questions..watch and wait....

[starkone]

In the watch and wait period have any of you been told to keep your heart rate under certain levels when exercising? If so, how do you do this? I play tennis and have been told it is ok but keep heart rate under 160. Am I playing Russian roulette to get the heart rate higher than this ? It doesn't happen often but it does happen. I have mod-severe aortic stenosis. Stress test showed drop in blood pressure at high heart rate. Due for next echo in the spring. Am I gambling here?

 

[epstns]

I'm in the "waiting room" as well, also with mod to severe aortic stenosis. I don't play tennis, but I do run and do moderate weight training. My cardio has not said anything specific about heart rate and limits, but he has advised me to do primarily aerobic exercise (like jogging) rather than high-dynamic competitive sports. He also cautioned me to slow my running pace from my previous 7:30 miles down to 8:30 or 9:00 per mile to keep my heart rate in the optimal range (which I think is between 135 to 150bpm).

I don't think we're playing Russian Roulette with sudden death at the mod/severe level of disease. That would probably be a bit later in the progression, as I'm sure my cardio will tell me. When he starts telling me I can't work out and run any more, I'll start pressing him for early intervention/surgery.

Let's live our lives -- just don't be stupid about it!

 

[wlaldridge]

When my AS got to the severe stage last summer, I was still walking 3 miles per day or more with no symptoms and kept my heart rate at 120 or below. Doc allowed that grudgingly but when I jokingly talked of "running" in a 10k or some such he looked at me and said "I would not run anywhere with that valve.

It all depends on the level of stenosis, and the heart wall thickening. You know that the mode of failure for AS is somewhat different than other heart related stuff. The wall thickens as the heart compensates(or tries to) for the narrower opening at some point(usually as a result of exertion) the ventricle dilates and quits or as my cardio puts it technically it "poops out". AS can lead to sudden death with this mode of failure. So, symptomatic or not it seems that exerting to hr=>160 is a form of "Russian Roulette" but I am not a doc and don't pretend to have all the answers. I just know I took seriously this cardiologist when he cautioned me against it regardless of how good I felt and how active I was. The echo numbers were telling the tale. BTW my cross sectional area was down to .61 cm sq. peak gradient at 80 only a slight thickening of the wall and NO symptoms at exercise. Do I think I was a canidate for surgery, only because of the numbers, not because of my perceived health.

Good luck,

 

[ccrawford]

Dont know the precise formula even though I've used it a couple of times, but there is a formula that takes in consideration for your age, etc and comes up with a target max pulse rate. Would strongly suggest you discuss this with your cardio before you go do something stupid. In my case, I try to ride the stationary bike five times a week and see how many miles I can get done in 30 minutes without: incurring severe angina, and exceeding 110 pulse rate. This may sound pretty mild to some of you jocks, but I manage to get a tee shirt wet and it makes breakfast taste better too. FYI I can very consistantly ride 6.5 miles in 30 minutes and may have a budding career as a messenger boy> Chris