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

At 3.8 your aneurysm is very small, far from any concern in my mind. The main issue with any exercise is if it raises your BP, we know from many experts that holding your breath while exerting heavily raises your BP , in your case you are talking about breathing rhythm in an aerobic exercise, my reasoning tells me it should not rise significantly, if at all, but someone that has done studies with aerobic exercises would know the answer. I can tell you that after swimming or biking regularly my BP actually lowers (not immediately but when I take it in the evenings), but of course I don't know what happens during.

My aneurysm is already repaired (5.2 cm repaired in 2020, at 54 years old) , but I do get checked every year as I have a bicuspid aortic valve and they deteriorate with age. I exercise regularly and that includes high intensity 1 hr spinning classes, I get my HR to 160. During my check ups my cardiologist has told me whatever I'm doing is slowing down the valve deterioration, and he has done studies on exercise and aneurysms (the cardiologist in the video I have posted). He also told me though that although already repaired, controlling BP is important as in some cases dilations may occur at the point where the graft and the aorta were joined, or in my case anywhere else as I seem to have a genetic propensity.

On the other hand, being so active and maintaining your body in great shape will pay dividends if you ever need to have your aneurysm repaired, but at the size it is right now, that may never happen. I am sure your Drs are monitoring the growth rate, and that in my mind would be a point of reference.

Sorry I couldn't give you a straight answer, if I find more info I will post it

Hi, I just found this site after receiving test results of 3.8 aneurysm in my med portal with zero interpretation from anyone. 56 yo woman. I mostly swim for exercise; a bit of walking sometimes. My question is about the breathing set in my 1.5 mile (2700 yds) swim: I do a 500yd pulling set, breathing every 5 strokes. From reading the posts here, it sounds like I maybe shouldn't do that? I also do 4 x 200 IM, so now I'm worried about swimming butterfly too. But I'm not going very fast. I'm averaging roughly 2 mins per 100 across the whole workout, with a lot of stretching between sets. Do I need to decrease my swimming and do more walking? In the summer I've been doing every weekday; during the schoolyear it's more like 3 days.

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

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

I am 71 years old and was diagnosed 8 years ago with a 4.4cm Upper Aortic Aneurysm. I have a CT Scan with contrast every 6 months to a year and it has not grown since. I exercise regularly and agree with all the discussion about recommendations being all over the place. I walk a lot at a pretty brisk pace, use exercise bands, as well as 10, 15 and 20 lb dumbells to do all sorts of exercises. I have used 25 and 30lb dumbells to do incline bench presses. I do pushups on an incline against the kitchen counter and squats with no extra weight using the counter to balance myself a little bit. I never do as many reps as I can possibly do, I just stop when my muscles start to feel tired. Before I knew I had an aneurysm I lifted regularly doing maximum reps to failure and straining a lot. Those days are long gone, and I mean, at 71, what's the point.

As far as lifting goes I think the most important thing is how you breathe. Personally I breathe in through my nose as I prepare to exert myself and out through my mouth as I push or pull of whatever. I think what can cause spikes in BP that doctors warn against has to do with lifting heavy weight and straining, meaning holding your breath as you push or pull. If that's what someone is doing, its probably, (in my opinion) too much weight or too many reps. Also agree with everyone who has said talk to your cardiologist because it varies so much between individuals.

All the best to all of you and God bless you!

I am 64 years old and take an hour long Zumba classes twice a week, play pickle ball several times a week and bike on the weekends. My aneurysm is 4.1 right now. I was told the same thing that I could do whatever I wanted as long as I felt like it. The only thing they said was not to lift any way above 25 pounds, do isometrics, and bike uphill. I was walk the back up the hill. That’s definitely what they say. Do what you want to do. But like you sometimes I am concerned, I guess time will tell. Kay🌺

This really resonates with me. I was diagnosed with a 4.3cm dilated Aorta and Aortic Root. I am 44, 6’4” and 230lbs. My cardio jokes that if I was her size this would be cause for concern but at my size it’s considered mild. She was not able to offer any specific exercise advice. Working out and weightlifting has been my primary life long hobby and now I just feel lost.