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

Aortic Aneurysms | Last Active: Apr 22 8:17pm | Replies (34)
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@saltlife

I was Diagnosed 11/20/23 with Ascending Aorta Aneurysm…. Because my Ekg came back abnormal for Deviated Septum Surgery…. Then followed up with Echocardiogram & Cat Scan with my Cardiologist …. 63 year old Male…..6 4” 230lbs…. 160 Cholesterol…. 130/70 Blood Pressure…. Non Smoker… Social Drinks…. Healthy Diet… Pull ups, Push ups … Dips… Weight Training with 225 lb Bench Press 10/12 Reps & the list Gos on…. Exercise is my Mental Therapy & Stress Release & lifestyle…My Cardiologist told me he will Monitor me every 6/ Months… I need to have a Plan of Action for Elective Surgery & Repair prior to a potential Rapture…..I also realize 5.0 to 5.5 is the Let’s do Surgery #…. I’m very Blessed 🙏my Medical Condition was found…. I realize I have to Modify my Workout Routine drastically…. I’m spending Day & Night researching every Surgeon that Specializes in this field…, I wish you all & your Families Health & Happinesses in this Holiday Season 🎄🙏… Best Regards Ken

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Replies to "I was Diagnosed 11/20/23 with Ascending Aorta Aneurysm…. Because my Ekg came back abnormal for Deviated..."
degarden_girl | @degarden_girl | Dec 19, 2023

I am sorry you have been diagnosed with this aneurysm. And you are right, you are lucky to have had it discovered while it is still relatively small.

I have the same aneurysm at the same size and have been monitoring it for over 10 years; it is very, very slow growing and is considered "small" by the cardiologist.

I am a 78 YO female who was a gym rat when all this started. I still go to the gym but I do limit my activities. My cardio told me that I should not be lifting more than 25 lbs. The recommendation for a male might be different. I do planks and asked her if these were OK and she said anything that used only my own body weight was OK.

I know your feeling about just having this issue surgically repaired but the surgery itself has risks. There are two types of repair that I know of and one of them is a stent type repair that has an efficacy of about 10 years. If my aneurysm grows to the 5.0+ size, that is likely the repair that would be recommended for me because of my age. The other surgery is open chest surgery, very invasive and not something that anyone would want to have done unnecessarily.

Once you have discussed your exercise regimen with your cardio, I suspect you might find alternatives to some of the weight training you are currently doing and can carry on with your life. Hopefully your aneurysm will be static and you will never need surgery. At the slow rate that my aneurysm is growing, I suspect I will never need surgery and will die of something totally unrelated.

If you have both a CT scan and an echocardiogram for measuring the aneurysm, be aware that they are not measured in the same way. One measures straight across and the other measures on the bias so don't panic if you suddenly get a higher number from a new test. Also, it is helpful to remember that the 4.3 measurement is the actual size of the aorta, not how much bigger it is than the rest of the aorta. Your normal aorta might be 3.8 so 4.3 is a small bulge, not a balloon.

I wish you peace and good health. Your aneurysm is likely not as life threatening as you fear and is just something that needs to be managed -- like so much else as we age.

Donna

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