Heart issues

[Epsilon]

Hi!

I have a little problem that I'm concerned about, and thought maybe someone could help or has had similar situation. After maximum dynamic I sometimes get irregularities in my heart beat. My heart seems to miss every other or every third beat, and as you might guess, it feels kind of weird. This happens only when I'm really pushing my limits. I've also had even a bad samba during dynamic without any problems with my heart.

I've been to doctor with this, but as the case tends to be with freediving specific problems and ordinary doctors, without any significant success in solving the problem. He listened to my heart and didn't find anything wrong.

So I have been limiting my dynamics a bit in order to avoid the problem. I haven't had these irregularities for few months now, but then again I haven't done any serious dynamic training.

Does any of you have similar experiences? I'm just a bit concerned, because I've heard that heart is somewhat important organ...

 

[Alexx]

Listening to your heart isn't enough. What you need is ergometry (did I spell it right?). Basically, treadmill or bike while recording ECG. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take ultra sound heart exam. Go to the cardiologist directly, not your family doctor.

Don't delay your exam.

 

[Haydn]

Hi,

Same problem with me. Around 10 years ago I noticed the odd heart rythmn. Doctor said it was nothing unusual, just palpitations and everybody gets them. Then, I started freediving 5 years ago and became more aware of my body. I was aware that ocasionally the heart would not just miss out part of a beat every few beats, but it would also beat very eratically with no repeating rythmn (major arrythmia). A bit like a drunken bongo drum, very fast, hard and soft, stop and start. Lasting around an hour and sometimes all day, every week or two. I went to the doctor about 10 times in two years insisting on an ECG, saying "listen its doing it right now" only for the ECG to be clear and the problem to magically go away. One day around 18 months ago (just after the last Cyprus), my heart again went strange, it lasted all evening and through the night, no pain, just the fantastic rythmn and racing pace. 144 bpm at rest. Doctor caught it red handed and I was sent straight to hospital. Where it took 5 days to settle with drugs. Eight months later, my heart (eased by drugs) continued with the faulty rate and rythmn throughout. After the usual waiting list, I was on the operating table but the heart was misbehaving too much and the procedure was abandoned. Two months ago, a repeat operation....so far a great success. The fault was caused by the growth of the electrical pathways which cause the beat, to reach parts of the heart which they shouldnt reach, these parts would then receive an electrical impulse and beat in the wrong order. Effectively fibrillating, with arrythmia and unusual flutter. Each cycle of beats is inefficient so the brain gets lousy O2 and you feel constantly short of breath. No freediving or apnea is possible in any competitive way. So I gave up getting wet, vegetated in front of the telly and put on 20 kilos of blubber.

Immediatly after the operation, I started training again and finding rapid fitness, weight loss and am now approaching reasonable training performance and may soon start a more serious regime. No maximums yet of course and no statics, just finning and easy 50s dynamic with plenty of recovery between. Sometimes my heart reverts back to mis behaving but these episodes are short lived, brought on through stress but relieved through exercise.

Now, these problems had been apparent during competitions over the past few years, where I would be unable to settle during the few days before and particularly the last 45 minutes before a dynamic, knowing my heart was going mad, and wrongly putting it down to pre competition nerves or adrenalin. Half my comp statics were a problem trying them in such a state, but I struggled through them, hating them all. I would abort the dynamic at 50 meters knowing the problem was occuring and so there was no point in trying to improve my record. The problem never occured during the constant dives as these never stressed me. However, I dont know how fair it is to dive deep again. I have done a few 20m dives and will start to dive again in the Spring and just start from scratch. I will take a view on it when I start to look for 50m again (assuming I can get the Doc to sign my medical when he sees me again in 3 months) and I have the understanding of my safety team. For now, I am getting wet a few times a week, and its great.

 

[immerlustig]

hi,

here is my take on the situation:

i had a bad case of arrythmia 2 years ago where, after a couple of days of daily max statics the arrythmia lasted for 24 hours. i posted a thread here at the time and got some interesting replies. maybe you ant to check on it (http://forums.deeperblue.net/showthread.php?threadid=33528&goto=newpost)

from what i gathered it is not uncommon to have a short period of arrythmia after a max apnea, maybe 30sec to a minute. anything beyond that is not good. i had some standard medical checks done in the meantime with no indication of an ongoing problem.

since i have changed my routine completely (also with far better results ) i never had a problem. i believe 2 major contributing factors were inadequate rest and inadequate food. now i'm taking 2-3 days in between a max static session and i also pay a lot more attention to food and sleep.

if i remember correctly sam still said he had his best statics (around 10 min!) during a eriod of daily max statics over 6 weeks. and he was fasting. so there surely are a few other fators involved as well (apart from him being superhuman;-)).

cheers,

roland

 

[Epsilon]

Thanks for all the answers. I should've tried searching before beginning a new post.

I've also heard that arrythmia isn't that uncommon. My wife, who doesn't freedive, had them almost daily for few months last spring. The issue was examined, and nothing serious was found. It probably was a stress related problem.

As I wrote in my previous post, I haven't had any problems for months now. I will try to continue with less hard training, and if I get arrythmia again, I'll go and get myself examined. And I'm sure I have to pay more attention to what I eat and drink, especially before training.

 

[Erik]

Hi,

. So I gave up getting wet, vegetated in front of the telly and put on 20 kilos of blubber.

Immediatly after the operation, I started training again and finding rapid fitness, weight loss and am now approaching reasonable training performance and may soon start a more serious regime. ............... For now, I am getting wet a few times a week, and its great.

Good to hear you are back in the water Haydn. I know you stopped competing after some serious ass-kicking performances and I remember hearing that you were having medical problems
Take care,
Erik Y.

 

[naiad]

I have only once had serious arrythmia. It was after an operation on my nose. When I came round after the operation, my heart was beating very hard and irregular, so much that I could hear it clearly. I was also totally unable to move or speak, and I was gasping uncontrollably. For a few minutes I was put on O2 and I felt a bit better, but then they took it away and things got worse again. The whole thing lasted an hour, then I was sent home.

For the rest of the day I didn't feel so bad, but at night the trouble came back with a vengeance. The main problem was that I couldn't breathe in normally because I hadn't got much control of my diaphragm (or at least that's what I think it was) so every time I wanted to breathe, I had to gulp air deliberately. This lasted for 12 hours. If only I'd known about packing.

The pain in my nose was also driving me mad, as was the fact that it was completely blocked and bleeding constantly. It was easily the worst thing I've ever experienced. All the other bad things, such as having a broken arm, being trapped underwater, etc seem like nothing next to this monumental ordeal.

Afterwards I was left with many problems, such as shaky hands, weak voice and uncontrolled breathing. Most of these are gone by now. The only things that are left are a slight shaky loss of coordination which is brought on by physical effort or stress, and a slight weakness which means that I can't take a full breath if I am standing up to my neck in water, so I have to pack to get to normal volume. I'm OK though...

Lucia

 

[TOPFROG]

A Heart-coherence Breathing And Mental Technic Is A Possible Answer To Stress Related Heart Arrythmia...have A Look At Heartmath.com
Adding Omega 3 Supplement Also Could Be Helpfull. The Combination Of The Above And A Healthy Life-style Shoud Help You Progress ... A Lot.

 

[naiad]

Sometimes after hard static training, and most of all during and after CO2 tables, I notice my heart beating very hard and fast. It goes on for a long time afterwards. There isn't any arrythmia or any other bad feeling. This happens less and less, and now even the hardest CO2 table doesn't set it off. Maybe I have built up tolerance.

I am careful not to push myself too hard. I have never felt bad as a result of overtraining. It is important to listen to your body and not do anything which causes bad things such as arrythmia.

Yesterday I did the most incredibly hard CO2 table... well, most of it was very easy, it was the last few minutes that made it so difficult.

For once I actually feel like getting some CO2 training done... Bring on the tables! :ko

Lucia