Ran today

I ran for the first time in over 4 months today and it went well.  In October I was diagnosed with ideopathic non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. I had a stress echo that showed an EF of 15% (!!!) which shocked everyone because I have been a regular runner or swimmer for many years (I am 63).  During the time leading up to the stress test I increased my pace and distance to "blow the test out of the water" - I had no symptoms and recovered quickly from my runs, so no one expected this.  Anyway, I was told not to run until my cath cleared my arteries (all good), then my cardiologist said I could run, but the Zoll lifevest didn't (it tried to shock me from the motion artifact), so I have been walking my old running route (4 - 5 miles a day).  A follow-up echo showed an EF of 35% in January and "Sparky" (a Medtronic CRT-D) was installed 4 weeks ago and today was my first day cleared to run.  I think my cardiologist was a bit aggresssive with this since I have a nasty LBBB and really wanted to be active again.  I re-started my exercise program yesterday, and planned a run today.  I was anxious and did wonder how the beta-blockers would blunt my tolerance, but I was able to run (well maybe jog) 2 1/2 miles and the only complaint was my knees (as usual).  It felt good to get on my running pants and Brooks again. Sorry for the length of this, but I am in a celebratory mood and wanted to share.

Steve & Sparky

6 Comments

YAY!!

by Tracey_E - 2018-02-28 11:09:21

Love to hear success stories! Celebrate and share all you want. 

Running and LBBB

by Ajaycan - 2018-02-28 20:44:51

glad to hear you have a great start to a new life  was curious because I have been with LBBB over many years. I used to be tired and sleepy. I Have a dual lead  rate response PM since nov10 2017. is I there a cure for LBBB? can the pacemaker correct the heart beats? I feel great after a the PM and my breathing has improved have more vitality. Can extensive exercise or running affect with my LBBB?

THANKING YOU

Ajay Patel

LBBB fix

by Beaks - 2018-03-01 04:50:32

Ajay, in my instance CRT-d pretty much fixed my LBBB straight away. I had a qrs of 140 since being diagnosed, yesterday a week after implantation my qrs was 93. My LV is being paced at 97% so is bypassing the faulty block perfectly. It's nice for the first time to not feel those annoying etopic beats. Maybe ask if your device will do 100% LV pacing. This was the main reason I had mine done. If you have low LV output, its very hard for your heart to remodel until your left and right chambers work in sync. Good luck.

Lbbb

by Ajaycan - 2018-03-03 17:41:51

Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. I am happy that your lbbb is fixed. I was given to understand that there is no cure for lbbb. It does give me hope, but am uncertain how to know if I still do have it post the pm implant. I however feel great now, so am assuming that the same may have been solved! 

Thank you and God luck...

Regards

Ajay patel

Running

by RegBrown - 2018-03-15 11:53:38

Well done with the running Steve.  I'm a bit like you but I am a 69 yr old triathlete with a PM.  After just 3 months I am running 5m 30s /km over 12km so am happy with that.  You really can't break a PM but you can break yourself! Gently does it for a while and enjoy being able to just run again for a while.

Yay!!!

by ewindfelder - 2018-03-19 16:53:38

WooHoo!!!  So there IS hope!!!  I'm a runner as well and haven't been on a run in over a year because I was too afraid I would have a syncopal episode again.  I'm 4 weeks post-op today after having my pacemaker inserted and cannot wait to get back out there! 

Thank you for sharing Steve and Sparky :-)

Does this mean I need to name mine too??  ;-)

You know you're wired when...

You trust technology more than your heart.

Member Quotes

Hi, I am 47 and have had a pacemaker for 7 months and I’m doing great with it.