Worried about sudden cardiac arrest?

[Liv7117]

Lately I've been worrying about sudden cardiac arrest. I run cross country for my high school's team and (trigger warning) I recently read an article about a high school girl who died during cross country practice. I've had EKGs and a chest ultrasound because I have a very low resting heart rate. I'm worried to push myself in practices out of fear of dying from SCA. I've also had a severe pain in my left shoulder blade during a run. I'm trying not to google it, but I'm so worried about something happening to me during practice

[MyNameIsTerry]

These events are very rare though when you consider the millions of people across the world who run on a regular basis e.g. athletes, footballers, rugby/American football players, soldiers, PT's, people who just train, etc.

If SCA was a big risk, wouldn't the % affected by it also be much larger?

Some people may have not known they have a risk factor. I can remember reading a sports article that mentioned how extreme cardio only exercise was showing evidence of an increased risk factor and some weight bearing exercise was a recommendation. BUT this was talking about people who run to extremes and not the kind of running you are talking about.

Have you got a coach you can talk to about this? They will likely be aware of the risk factors with things like this happening in recent media.

There is no point Googling something like that, all you will get back are the extreme cases where people have died...you won't get back millions of hits for the people who have been running for decades who have never been affected. If you read about something like this, restrict it to scientific sources who will heavily scrutinise the evidence such as a healthcare system like our NHS.

[ricardo]

If you were in your twenties, obese,had high BP, high colestrol. a history in your family of heart attacks and could hardly walk (as seen on many TV programmes) the answer would be YES you are in danger of a heart attack, but that doesn't describe you.

Don't Google as you are going to find something that you associate with and I would go further and say I wish some of these health sites were banned and only the official sites remained such as NHS Guidelines and explanations, or proven professional health doctors or people involved in various aspects of illnesses, which can be checked as being authentic.

[tmckenzie-orr]

And still then the chances of having a heart attack as being obese and family history and that would be so slim for any1 under 30/40 so don't worry 20s and under is near enough so so unlikely to happen

[Liv7117]

Thanks for all the responses, they have really helped to put my mind at ease