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Exercise, Lifestyle and Life Experience with Dilated Aorta?
Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (19)Comment receiving replies
What an incredible reply. Thank you so much. I read your reply out loud to family and must have read it 5 times over myself. Thank you so much for the time and effort you’ve put into this. You’ve had a positive impact on my life.
I had my Echo in early July and have my CTA in late August. The CTA was mostly ordered to ensure my heart is ready for an ablation (4x with Afib over 20 years), but now since the worry and fear over the Aorta, I’ll be be very interested in the results for that reason also.
I spoke with my Cardio about genetic testing and she noted she’d only want to pursue that if I reached 5.0. I may speak with my PCP on the matter also.
Ironically 2.5 years ago my Cardio noted that my Aorta was 4.1 but showed no concern. It meant nothing to me since she showed no concern so I just carried on with being a gym bro, heavy squats and deadlifts, 6 days a week lifting heavy, creatine etc. a few weeks ago when she mentioned 4.3, I now had the MyChart app to log into and interpret the results online. That’s where the scare came from and I’ve been in my head ever since.
I haven’t touched a weight in a month, my dogs have earned the benefits as they’ve never had so many long walks. I’d love to get into some light weightlifting again just to feel “normal” and like you am in a state of mourning for the life I lived for decades. I’m not sure what the next step is.
But thank you, seriously, so much. This can be a very lonely feeling and knowing I’m not alone and someone so similar to me is working through this has helped a lot.
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@davidtrey Hello, I am in a similar situation as you with the dilated aorta. Last year September I had a Low Dose Lung CT Scan that said my ascending aorta was mildly dilated at 3.9cm. February this year I had a follow up Chest CT Scan without contrast and it did not give a measurement but it said No Thoracic Aneurysm. I just completed my second Low Dose Lung CT Scan last week and it said my ascending aorta was mildly dilated at 4.2cm. Previously measured at 4.0cm. So what's up with this right?? Well in my research over the last few days I have read that the margin of error can be anywhere from 2-3mm and not clinically significant, and not necessarily representative of growth. There's a lot of information out there about different testing modalities, differences in radiologist interpretations, timing differences of where in the normal heart beating cycle the measurement is taken, especially when using NON Gated CT Scans. Which the Low Dose Lung CT scans I have been getting annually are NON Gated meaning not timed to occur at a specific point in the systole, diastole phases of normal heart rhythm. I've basically read that unless you are using the same imaging modality and that is a GATED CT scan that isolates the same time interval from one scan to the next and takes the measurement at that point every time, recent scan comparisons are likely unreliable. The research says to get a better idea of true growth means you have to have consistent scans taken the same way over a longer period of time. Sorry to be long winded but I guess I'm trying to say to myself and to you maybe lets not panic and freak out at this point. I plan on following up with a cardiologist about all this. Maybe you could ask yours about "margin of error" and whether or not you are getting gated or non gated scans each time. Supposedly the gold standard that they use for surgical planning when they need accuracy on these things is Gated CT scan with contrast dye. I would be the same as you about the weight lifting and stick to cardio and make sure your BP is well controlled. I hope for your sake and mine that taking measures for maintaining BP, healthy weight and healthy lifestyle will be all it takes to keep these things from growing. I've heard of many others in this forum who have been stable for decades and that gives me great hope. Wishing you good health!