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Exercise, Lifestyle and Life Experience with Dilated Aorta?
Hey all,
This seems like a wonderful community, much better than posting on Reddit or Doom Google Searching. I’m glad to have found this place.
I am a 44m, 6’4” and 230lbs. I have been very active my entire life, weight training, body building, tennis, hiking, and did CrossFit for a few years. It was in CrossFit that I developed some persistent PVC’s which faded when I left the sport.
I have had afib 4 times, all 4 times successfully cardioverted. It wasn’t until this most recent time that I was also placed on Flecanaide to control my rhythm and recommend for a consult for an ablation.
During this time and after a recent echo, I was informed that my Aorta and Aortic Root are both dilated to 4.3cm. My cardiologist joked that if I was her size it would be considered an aneurysm but given my height and size it’s only mild dilation.
I will be honest when I say that this diagnosis has sent me into a spiral. I have developed some depression and anxiety in just a few weeks since this diagnosis. I made the mistake of googling looking for reassurance and came across every worse case scenario. I’m a dad and am worried what this will mean for my daughter.
I’m reaching out to hear from individuals with similar experiences. How is your lifestyle?. What are do’s and donts you’ve come across? When I asked my cardio for recommendations on exercise she was pretty vague and made some generalizations - don’t life too heavy, don’t raise your blood pressure too much, etc. I am hoping some folks have some life experience and guidance they’re received to pass along.
I am glad to return the support if I can do anything at all for anyone here. ❤️
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I wish they would!
I have had an AAC for a number of years, stable at 4.3. I am a 79 year old man.. My doc encouraged exercise, including cardio, but avoiding weights over 50 lbs. I take four exercise classes a week (at a local Y, for older folks I encourage the Silver Sneakers and AOA classes -the aggressive ones) I let nothing get on the calendar which interferes with the classes) . . .with no change from the 4.3 in three years now. The main caveats from my cardiologist were to focus on my breathing ( as in KEEP doing it throughout the routines,) and to avoid anything isometric, eg planks.
The key is to keep moving. Walk a bit everyday. Get some light weight barbells. Find a class at a local Y or gym. But keep moving and it can only help keeping things stable.
Your Doc's joke made a good point. There are justifications for looking at body habitus. A recent paper which bignelie showed the chart for - correlated age & body surface area with AAO sizes and their findings suggest absolutes in the "dilation zone" may not be so useful- growth is the best indicator. This is a new discussion in imaging and and making real medical risk assessments. Also repeat scans are more helpful if done on same equipment with same doc reading. There is sometimes a bit of variation between echo and ct. There is also some variation possible due to positioning. Just think about the geometry of cutting a straw. Cut it square and you get one measurement. Cut it a bit off - more diagonal and you get a bigger measurement. Did they measure it in exactly the same place scan to scan. There are more variables than we think about. So sometimes 0.1 increase isn't really growth. I used to work in and teach echo and imaging so I know that false positives and false negatives and measurement variations occur. Consistent use of the same facility and repeat scans, and keeping small changes in perspective is my choice for follow up for myself. If it gets over 4.8 then the picture would change for me.
This is so encouraging! I am 69 and was just diagnosed with a 4.1 ascending aorta dilation. I also have exercised my whole life and don’t want to stop, but want to be smart about it. Your experience sounds like a perfect plan for me.
Thank you for sharing!