Managing Anxiety with an Aneurysm

@jefftalley the way i see it, the biggest issue is straining while holding your breath, grunting usually means you’re holding your breath. So picking weight that allows you to comfortably do reps while breathing through every second of each rep and maybe taking a few pounds off for safety it’s probably a good measure. But we need to track our breathing, which means you have to consciously think about every rep and our breathing rhythm. It takes discipline and continual practice

@houston13
Besides tracking your breathing, tracking your blood pressure is probably better. I recently purchased an electronic blood pressure monitor worn on the wrist for use when I am at the gym. 120/80 is the normal blood pressure and I have been told that when it gets over 140 its dangerous.

@ewei6911 tracking BP is the critical factor, but bear in mind that there’s is no way currently to accurately measure your BP while exercising (in motion), I asked that question to Dr Prakash, my cardiologist and a recognized authority in aortic diseases and the impact of exercising, and he told me no current device has been able to manage the impact of motion. When you hold your breath while exerting your BP can shoot up by several hundreds mmHg, very very high, albeit for just for fractions of seconds and starts coming down immediately after you finish the rep, so when you measure the BP after it’s already on the way down, you’re missing the peak. Tracking your breathing ensures your BP is not rising to those levels.

@ewei6911 I have posted this video before, it’s Dr Andrew Huberman talking about exercising not related to aneurysms but about lifting weights and BP, around minute 1:49 they start talking about the impact of holding your breath while exerting on BP, you will get a feeling for the impact of those peaks, imagine getting to those levels with an aneurysm, very dangerous https://youtu.be/nE4mvAWZKXw

@houston13
The blood pressure wrist monitor idea came up when I was doing planks, but I have stopped doing planks now. Ideally, taking the reading as soon as I finish the plank would have given a good reading......I normally exceeded 45 seconds and was aiming for 60 seconds when I stopped.

@houston13
My workouts do not include lifting weights, only light hand weights. Any reading using the blood pressure wrist monitor would be at a standstill. I just got delivery of the monitor so will try it at the gym next week.

The video mentions squats at 2:11 and 7:14 marks very briefly. My thoracic surgeon had ruled out doing squats which puzzled me, but now it was probably assuming squats being done with heavy weights and the video infers. Sad, because so many exercises that will have to be stopped because of the aneurysm, including after recovery.

@ewei6911 Were did you order the wrist BP? Very interested!

@rockpir

I think it was a post on FaceBook.
It was for the "best" blood pressure monitor.
I will look for it and post you the info.

I have not entirely figured it out, either.

What I have realized is that, even with other considerations that could be addressed (regurgitating heart valves, dilated pulmonary arteries, high titer ANA, etc.), doctors aren't going to do anything helpful anyway. They are waiting until you are "emergent" and need surgery ASAP. Hopefully, they time it right.

I've spent years and thousands of dollars trying to get answers as to why this happened, what the heck is going on with my inflammatory markers, why no one is concerned about all my heart valves regurgitating and increased PVCs that have made my heart rate unmeasurable by standard equipment. ( I have to be measured by EKG sometimes, otherwise I look like I have severe bradycardia.) I don't get it, but they either don't care or have nothing helpful they can offer other than "Keep your BP down." Oh, and "Lose weight." I have given in and am on Zepbound now. I'm down nine pounds, so it's a start.

I don't think they utterly don't care. I think they don't respect older women much to begin with and that most of their metrics are still geared toward men. Both are huge problems. I think they stay in their lane so entirely that they miss things they could be doing. Major cardiac centers say they have interdisciplinary teams. I've yet to see it and I've been to a few in Boston. Cardiology does not talk to rheumatology. Does not happen. They do not give a rat's patootie about records from your eye doctor, your dermatologist, etc. All of whom want you to see a rheumatologist and have even referred you. 😂 I think most doctors are insecure and threatened by AI technology, so they refuse to listen to it or use it. Whatever answers you find on your own, they are not going to help you pursue them. I have years of labs, imaging reports, and my full genome sequencing. AI has some definite ideas of what is going on and additional labs have indicated good ole Gem (Google Gemini) might be right. Does. Not. Matter.

My advice? Save your money. Focus on what you have control of: a nourishing diet, light exercise, keeping or getting weight down, prioritizing your spiritual life, and connecting with friends and family.

Do keep your BP down and get your annual scans. (If you just found out about the aneurysm, it should be every six months for a year or two. They need to know growth rate.) Find a thoracic surgeon who specializes in aneurysms and who has done a ton of the surgery you're going to need. See them annually, or how ever often they need to see you to be available if you need to schedule. Oh, and if anyone tries to give you a fluoroquinolone antibiotic like Cipro, say no thanks. Aortic rupture is one of the rare side effects. There is an FDA black box warning for this.

Then, live your life. This isn't something you can solve. You can only control those things within your sphere of influence. And really, the goal is to never have the surgery. My ascending aortic aneurysm is 4.9 to 5 cm. Given stent technology for ascending aneuryms has not progressed (yet!) to transcatheter procedures, I'd be looking at open heart surgery. I don't want that. Mine has only grown .2 cm since February 2021, so I'd rather just live with it while I can.

Best wishes to you. I hope it helps somewhat to know there are 200,000 cases of aortic aneurysm diagnosed in the U.S. every year. And this is a likely a vastly underdiagnosed condition because it's largely asymptomatic for most patients. Experts estimate that hundreds of thousands more are affected. That's a lot of people and the majority of us are just out here living our lives, many with no knowledge of what is going on in their body. Your odds are really good of never having this become a life-threatening event. This is what I tell myself anyway.

@rockpir
Google: vital blood pressure wrist monitor, version WEB306. This site will not let me post a link.

I am still trying to find time to figure out how to set up the wrist monitor. The instructions are printed so small, its not readable. Had to order an online user manual.