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am I exercising too much with a 4.3 ascending aortic aneurysm?

Posted by kmailloux @kmailloux, Mar 15, 2023

I am a 60 year old female, who has been very active her whole life. I was a very competitive gymnast, then moved to triathlons, then to cycling and running, strength training has always supported these activities. I am a certified personal trainer, and the aneurysm is a new diagnosis as of Dec of 2022. it was shocking - I now have a heart condition. I ran a marathon 2 weeks after I turned 60. My Cradic surgeon has stated that I can train for a 50k (31 miles) race, as well as a 150 mile bike ride. I have a 50 lb lifting weight limit. My BP is low and I am on no medications. My questions are .. is the activity too much? I run 5-6 days a week plus strength training and biking. I have mild chest pain - all of this has been told to my doc. they keep telling me everything is ok - I am just so nervous about all of this - but want to keep doing what I love. Any input will be appreciated.

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beebo | @beebo | 2 days ago
In reply to @houston13 "The main issue with exercise is avoiding any exercise that leads you to hold your breath..." + (show)
@houston13

The main issue with exercise is avoiding any exercise that leads you to hold your breath and/or grunt, that is common when trying to maintain back stability, sometimes while doing planks, crunches or lifting heavy weights. It is known that during those moments your BP rises significantly and high BP is the worst enemy of an aneurysm. That is why cardiologists normally tell patients to limit weight lifting to 30lbs. I have posted videos in this forum about exercising and aneurysms, look through my posts and you will find them. One of them is from a cardiologist who does research in the subject the other is by Dr Andy Galpin with Dr Huberman, it is not about aneurysms but how and why straining makes BP increase and by how much

On the other hand keeping your body healthy it’s paramount in case you ever need surgery to repair your aneurysm. I had mine repaired in 2020, I was 54 and my aneurysm was 5.2 cm. I was in very good physical shape and my surgeon gave me >99% of having no complications. I was out of the hospital in 5 days back to work in 3 weeks

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On the issue of BP - Is bringing it up during exercises for a very short time still a risk?
My normal BP (I’m on meds) is always under 120/80. I’ve tested it immediately following a set of about 15 pushups and it has gone up to about 175/85. It drops back down very quickly, but is even this very short duration of being high something I should be avoiding? Thanks

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houston13 | @houston13 | 1 day ago
In reply to @beebo "On the issue of BP - Is bringing it up during exercises for a very short..." + (show)
@beebo

On the issue of BP - Is bringing it up during exercises for a very short time still a risk?
My normal BP (I’m on meds) is always under 120/80. I’ve tested it immediately following a set of about 15 pushups and it has gone up to about 175/85. It drops back down very quickly, but is even this very short duration of being high something I should be avoiding? Thanks

Jump to this post

According to my cardiologist (same Dr of the videos i have posted) BP increases significantly for seconds while exerting, it immediately starts coming down when you finish, so when you measure 175/85 it’s already down from it’s peak. He gave me numbers I couldn’t believe, then I watched this video an validated what he said, the numbers Dr Galpin mentions in this video are incredible, watch around minute 1:49, the video was intended for people that do strength training and weight lifting, but illustrates the risk of exerting too much and holding your breath, how BP spikes. And yes even short peaks of really high BP are detrimental


Hope this helps

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