New pacemaker and rowing

[cardifflass]

Please bear with the long post!
I used to come here a long time ago, but fell by the wayside. Long story short, an Afib diagnosis last year and early 'retirement' at the end of March has made me rethink my health. Since then the dearly beloved and I have both had covid (not tested but probable due to my contacts in the hospital were I worked), I've had 2 cardioversions and he has had 4 small heart attacks and a stent.

I've lost just over 4 stones since last summer to help my rubbish knees, I'm 64. I had another Afib attack on 3rd August and a pacemaker fitted on the 10th.

Over the previous few weeks I was pleased that I had gone from a slow 15 mins to 6k in a smidge over 30mins. My df is 129 and I run at a fairly high stroke rate of 35 with a split of about 2.40. My DBs machine gets lower than that at a lower stroke rate.

Anyway, I will not be restarting until at least 6 weeks are up and before that I will be on a stationary bike, which the DB uses for his work outs. He hasn't been on his while I've been out of action for fear of 'falling off his perch'.

Anyone else here wired? Any advice? The cardiologists were pleased and just said to wait. One of my GPs is worried about breaking the wires.
Thanks!

[Ombrax]

Welcome back to the forum : )

Did you see these threads?

https://www.pacemakerclub.com/message/29449/rowing

https://pacemakerclub.com/message/15345/rowing-machine

Good Luck

[cardifflass]

OOo, not the first one.
Thank you for that. With only the one naysayer in the surgery, I'll start slow after my 6 weeks - already marked on my calendar!

In the meantime the new bike is set up and I'm going for a whole 5 minutes this afternoon!
Thanks!

[winniewinser]

Please bear with the long post!
I used to come here a long time ago, but fell by the wayside. Long story short, an Afib diagnosis last year and early 'retirement' at the end of March has made me rethink my health. Since then the dearly beloved and I have both had covid (not tested but probable due to my contacts in the hospital were I worked), I've had 2 cardioversions and he has had 4 small heart attacks and a stent.

I've lost just over 4 stones since last summer to help my rubbish knees, I'm 64. I had another Afib attack on 3rd August and a pacemaker fitted on the 10th.

Over the previous few weeks I was pleased that I had gone from a slow 15 mins to 6k in a smidge over 30mins. My df is 129 and I run at a fairly high stroke rate of 35 with a split of about 2.40. My DBs machine gets lower than that at a lower stroke rate.

Anyway, I will not be restarting until at least 6 weeks are up and before that I will be on a stationary bike, which the DB uses for his work outs. He hasn't been on his while I've been out of action for fear of 'falling off his perch'.

Anyone else here wired? Any advice? The cardiologists were pleased and just said to wait. One of my GPs is worried about breaking the wires.
Thanks!

Hope your come back proves to be positive for you .

I'm waiting on diagnosis for irregularities in HR while rowing and the cardiologist mentioned Atrial Fibrillation as a possible source . I've been rowing with HR stabilizers on since March... sticking to blue/green HR zones. Fingers crossed my diagnosis will come soon, it's been slow due to covid even via BUPA.

All the best
Alex

[cardifflass]

Well, with due respect, you better should listen to cardiologists, do not think they would tell you something that could harm you, right? My father is wired and he's still active, not running though. I can ask him a couple of questions if you want me to, but what exactly?

Ha!1 Thank you!

Yes, they were universally pleased with me. I think they're very pleased with ANY positive action.
The GP is wary, and as they've been so good and helpful, even in these times it threw me a bit.
I was really partly thinking aloud and partly wanting to see how anyone else got on with rowing after a PM and do they have any tips?

The running did my knees in.

Thank you!

[cardifflass]

You can tell your father that I admire his hand eye coordination!
I cannot play tennis, table tennis or rounders. A total failure in school team sports.

[flatbread]

Several things to consider here:

1) Wires and upper body activity. Follow your surgeon's advice on how long you should let the wires settle in your subclavian vein and the chambers of your heart. When I got mine in, it was a result of my heart stopping for 9 seconds while in hospital following an accident (I was hit by a car on a training ride -- in Germany, where my wife speaks the language but I do not...having a major medical procedure when you need everything translated is...interesting), so I had to wait until my fractures and soft tissue damage were healed before I could do anything, anyway. If your surgeon has assured you that the wires are set, ok. Probably not going to do heavy lifting above your head any time soon, but my U.S. doctors gave me the green light to do upper body lifting (nothing heavier than 6-8 reps to failure) and I have had no issues with erging.

2) Arrthymias. All unhappy hearts are unhappy in their own way. My pacemaker is for bradycardia -- I had episodes starting in my 20s in which I would pass out after getting out of bed too quickly, and landing into toilets, walls, doorways, and other interesting household objects.My resting HR was 30-32. As I've aged, the fainting episodes picked up, and then there was the 9-second stoppage. The German doctors told me it was a non-negotiable, the pacemaker was going in or they couldn't put me on a plane out of Germany.

I've never had issues with tachyardia or atrial fibrillation (or not yet). So, I have no limits on how much, or how hard, I train. I still race bicycles. Follow what your cardiologist says. That's the one and only answer. In general, once afib and/or tachyardia enter the picture, it's less of everything. Less volume, less intensity.

You''ll have an every six month download of your data -- and your pacemaker is more accurate than any HR monitor. If anything bad shows up, your pacemaker tech will tell you. Then, proceed according to their advice. You'll also see your cardiologist once or twice a year. Proceed with their advice.

[cardifflass]

That's really interesting.
In the hospital the cardiologist said to wait til I'd healed (6 weeks) and I have a phone appt on the 14th. He also said to do any excercise a good time after my meds in the morning or before my evening ones.

I've realised I'm due to have an AV node ablation but not sure when. This will make me pacemaker dependent and then the rate response will probably help.
I've been using a stationary bike in the meantime I can now do a whole, slow, 15 minutes. The HR gets up to about 85.

It's difficult because the healing is going well but I'm sick of the dizziness and being out of puff.

Thank you for replying - I thought my PM would be years away in my 70s like my mum. One of my brothers got away with 2 ablations, the last in 2013. Lucky thing!
Cheers

[flatbread]

I got mine at 48.

You just have to accept that you have this device under your skin that keeps your heart functioning (which is a weird thing to wrap your head around, in itself), and then work within the limits that you establish with your doctor and pacemaker clinician (you'll probably see the clinician more than the doctor, as you go for your downloads).

bionic ain't bad. it beats the alternative, I reckon.