Heart Health and Hiking

I just had what I believe was a heart attack yesterday (went to the ER and was told they didnt know what was wrong), and want to know if there's anyone else who has heart trouble that also hike? How do you minimalize the risk of serious trouble while on the trail? Or will I likely be out of the game long term, so to speak. I go to my doctor tuesday for a checkup.

I know several people who hike and have had heart attacks.

I suggest that you learn a lot more about your ailment before you start making decisions. I would consult with a qualified physician ASAP (this coming Tuesday?), undergo whatever diagnostic tests that are suggested and then make your decision based on knowledge rather than hope. I would certainly hope that a stress-test would be among the diagnostics recommended.

Maintaining a high overall level of fitness year around is the best way to minimize the risk of heart attack when on the trail. This, of course, presumes that you are cleared by your physician for hiking.

To me, a sufficiently high level of fitness can be maintained by 40 minutes of aerobic exercise, at least four times per week at 65%+ of your maximum heart rate.

Good luck and let us know what you learn!

In your case, until you've been checked out thoroughly (hopefully by a good cardiologist), you don't even know if you actually had a heart attack. Other conditions (many minor) can mimic heart attack symptoms. (That doesn't mean you should ever ignore the symptoms, though!) Do be sure the doctor knows what kind of life style you have (including backpacking).

I had an acquaintance who started dayhiking a few weeks after open heart surgery. Of course he couldn't carry a backpack until everything healed up, but at least he could get out on the trail with a waist pack!

Please try not to worry too much until you have a diagnosis! I know that's hard (if not impossible), but too much worry will just exacerbate the symptoms or could (if what you had wasn't a heart attack) bring on a real attack!

Good luck to you, and please keep us informed!

I do appreicate the encouragement, and plan to keep up the walking at least (if only 2 or 3 miles a day). I will request a cardiologist when I go to my doctor tuesday. They can't just let me hang without some form of dignaosis. I was told it was atypical angina, but it just seems to be the "easy diagnosis".

Thanks again,
Silver

Silverwolf... how did your appointment go? I hope you walked out with a handfull of referrals. You do absolutely need to have some idea what is going on before venturing back country. There are lots of causes of chest pain, and not all are heart related. Some require surgery to fix, most do benefit from exercise. Anxiety is a very common cause of chest pain, but should be the diagnosis of EXCLUSION, not the first round diagnosis. A disgnosis of angina indicates there may be some changes to the arteries that surround your heart, so I would definitely investigate that further.

Let us know!

MNS

A sound, reliable diagnosis is key here.

Few doctors are really expert at diagnosis and slide by on the fact that diagnosing a common ailment is statistically likely to be correct. A few diagnoses are little more than an impressive word or phrase that simply says you have the symptoms you told the doctor you are having.

It is good practise first to ask the doctor what your diagnosis means, in actual physical terms, such as "restricted blood flow" or "inflammation of the pericardial sac". Make the doctor be as specific as possible.

After that, ask the doctor how he or she arrived at that conclusion, which is to say, how your symptoms connect to that condition. Lastly, ask if the same set of symptoms could be connected to a different cause or disgnosis that is less common than the one given you.

When you've heard all that, you'll have a very good idea whether your doctor knows their stuff, or is just coasting. And, hopefully, you'll understande about what is wrong and what to do about it.

I have an appointment tuesday, so I havent seen the family doctor yet. I will make sure I walk out of the office with every referal we can think of. I do know there is a spot on my lung that was told to me be scar tissue. I found that out a year or two ago.

I will keep you all posted on the results of tuesday. *Cross our fingers*

Thanks
Silver

I'm not a cardiologist, but I work doing cardiac ultrasound (echocardiograms) for a 10 physician cardiology group. What are your risk factors (age, smoking, diabetes, family history of heart disease, elevated cholesterol/triglycerides. etc)? If your ER visit did not reveal an abnormal EKG or "bumped" cardiac enzymes, you most likely did not have a heart attack. That doesn't mean your symptoms weren't real or should be ignored. If your symptoms were severe enough to warrant an ER visit, it would be prudent have some "rule out" testing. The docs I respect most in the group I work for normally will order a nuclear stress test and an echocardiogram for someone with symptoms such as yours. Some docs will order a stress echo, and even though that's the test I do, I don't have absolute faith in them...if you have zero risk factors a stress echo is probably OK, but if it was my family member I would prefer to see them go the separate stress test/echo route. I say "rule out", because if the above tests are normal you most likely do not have coronary disease and they can look for another cause of your symptoms, however no test is 100% reliable. We do have a saying-"denial has killed a lot of people" so it's good to not brush off this episode.