What is going on in athletes hearts?

[colinmckee2]

I am a keen footballer but haven't played in 3 months due to anxiety. What I want to know or seek knowledge on is how are these athletes I.e. Mertens, Muamba and recently a welsh rugby player being killed by sudden cardiac arrest. Are there tell tale signs which should of been noted or are they suddenly spontaneous? I love exercising and running but with all this going on, I'm a bit scared to restart it, I've no risk factors or heart problems but I do become very anxious when exercising,
Light headed spaced out and panicky as my heart rate rises? Anyone know
Much on this topic ? :) thanks

[Alice1]

Speak to your Dr and get an ECG then you will have nothing to worry about. Often these are due to undiagnosed arrhythmias. Very rare though.

[Lostinthought...]

This is a terrible fear to have, been there and I don't even play football lol
The media blurts all this news out without giving us all the facts. These players have to have some sort of an undiagnosed issue with the electrical side of the heart. Some basic testing will show up any abnormalities and the very very rare causes of this and be looked into by doing other tests but I assume you'd need the condition to be in your family to convince a doctor to do those tests. Go private and pay for the tests if you really want to put your mind at ease but honestly the chances of this happening to you are are beyond low.
You just have to say that to yourself and believe it and move on. Try build the exercise back up and don't let this dictate how you live your life.

[colinmckee2]

I've had like 14 ECGs done in the last 3 months with blood tests and a chest x ray. I'm just petrified of this happening to me and not knowing when I've said my last goodbye to people. I'm all good heart wise but can this still just happen to me? :/

[margmx]

Overtraining+ forbiden substances.
Human body pushed beyond limits mostlikely...

[Sam123]

My partner has atrial tachycardia and supraventricular tachycardia two heart conditions he is 25.

He found this out by repeat ECG tests and them listening to his heart. He used to have constant palpitations which made him seek medical advice.

These days his lifestyle is so much better, hardly drinks, a lot more active and a better diet, believe it or not he rarely gets any palpitations or flutters anymore.

I have always had the same fear as you, especially when you hear all these 'sudden death with no cause' stories. Truth is there will be an underlying heart condition is most of the cases that they weren't aware of. Most athletes are and feel healthy thus no need for hospital visits and ECG tests like us.

My partner never worries about his heart even with his conditions, and ironically i always worry about mine which is perfectly fine. It's hard to do but you really need to take a step back and look at the actual likelihood of having a sudden death at a young age, no health conditions and a healthy heart. It's nearing on 0% chance.

Exercise is good for your heart, just like all muscles you can strengthen it this way and with a good diet and lifestyle. If your anxious about this whilst exercising, then you probably will feel lightheaded or experience strange symptoms, just try and repeat to yourself that these are created by anxiety and not an actual physical condition.

[margmx]

I would recommend light or easy jogging for 2-3 times in a week. It strenghtens heart muscles.
Many athletes do strength training only that puts enormous load on heart.

[Fishmanpa]

I've had like 14 ECGs done in the last 3 months with blood tests...

That's more than I've had in the last 5 years and I have heart disease!

Positive thoughts

[Sam123]

I agree if you're not otherwise quite fit to start of easy and work your way up. Playing football is tiring and requires good fitness, but if you have no health conditions and exercise regularly you have absolutely nothing to worry about.

The human body and the heart are amazing machines, they are not as fragile as it may seem.

---------- Post added at 14:44 ---------- Previous post was at 14:43 ----------

That is a lot of ECG'S Colin :roflmao:

[Serenity1990]

I've had like 14 ECGs done in the last 3 months with blood tests and a chest x ray.

You're fine. :)

[colinmckee2]

Thanks a lot. Just keep myself freaking out because of these very fit athletes just dying on the spot. Seems crazy, I've to be tested for what I'm almost certain is vertigo tomorrow once that's done and out the window. It's time to lessen my anxiety day by day until it's gone. Much like my exercise routine, anxiety is not a sprint, gonna have to be patient. Thanks everyone.

[fedup36]

Hi Colin... My husband actually plays rugby against this guy!
It has really shaken me up as well! I keep trying to persuade him to get an ecg but his not having it!!

I am starting a new therapy tonight and I will let you know if I learn about any coping mechanisms to do with sudden death...

One therapist told me though.... "Worrying cannot prevent or solve the problem" so worrying your going to die playing football isn't actually going to stop it... I know that's horrible but it's true!

Hope you feel better and I have to say when I have exercised I have felt better :)

[Emilym80]

These deaths are almost always caused by undetected, congenital arrthymias. I have a keen interest in cardiology and would like to study it after medicine, so I've read up a fair bit about these conditions (not helpful for my HA though, lol).

These arrythmias can be detected easily on an ECG- certain readings will be outside of the normal parameters.

Why do athletes seem to suffer from sudden deaths more than the general population at a young age? Probably because the arrhythmias will, quite often, cause symptoms only during exercise.

The other cause is structural defect or an enlarged heart muscle, which can be detected on a chest x-ray (especially the enlarged heart muscle, which always causes symptoms anyway).

So basically, you have no reason to worry about this happening to you. The athletes who fall victim to these kinds of events have generally never had any kind of cardiac testing whatsoever- otherwise, they'd know about their conditions and have taken measures to protect against sudden death (which is usually pretty uncommon even within the people that have the arrthymias, which are, themselves, rare).

Hopefully that's of some help :) best wishes

[MyNameIsTerry]

You need to think about the compelling evidence against as opposed to the possibility of something rare happening. For instance, consider these:

- how many Royal Marines have died from this (I've never heard of any!). Would your exercise regime come anywhere near the level they train to. The same can be said for other areas of the armed forces. Do you train as hard as they do? (my uncle was a RM in WW2 and then became a drill instructor at one of their training bases. He died last year in his 90's!)
- how many competing athletes are there in the world? 1,000? 10,000? How many have actually died from what you fear?
- how many competing athetes have there been in the world in the last 100+ years? How many of them actually died from your fear?
- do the same for footballers. My club has been around 120+ years now and there has been no instances of this. Do the same for every pro football club in the world. Now add in other sports like rugby, American football, cycling, etc.
- add in all the PT's, the boxers, the MMA people, the wrestlers, the bodybuilders, people that go to the gym a lot.

When you add up all these enourmous amounts of people who exercise to a more advanced level, doesn't it seem miniscule that you are talking about 3 people? How likely is that to happen compared to something that can happen to anyone e.g. a car crash? So, is worrying about something so rare a fear worth having? No.

So, if all those people who would have a higher risk factor than you are going through life without any of this, how likely is it to happen to you?

On the strength training issue, you can put more stress on your heart from intense cardio than you ever could through weights. Humans evolved based on a mixture of both anyway and previous generations have worked more manually and still not suffered from issues like this.

There are some indications, I don't know how strong, that extreme levels of only cardio can put risks there. So, there is advice to use weight based exercise to afford some protection. But remember we are talking extreme there and thats nothing like what you have said you like to do.

[Gary A]

Sometimes it's all about getting a sensible perception of risk. If you're not stepping on to a football pitch because you're scared you might drop dead, you must be absolutely petrified to cross a road, considering the amount of people per year who die being hit by a car compared to the amount of athletes who die with something like this.

Of course, anxiety chases that type of logic out the door, but you get the point.

Considering the amount of testing you've had its clearly a completely and utterly irrational fear. You think doctors and such would encourage exercise as much as they do if the risk of this type of thing happening was constant? It's a freak occurrence, one of many that life has unfortunately. It's akin to worrying about drowning in the bath or having a wall fall on top of you.

Life sucks at times, but there really is no sense in hiding away from it in such ways. You sound like a perfectly healthy young man who is itching to get back to life. Just know that when life throws up roadblocks, we really do have the ability to drive straight through them.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think you make a good point about what doctors & the NHS advise in getting more exercise, Gary.

If we spin it the other way, what does not getting any exercise lead to? So, which is worse, the rare or the more likely (if you don't look after your body & mind, that is)

[Gary A]

Exactly, it's an irony here that doing less excersise is worse for your health.

[colinmckee2]

Lads thanks a lot for the advice and putting things rationally for me. Lol I guess things like that just shake you up a bit thinking that could of been me etc. if I were to live in fear of this I wouldn't live lol

[Sassystacey123]

I've had like 14 ECGs done in the last 3 months with blood tests and a chest x ray. I'm just petrified of this happening to me and not knowing when I've said my last goodbye to people. I'm all good heart wise but can this still just happen to me? :/

That's more than me and I have wolffe Parkinson white syndrome, which ALWAYS shows on an ecg

Honestly you are fine xx