Has anyone on the forum had any experience with a T.I.A [transient ischemic attack or “mini stroke”].
I had 2 events a fortnight ago which included loss of sensation in left arm for 30sec and a few days later loss of speech for 10 mins or so resulting in an ambulance trip to hospital -numerous tests and a stay of 3 days there.
The worst part of all this is that I have never felt fitter,faster or stronger and was looking forward to this seasons comp after completing gpp and moving thru spp1.
The medical advice is that I should shift from anaerobic to aerobic exerciseand not do heavy weight lifting as a risk of further infarcts.
I am 68 and have been a sprinter for 50 years and have trained mostly in the last 20 years using mainly the anaerobic system with low rep full recovery heavy weights supplimenting acceleration work to retain speed as I have mainly competed over 60m and occassionaly 100m.
I really enjoy this approach to sprint training and reckon a shift to lower intensity aerobic training will result in a loss of speed which would diminish performance markedly.
Has anyone on the forum been down this path and been able to resume the type of training I have outlined and what has been their methods,timelines,weight training modification etc in consultation with their medical practitioners?
Any experiences/advice would be appreciated as I would really like to continue in the sport?
Explosive actions can definitely raise blood pressure and can put you at serious risk. You better listen and get yourself tested right away to see exactly what’s going on before doing any more of this type of work. Sometimes vascular surgery or other intervention can fix the problem but take your advice from qualified medical professionals.
I’m sure you had a full check up, but make sure you have no underlying virus causing this.
Sometimes this can bring myocardial infarctions on. Also see if you have any heart irregularlities or mumurs.
Also - not wanting to cause alarm - but they don’t call it Sudden Death Sysdrome for nothing - get a full diagnosis.
Thanks for your advice Charlie,I had a number of tests while in hospital which included a brain scan that showed a number of previous episodes of which I remember only one i.e a numb leg for 30secs about a year ago which I thought was from standing in one spot for a prolonged period and it never “jelled”.
Also had chest xray -ok ECG -OK ,blood pressure was way up to190/85 during ambulance ride medico’s brought it down with a high strength liquid aspirin mix to 124/75.
My BP in recent times was always around 140/80 and Simvastatin had cholesterol to 4.3.
I also had an ultra-sound of both carotid arteries–left ok right 50-69% blocked [probably didn’t help during Valsalva] and is a probable cause along with a increase in cholesterol to 5.3 in the latest test.
I still have to have another ECG and a renal ultrasound and follow -up with the vascular medicine professor soon.
I hope you are not bored with all the detail and I guess I was loking forward to any members experiences and subsequent training info on the basis of a positive outcome following any extra treatment of this situation.
I will certainly be following your advice and that of the vascular medicine people in the interim.
Sometimes they can clear the artery. I don’t know if a 50% blockage would warrant surgery but with previous episodes, perhaps. i have heard of positive outcomes but I’m not the best guy for info. Have you had the legs checked as well?
The way to get the clearest picture would be to have an angiogram of the carotid arteries, to check for any narrowing/blockages. If the medic performing the procedure decided the narrowing was significant, these narrowings can be stretched using balloon inflations, or kept open with a device called a stent, which is metalic device which acts as a “scaffold” to keep the vessel open.
A cardiac ultrasound would also be good to check for any cardiac sources of emboli.
Never thought of the legs and I am sure that I haven’t had any test on them.I will ask the medical people about it.
John,
Thanks for your interest.I’m not sure if I had any test for cardiac emboli as you suggest,but I will follow up on that too when I have the next set of tests in the next couple of weeks.
The problem when having tests in hospital is apart from the patients confusion due to all the drama it is almost impossible to question any of the multiple experts flashing in and out of the picture talking amongst themselves in their medical jargon.The big picture for a patient is subsequently fairly blurred and a google search of the patients copy of the discharge sheet to understand the medical terms describing your situation is bloody impossible because you cant read the bloody writing.
Anyway when the dust settles and I know where I am going I will get back to the forum with any info or advice that might be usefull to members.