Hello from a newbie with heart problems!

[mmblarg]

Hi everyone, I mostly just wanted to say "hi! I'm new!" and figured this was a good place to start.

I just got my first Fitbit - the alta HR. I'm excited to start tracking my heart rate and sleep patterns since my heart is struggling at the moment. PCOS and Hypothyroidism has been tag-teaming my poor little love-muscle for years (along with being overweight and having a poor diet.) Now that I have a diagnosis, I need to start exercising and strengthen my heart while my doctor helps me tackle my haywire hormones. 

It'll be interesting to navigate heart rate since I have tachycardia and frequent PVC's. Anyone else with heart problems on here and tackling safe but effective exercise?

[WendyB]

Welcome! I am so looking forward to more of your posts

[russsss]

Hi mmblarg 😀   

Have you talked to your cardio doc about excercise  i.e.....  what sort of excercise, your max safe pulse rate, target pulse rate, duration of excercise etc etc... ask about cardiac rehab, it's a safe place to start

My attack was 10+years ago and resulted in 2 stents but no heart damage ... did the cardio rehab, learned how, what and how much to do, how not to overdo it, what to look for in a gym and a lot more ... post rehab, I had frequent discussions about it with the doc and nurse (still do) .... for me it's all worked out well at least so far .  

Stay well and take care !!!  

[mmblarg]

Thank you for the welcome!

[mmblarg]

Hello Russsss!

I've talked with my doctor a little but not at great length yet. We've just finished getting results on an echo and event monitor so it's all still pretty new. We're working on dialing in medications for the thyroid as well as finding the right dose of Metoprolol to manage the chest pains and PVC's. We've briefly talked about exercise and diet since it seems pretty straight forward, so I haven't asked many questions: 1. get something that can track my heart rate during exercise. (Done! haha) 2. I need to strengthen my heart with daily light exercise such as brisk walking for an hour or something to that effect. 3. Absolutely no jogging/running because my pulse jumps to 240+ BPM with the lightest of jogging.  Lastly, I need to work on getting closer to a Mediterranean diet (that will be the hardest thing and will take the longest because I have terrible habits that have been a real pain to change...)

I love the alta HR so far though! Didn't realize my resting heart rate is always around 80-90 BPM (asleep it fluctuates between 70 and 85) I only knew about the 100-160 BPM resting rate when I had episodes that I logged through the event monitor. As expected, my cardio fitness is below poor at an estimated 25-30 range so that'll help me see if new exercise routines and diet are slowly helping. Also the sleep tracker is super spiffy since I get night terrors and sleep paralysis.

[russsss]

 Hi mmblarg !!

One ? if I may .... how does one pronounce mmblarg ?

Walking ... just do what you can, watch the pulse rate and check it yourself as you go along (fitbit is not perfect) and no matter what always have some fun with it .  

[GershonSurge]

@mmblarg,

Heart disease is a form of food poisoning. If you take away the food that caused it, progression of the disease will likely stop, and in time, the heart disease will reverse itself. There is only one way of eating that has been shown in peer review studies to prevent, arrest and even cure heart disease. That is the Whole Food Plant Based Diet. You mentioned the Mediterranean diet. The question is which one? There was a small study on the island of Crete, but not big enough to draw any conclusions. You will need to go a little further for a healthy diet.

I recommend reading Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease: The Revolutionary, Scientifically Proven, Nutrition-Based Cure Kindle Edition by Dr. Esselstyn.  Look for his videos on YouTube and watch a bunch of them.

You can't out-exercise a bad diet. This idea is based on the book "Aerobics" by Ken Cooper that was published in 1968. He later realized many people who exercise have a relatively good diet and this skewed the results. He wrote Aerobics Program For Total Well-Being: Exercise, Diet , And Emotional Balance and corrected this error. Exercise is still important for other reasons. The only reason I don't like his program is you have to pay for further information on the website. Still, it's a good read. 

I also suggest checking out www.drmcdougall.com and joining their forum. Anytime you Google anything concerning food, include the word McDougall. 

Since about 90-95% of non-contagious diseases are caused by the food we heat, most of them are prevented, arrested or cured by taking away the source of these diseases. Unfortunately, thyroid problems aren't one of them, but generally they are easily controlled by medication.

You can do this. It's not easy for the first few weeks, but it's simple. Try it for a month, and you will see improvements in your lab results. Unlike other options, there are no side effects and no danger in trying it. It's just good healthy food.

[emili]

@mmblarg welcome to the community and much luck in your journey to fitness. Let us know how you are doing from time to time...

[kaneohegirl]

Well I just found out that I had a blockage in my LAD in my heart and had 1 stent put in... I am currently doing cardiac rehab

for me they have me doing this

1. 14 mins on a stationary bike
2. 14 mins on a recumbent step machine
3. 14 min on a treadmill doing a brisk pace (if you call 2.6 mph brisk LOL)
4. 2 min walk in the hall as a cool down

They say they will gradually increase my time and toughness... But then again its kinda funny Im the youngest one there (46) most everyone else is in their late 60's or older so the nurses are excited they said FINNALLY someone we can put on the rowing machine who wont fall off lol

my heart rate generally get into the 90's but not much higher than that