Aortic Aneurysms – Introduce yourself & meet others

Posted by Kanaaz Pereira, Connect Moderator @kanaazpereira, Feb 16, 2018

Welcome to the Aortic Aneurysms group on Mayo Clinic Connect.

An aortic aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of the aorta. The aorta begins deep in the heart as it emerges from the powerful left ventricle, gently arching over the heart, descending into the chest, and finally into the abdomen. Some aortic aneurysms can be harmless; others can lead to catastrophic problems. I invite you to follow this group and connect with others, share experiences, exchange useful information, and learn about aortic aneurysms.

Get started rby clicking the +FOLLOW icon on the group page here: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/aneurysms/

There are some great conversations going on right now that I think you’ll like. Grab a cup of tea, or beverage of your choice, and lets chat. Why not start by introducing yourself?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Aortic Aneurysms Support Group.

schega | @schega | Dec 11 7:12pm

In reply to @bitsygirl "Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. Read through these threads and I think you'll get some..." + (show)

@bitsygirl

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.