# Does the risk of cardiac problems put you off?



## Too Tyred (23 Apr 2018)

After a few recent, well publicised, examples of sportspeople collapsing while exercising, has this put anyone off getting on their bike? 

I've woke up this morning to a runner in the marathon, there was another the other week too. The poor lad in Paris Roubaix was followed almost immediately by an amateur somewhere in the south of England. I'm 99% sure there has been another pro/ semi-pro recently too. 

I could then move on to football, which has had a few cases recently. 

The thing that gets me is that all of these people are much fitter than I am and probably much fitter than anyone on here. They all will have access to much better medical tests and assistance too. If it can happen to them, then why am I risking it happening to me everytime I push myself. 

Now I'm not saying that I will stop riding because I would love cycling and the chances of it happening to me are slim (but not 0%), but it has definitely made me stop and think. What about you?


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## Joffey (23 Apr 2018)

No. If I stop riding and get fat(ter) I'll be at more risk so I keep on keeping on.


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## ColinJ (23 Apr 2018)

A 0.xx% risk of exercise killing you vs a 20+% (?) risk of a sedentary lifestyle killing you ... 

It seems like an obvious choice to me! 

(Just beaten by @Joffey!)


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## vickster (23 Apr 2018)

No, because they were much younger than me and I think all men


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## Nigel-YZ1 (23 Apr 2018)

I sometimes wonder if I'm pushing too hard and I'll ease off - but breathing usually slows me up first.
Also I once took a Migralieve tablet and ended up being blue lighted to A&E with a pulse of 350 as it seems I've got a reaction to codeine. That blew my confidence entirely until a doc told me he'd send me to a shrink if I didn't belt up.

There's loads of things can take you out and I've come to the conclusion if I fall off me perch I'd rather it be while I'm doing something fun.
I don't want to be scared of things any more.


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## ianrauk (23 Apr 2018)

Not even the tiniest of thoughts about it.

If I keel over whilst riding my bike then I would be happy it was that rather then any other way.


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## ColinJ (23 Apr 2018)

Incidentally ... I suspect that cycling _WILL _eventually kill me! My heart hasn't been quite right since I was ill in 2012 (and maybe before that) but I'm not going to let it stop me. I've had miscellaneous scans, x-rays, ECGs etc. and the doctors usually point at printouts and screen displays, mutter for a while, then shrug their shoulders and ignore whatever it was that they saw.

I would rather live as a cyclist and die suddenly of cardiac arrest at (say) 75, than live a fearful life and suffer a long, drawn-out and unpleasant decline into my 80s, the way that my poor parents did.


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## vickster (23 Apr 2018)

Just make sure you have a will and life insurance if you have dependants (which ultimately goes for everyone regardless)


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## Too Tyred (23 Apr 2018)

Sensible thoughts. I didn't really expect the answers to be any different! We all love cycling afterall!


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## ColinJ (23 Apr 2018)

vickster said:


> Just make sure you have a will and life insurance if you have dependants (which ultimately goes for everyone regardless)


I don't have any dependants and my estate would barely even cover the cost of a funeral anyway! (Not that I'll be needing a funeral because my remains will be (literally!) split between transplant donations and something for medical students to play about with ...)


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## vickster (23 Apr 2018)

ColinJ said:


> I don't have any dependants and my estate would barely even cover the cost of a funeral anyway! (Not that I'll be needing a funeral because my remains will be (literally!) split between transplant donations and something for medical students to play about with ...)


Then my comment wasn’t so relevant to you 

I don’t know about the OP


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## vickster (23 Apr 2018)

@Two Tired you might find this interesting

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases...iac-arrest/in-depth/sudden-death/art-20047571

Or similar but from U.K. writer

https://health.spectator.co.uk/ugo-ehiogu-why-do-fit-and-healthy-people-suffer-cardiac-arrests/

If you’re seriously concerned, you could go and have a full private cardiac health screen

https://www.rbhh-specialistcare.co....diagnostic-services-2/heart-screening-clinic/

Although bear in mind if they find anything you’d need to declare to life insurers, medical insurers, your employer, travel insurers etc 

Or spend the £500+ on bike bits


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## Drago (23 Apr 2018)

I think the risk of keeling over will be significantly greater if I don't exercise.


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## gaijintendo (23 Apr 2018)

I don't take EPO, hormones, blood bags, or intravenous vitamins, so I not especially concerned.

I thought that was the unspoken aspect in these things?


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## arch684 (23 Apr 2018)

I had a heart attack about 13/14 years ago,2 stents fitted to unblock artery's. I take 5 tablets a day,beta blockers etc. I was off the bike for about 8 weeks and just took it easy for awhile


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## Lonestar (23 Apr 2018)

Drago said:


> I think the risk of keeling over will be significantly greater if I don't exercise.



I keeled over recently but that was on blasted cobblestones at East India.

But no.I'm not worried.


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## numbnuts (23 Apr 2018)

I have a blocked blood vessel in my heart, nothing can be done, I was a bit worried at first on how hard to push it so I played on the turbo at first as a just in case, but now with the medication I'm fine, but I don't push my pulse rate above 130 now, in any case what's the rush.


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## lane (23 Apr 2018)

Interesting question. The thought does cross my mind when you see something like that in the news. On the other hand I have been thinking recently that it's lucky that what I enjoy doing is basically good for my health compared with people who enjoy other things which aren't. Apart from the obvious that on the balance of probabilities it is better for my physical health to exercise than not, I do not underestimate the impact on my mental health which is certainly wholly and significantly positive.


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## Ming the Merciless (23 Apr 2018)

Does rhe risk of a car crash stop you getting in a car?
Does the risk of hitting your head stop you having a shower?
Does the risk of a knife injury keep you out of the kitchen?

The population level risk is low. Seek medical advice if there is family history or you have other reasons to be concerned about your heart health.


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## kingrollo (23 Apr 2018)

Fear of not living is greater than the fear of dying !

I have these thoughts about road safety - and have seriously thought about quitting a couple of times. But you can't choose when you live and die - and cycling is health boosting thing to do. You could lock yourself in your house - never go out - eat salad, bread and water and maybe live to a ripe out age.....but is that living ?


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## classic33 (23 Apr 2018)

There's worse ways to go. Start thinking about them and it can quickly become a case of where do you stop.

The thought that it may happen whilst cycling won't stop me cycling.


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## Welsh wheels (23 Apr 2018)

Terribly tragic for everyone involved in such cases but the reality is that human life is fragile. You could fall down the stairs and be killed or die in a car accident. Best to keep doing what you love. Fit people are a lot less likely to develop a lot of the illnesses common today. Important to listen to your body as well though - don't push yourself when you're already exhausted and there's no shame in turning back on a ride or giving up a particular challenge if you think it best.


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## Welsh wheels (23 Apr 2018)

Also important to remember that professional athletes regularly push themselves to ridiculous lengths in the pursuit of success. Much more danger in that than the riding most of us do.


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## mjr (23 Apr 2018)

vickster said:


> If you’re seriously concerned, you could go and have a full private cardiac health screen
> 
> https://www.rbhh-specialistcare.co....diagnostic-services-2/heart-screening-clinic/
> 
> Although bear in mind if they find anything you’d need to declare to life insurers, medical insurers, your employer, travel insurers etc


Take care of yourself, get yourself checked medically, diagnosed and treated if needed, then get rewarded by insurers by being declined health insurance! Why are they allowed to harm public health like this?


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## ColinJ (23 Apr 2018)

Not a bad way to go! 

(There is a reference to a long friendship with Jimmy Saville, but let's not dwell on _THAT_! )


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## dave r (23 Apr 2018)

Angina in 2008, heart attack in 2016, 5 stents in my chest, I'm still pedalling.


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## Racing roadkill (23 Apr 2018)

No. I’ve had a cardiac arrest, caused by overdoing it during a rugby match. It’s not fun, but I got over it, I don’t worry about it too much.


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## slowmotion (23 Apr 2018)

Risk of cardiac problems doesn't feature on my horizon. I've already had them. I'm pretty sure that I'm better off being on the bike rather than quivering with fear about my inevitable mortality.


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## screenman (23 Apr 2018)

Very sad as it is I think if you took any group of 40,000 people one is unlikely to see the day out.


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## Drago (23 Apr 2018)

Indeed. Look how many people turn up dead in music festival toilets, and they've hardly been exercising.


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## ColinJ (23 Apr 2018)

Drago said:


> Indeed. Look how many people turn up dead in music festival toilets, and they've hardly been exercising.


They might have been dancing non-stop for 12 hours!


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## Milzy (23 Apr 2018)

Two Tired said:


> After a few recent, well publicised, examples of sportspeople collapsing while exercising, has this put anyone off getting on their bike?
> 
> I've woke up this morning to a runner in the marathon, there was another the other week too. The poor lad in Paris Roubaix was followed almost immediately by an amateur somewhere in the south of England. I'm 99% sure there has been another pro/ semi-pro recently too.
> 
> ...


No. Mat Camball was a sub 3 hour marathoner. Must have been an underlying problem. I’d rather go like that than in a hospital side room dying of cancer dosed high on pain killers.


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## Pat "5mph" (23 Apr 2018)

I'm not worried: only the ones that push themselves in their sport seem to succumb, I'm a take it easy kind of person.


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## derrick (23 Apr 2018)

2 stents fitted a few years back. have never let it slow me down, when your time is up, that's it, not worth worrying about such things.


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## Maenchi (23 Apr 2018)

no not in the slightest ...........the more cycling I do the stronger my heart feels !


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## Ming the Merciless (23 Apr 2018)

Drago said:


> Indeed. Look how many people turn up dead in music festival toilets, and they've hardly been exercising.



Probably overcome by the fumes


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## Drago (23 Apr 2018)

Aye, those Turdis's do whiff a bit.


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## Ming the Merciless (23 Apr 2018)

Time
Under
Relative
Distress
In
shoot

The new series of Dr Poo


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## classic33 (23 Apr 2018)

Two due to a reaction to a widely used local anaesthetic, both in A&E at the time.


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## Sharky (23 Apr 2018)

A tale from when I was a young 17yr old. One of the club members was then 56. Some 30 years earlier he had been diagnosed with angina, so he stopped cycling. Wind the years on again and he found himself working alongside another club mate, a top rider and he got the bug again, but didn't tell his wife or doctor that he was racing again. He kept his racing bike and kit at his collegues house. His doctor said, without knowing the extent of his cycling, whatever you are doing - keep it up.

He did eventually confess to his wife and was given the ok to carry on.

He must be at least 106yrs old now and haven't seen him for over 50 year. I wonder if he is still cycling?


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## classic33 (24 Apr 2018)

Is the bigger risk during the teenage years/early twenties?


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## gbb (24 Apr 2018)

No history of serious problems for me, some irritating 'heavy' or thumping heartbeat periods in the past..probably stress related and used to get some very fleeting irregular hearbeat, almost fluttering but that's not happened in a good few years.

Yet yes, it has occurrd to me occasionally when I've been hammering myself that I may overdo it one day when my heartrate is high, I've lost a huge slab of fitness and that's not making it easy on me.

When I was 40ish I used to play squash. My doc said...be careful, there's plenty of folk die from overdoing it...i guess that's always stayed with me, the method doesnt matter, seriously overdoing it does.
But what's overdoing it ? Pushing is fine for me personally, but if I had anything unusual happen to my heartrate, I'd be extra vigilant ...we're not getting any younger


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## Shut Up Legs (24 Apr 2018)

My preferred way to go would be a sudden heart attack while freewheeling down a long, winding, steep mountain pass. I can just picture myself careening off the edge of a steep mountain, landing in a cemetery somewhere far below...


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## Alan O (24 Apr 2018)

As others have said, it's all about balancing risks - the risk of a cardiac failure while exercising against the risk of a sedentary lifestyle.

I had a heart attack and quadruple bypass 11 years ago, and my recommended route to recovery was very much based on exercise. Yes, exercise could trigger a new attack, there is always a small risk of that - but the long-term beneficial effects are likely to outweigh it. My GP (who is himself a cyclist) strongly supports my cycling (as well as my gym exercise) as having net cardiac benefits.

And I apparently survived my heart attack because I have well developed coronary collaterals, which I put down to decades of cycling - so in my case, it seems likely that cycling literally saved my life.


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## PaulSB (24 Apr 2018)

I had a heart attack October 2015 and a stent fitted. Today at 63 I am a fitter, stronger rider than at any point in the last 25 years. If I get a twinge on the left side of my body I think about it for a few minutes otherwise not at all. My GP says the occasional twinge is nothing to do with my heart. 

The brother of a friend in my Club had a full cardiac arrest walking up to the bar. The barman saved his life with CPR. The cause remains undiagnosed

As people have said, it happens just get on with living.


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## BikeCurious (24 Apr 2018)

There's a far greater risk eating crisps and drinking beer in front of the TV all day (which is what I used to do before I started cycling)


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