surgery on it. The dr monitored it for many years. He lived to 88 with it.
He had it many many years. It never reached 5
My husband has one also and is monitored every 6 months. It can stay the same size for a very long time, or get a little bigger.
I guess at a certain size is when it becomes a risk.
Diet is important
I heard if you gain weight it can get bigger. Not a fact as far as i know. Blood pressure is important to keep at a good range that is a fact.
Ive known the dr my husband sees for 30 years so i trust him. My husbands is 4.3

Yeah, that garden soil can be a load. Like wet mulch, or bags of cement. Oof. I guess not any more, but IDK. As for the air conditioner, we sold the farm so this was the last year for that. But I just did a 31 mile bike ride and felt great, just a steady aerobic pace except for a couple of harder pushes over and back on a fairly steep bridge. Cycling is by far my main mode of exercise these days.

As for other no nos, I have read here that we should refraing from doing planks and pushups? I find pushups almost mandatory to retain upper body strength. After hip replacement surgery took me out of my routine this past spring I found that doing just one or two pushups was difficult. That shocked me how quickly one can lose that strength as we age. Now back up to 15-20. I don't want to prematurely enter the "I've fallen and can't get up" club.

Hi there,

My name is Gary, and I’m new to this group. I recently received a diagnosis of an enlarged aortic aneurysm measuring 4.3 mm, which was discovered during a routine CT scan. In two months, I’ll be undergoing a CT scan with contrast for further evaluation.

This diagnosis has been a significant adjustment for me. I’ve always been active—running, competing in mountain bike races, and working out regularly. For now, I’ve had to put those activities on hold, and while I’m coping reasonably well mentally, it’s still a scary situation to process after living such an active lifestyle.

I’m hoping to find encouragement, support, and maybe some peace of mind from others here who understand what this experience is like. Thank you for letting me be part of this group.

Best regards,
Gary

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Read through these threads and I think you'll get some peace of mind.

Though the aneurysm is scary, yours is at a size that the risk of dissection is pretty low I think. (I'm not a doctor.) When my aneurysm was that size, the cardio-thoracic surgeon that monitors it, said he didn't have any restrictions on my exercise, though he recommended against becoming a powerlifter. I think that was probably on the side of being a little cavalier, but this guy has been monitoring aneurysms his entire career and he has a solid medical background. So that gives you some feel for the situation. I should say too, that I don't have any known family history that would drive the aneurysm. If you did, the situation would be different.

It's really hard to get your arms around the exercise recommendations for people with an aneurysm. I don't think anyone knows. It's tough to measure. (How would you test whatever theory you had? Your test would potentially kill the test subjects and what killed one person, might not kill another anyway. You also can't recreate the conditions that caused someone to dissect or rupture.) So I think they just measure how your BP is increased with different exercises and make rough recommendations on keeping it "safe", for some seemingly conservative definition of "safe". The video linked above is good. There are others if you dig around on YouTube some. The video above is through a group called "Aortic Hope". They have several videos from experts talking about exercise with an aneurysm or post-dissection. These sessions are recorded from live meetings that supposedly you can post questions to. I tried posting a question once, but it never was answered despite the fact that there appeared to be time for more questions. YMMV.

These groups are a great resource. It's a pretty active group. Usually you'll get helpful responses to your questions or find someone to commiserate. It's also worth searching questions you might have to find past discussions.

Good luck! Try not to worry!!

That is essentially my story, too. After being extremely active all my life I have developed CAD (familial high LDL and didn't get on a statin soon enough), a first degree heart block (Lyme disease??), and now an aortic aneurism. After the diagnosis for each one I had an OMG moment... but those passed and I am carrying on with my active life. I don't race MTB or sprint for county line signs or KOMs on the steep hills anymore, but I still ride. If you watch the very informative video above the doc says that steady aerobic exercise is fine and even beneficial. So, get back on that bike.

I recently had my second contrast dye and my TAA measured the same 4.3 as two years ago. The surveillance team recommend another one in 3 years. Fine by me as I am doing what I can to not create an issue and I monitor my arrhythmia. I personally feel blessed and continue to carry on smartly and plan like I am in perfect health even though I am in my 70's.