ever have chest pain after?

I have been pushing it the last few weeks. Three weeks ago on a hot day I
did a 95 mile up-and-back ride of Mount Baker, WA (elev. 5140') from
Abbotsford, BC (elev. 124') and felt like I pushed it too hard. I had some
chest pain that subsided. Two weeks ago I did a fast century with racers,
felt like I pushed it too hard, and have felt some dull chest pain at rest
ever since. I can still ride and exert myself without difficulty. My
resting pulse is still low (~52 bpm).

A cardiogram a year ago revealed that I have athlete's heart. It's not
angina -- no pain during exertion and doesn't subside with rest. Yes, I've
made a doctor's appt. No, I'm not going to the ER. Online I've seen that
heart damage can occur in two ways in distance athlete's. 1) some have
heart attacks during or within 24 hours of the exertion. 2) Others (me?)
show elevated levels of a protein, troponin, in the blood, for what seems
like a temporary period. Chronic inflammation of the heart might be related
to 2) above.

See for example, Two Fitness Disasters That Are Threatening Your Health
http://tinyurl.com/37xtlq
"In a more recent study, published in the November issue of Circulation,
Dr. Siegel and his colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital tested 60
runners (41 men and 19 women) before and after the 2004 and 2005 Boston
Marathons. Each runner had a cardiogram to look for abnormalities in heart
rhythm. They were also checked for evidence of cardiac problems in their
blood. Troponin, a protein found in cardiac muscle cells, was used as a
marker of cardiac damage. If the heart is traumatized, troponin shows up in
the blood. Its presence is also used to determine whether heart damage was
sustained during a heart attack.

"The runners had normal cardiac function before the marathon, with no signs
of troponin in their blood. Twenty minutes after finishing, 60 percent of
the group had elevated troponin levels and 40 percent had levels high enough
to indicate the destruction of heart muscle cells. In addition, most had
noticeable changes in heart rhythm.

"Dr. Siegel said, "Their hearts appeared to have been stunned." Bingo!
During long-duration exercise, your heart is under constant stress with no
time to recover. If it goes on long enough, your heart is traumatized and
your body reacts by triggering a wave of inflammation."

Anybody else experience this? Did it go away? Did you die soon after? I'm
thinking of explaining to the doc the troponin aspect and asking about a
blood test and cardiogram.

Much obliged,

JF

"Jim Flom" wrote...


BTW, I'm 49.

"Jim Flom" wrote in message
news:C27xi.80226$Io4.63823@edtnps89...
I have been pushing it the last few weeks. Three weeks ago on a hot day I
did a 95 mile up-and-back ride of Mount Baker, WA (elev. 5140') from
Abbotsford, BC (elev. 124') and felt like I pushed it too hard. I had some
chest pain that subsided.

This isn't funny Jim. You have to go see a cardiologist as soon as possible.
You should NEVER experience chest pain before total exhaustion.

Jim Flom wrote:
I have been pushing it the last few weeks. Three weeks ago on a hot day I
did a 95 mile up-and-back ride of Mount Baker, WA (elev. 5140') from
Abbotsford, BC (elev. 124') and felt like I pushed it too hard. I had some
chest pain that subsided. Two weeks ago I did a fast century with racers,
felt like I pushed it too hard, and have felt some dull chest pain at rest
ever since. I can still ride and exert myself without difficulty. My
resting pulse is still low (~52 bpm).

A cardiogram a year ago revealed that I have athlete's heart. It's not
angina -- no pain during exertion and doesn't subside with rest. Yes, I've
made a doctor's appt. No, I'm not going to the ER. Online I've seen that
heart damage can occur in two ways in distance athlete's. 1) some have
heart attacks during or within 24 hours of the exertion. 2) Others (me?)
show elevated levels of a protein, troponin, in the blood, for what seems
like a temporary period. Chronic inflammation of the heart might be related
to 2) above.

See for example, Two Fitness Disasters That Are Threatening Your Health
http://tinyurl.com/37xtlq
"In a more recent study, published in the November issue of Circulation,
Dr. Siegel and his colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital tested 60
runners (41 men and 19 women) before and after the 2004 and 2005 Boston
Marathons. Each runner had a cardiogram to look for abnormalities in heart
rhythm. They were also checked for evidence of cardiac problems in their
blood. Troponin, a protein found in cardiac muscle cells, was used as a
marker of cardiac damage. If the heart is traumatized, troponin shows up in
the blood. Its presence is also used to determine whether heart damage was
sustained during a heart attack.

"The runners had normal cardiac function before the marathon, with no signs
of troponin in their blood. Twenty minutes after finishing, 60 percent of
the group had elevated troponin levels and 40 percent had levels high enough
to indicate the destruction of heart muscle cells. In addition, most had
noticeable changes in heart rhythm.

"Dr. Siegel said, "Their hearts appeared to have been stunned." Bingo!
During long-duration exercise, your heart is under constant stress with no
time to recover. If it goes on long enough, your heart is traumatized and
your body reacts by triggering a wave of inflammation."

Anybody else experience this? Did it go away? Did you die soon after? I'm
thinking of explaining to the doc the troponin aspect and asking about a
blood test and cardiogram.

Much obliged,

JF



This is not a time for self-diagnosis. I agree with Tom on this one.
I won't even get into an argument about how you KNOW it isn't angina.
Cardiac pain doesn't always follow the classic pattern. Yes, I know of
previously healthy cyclists who suffered sudden cardiac death after a ride.

Steve

I've been posting around here on asthma some time ago. In my
experience, joint pain, asthma, and heart disease are the most common
outcomes of "pushing it too far", in the order of increasing danger.
Fit people like you are notoriously hard to diagnose, and the problems
you are describing come and go. Diagnosis is possible only when the
symptoms are there, and an EKG at a doc's office usually does not show
anything. Docs are dismissive towards fit people, because they mostly
have to deal with fat unfit people who vastly outnumber people like
you (by a factor of a 1000?). I would suggest getting a sports-
specific doc and being a pain in the doc's butt. I don't know if this
is going to show anything, but you can get a EKG monitor which you can
wear 24-7 ("LifeWatch"), including the time when you ride.

My personal outcome of pushing too hard was adult onset asthma. I do
not race anymore and had to go through a very painful withdrawal
syndrome. It's always hard to let go of smth addictive, especially if
you sincerely believe that the addiction is good for you. In reality,
any addiction is bad in the long run.

On Aug 16, 6:42 pm, "Jim Flom" wrote:
I have been pushing it the last few weeks. Three weeks ago on a hot day I
did a 95 mile up-and-back ride of Mount Baker, WA (elev. 5140') from
Abbotsford, BC (elev. 124') and felt like I pushed it too hard. I had some
chest pain that subsided. Two weeks ago I did a fast century with racers,
felt like I pushed it too hard, and have felt some dull chest pain at rest
ever since. I can still ride and exert myself without difficulty. My
resting pulse is still low (~52 bpm).

A cardiogram a year ago revealed that I have athlete's heart. It's not
angina -- no pain during exertion and doesn't subside with rest. Yes, I've
made a doctor's appt. No, I'm not going to the ER. Online I've seen that
heart damage can occur in two ways in distance athlete's. 1) some have
heart attacks during or within 24 hours of the exertion. 2) Others (me?)
show elevated levels of a protein, troponin, in the blood, for what seems
like a temporary period. Chronic inflammation of the heart might be related
to 2) above.

See for example, Two Fitness Disasters That Are Threatening Your Healthhttp://tinyurl.com/37xtlq
"In a more recent study, published in the November issue of Circulation,
Dr. Siegel and his colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital tested 60
runners (41 men and 19 women) before and after the 2004 and 2005 Boston
Marathons. Each runner had a cardiogram to look for abnormalities in heart
rhythm. They were also checked for evidence of cardiac problems in their
blood. Troponin, a protein found in cardiac muscle cells, was used as a
marker of cardiac damage. If the heart is traumatized, troponin shows up in
the blood. Its presence is also used to determine whether heart damage was
sustained during a heart attack.

"The runners had normal cardiac function before the marathon, with no signs
of troponin in their blood. Twenty minutes after finishing, 60 percent of
the group had elevated troponin levels and 40 percent had levels high enough
to indicate the destruction of heart muscle cells. In addition, most had
noticeable changes in heart rhythm.

"Dr. Siegel said, "Their hearts appeared to have been stunned." Bingo!
During long-duration exercise, your heart is under constant stress with no
time to recover. If it goes on long enough, your heart is traumatized and
your body reacts by triggering a wave of inflammation."

Anybody else experience this? Did it go away? Did you die soon after? I'm
thinking of explaining to the doc the troponin aspect and asking about a
blood test and cardiogram.

Much obliged,

JF

A friend and former teammate had been complaining of chest aches for a
number of months before he collapsed and died during a race. He was
thirty-seven, a cat 2, and no fatty. Consult a physician.

ONCE AGAIN, if on the morning after your heart rate is slower than the
morning before, feels sounds sluggush labored, and continues during
morning actovity THEN you over did the excercise.
BUTBUTBUT chest pain also origins in overworked breathing muscles, the
same also crushed from leaning over, ditto a bruised pericardium, and
heart burn, sp! esophageal difficulty.
It is possible to fell rough inside the chest from a good wrokout but
NOT suffer morning after sluggish non-recovering heart rate.

On Aug 16, 8:42 pm, "Jim Flom" wrote:

Anybody else experience this? Did it go away? Did you die soon after? I'm
thinking of explaining to the doc the troponin aspect and asking about a
blood test and cardiogram.

You might be in for an amazing collision with that "explaining to the
doc" stuff. Whew. Including some pretty severe punishment for
"assuming" (this is a high crime).
I'd put a g after that last, but there wasn't anything funny about
my experiences with this bull****, and I only asked questions, and not
"leading" ones, either.
(Context: never forget: they went to medical school, and you didn't!)

Yup, gotta find the right doc, get looked at while symptoms are
present-- like when your car makes that grinding sound only while
turning left at the bottom of the hill on your street.

This total layman agrees with other layman opinion here, "it could be
anything". And maybe you'll find a doc who is open to inquiry.

This is scary stuff, good luck with finding a quick answer! --D-y

On Aug 16, 6:42 pm, "Jim Flom" wrote:

Anybody else experience this? Did it go away? Did you die soon after? I'm
thinking of explaining to the doc the troponin aspect and asking about a
blood test and cardiogram.

After you describe your symptoms, I suspect your cardiologist will
order a blood test anyway, and very possibly an angiogram. It is not
rare to have ischemia-related problems in the absence of angina.

OTOH, I once had chest pain after a long ride. To my relief, I
realized I had recently changed the stem height. I put the stem back
where it was and the the pain went away.

Good luck. Let us know what your doc says.

wrote:
EKG

Did you know that the ECG was invented by Willem Einthoven, who was
also a founding member of my student rowing club?
http://www.usrtriton.nl/img/oprichters.jpg

Thanks for reading.


--
E. Dronkert