'Athletic Heart Syndrome'?

[KatieJo]

Since this forum is full of smart and well-trained athletes, I was wondering if anyone has had an issue with electrocardiagram tests. As part of a routine physical this week I had an ECG done. The results said I was having a heart attack...scared the crap out of me and left me wondering what the heck is going on

I had absolutely no symptoms, my BP was well under the acceptable 120/80, my HR was low, and oxygen saturation right around 100%. After a bunch of tests I was sent home without an answer and for the most part confined to my couch until I complete a stress test tomorrow. Boggles my mind...I do a 'stress test' a minimum of 5 days a week and never have a problem outside of the normal fatigue that comes with an 8 mile run, or whatever it is that day.

I suppose it could be something I've lived with all my life and never knew about, but today I started hearing about something called 'Athletic Heart Syndrome'. What I've heard is if on average you workout intensely over an hour per day, your heart makes adaptations that can manifest as abnormalities in routine tests, including ECGs.

Just curious if anyone else has heard of or experienced this? I like to be an informed patient

[MarkD]

I get an EKG for work every year... every year it tells me I'm in cardiac arrest !

Luckily, I see the same doc every year and she annotates my charts before sending them off for independant review. We get a good laugh out of it, because, she always gets a call from the other doc expressing grave concern for my impending heart attack.

It kinda freaked me out the first time even though my doc told me that this was common with endurance athletes.

So... you aren't alone!

[Kim Zepp]

Wow, never heard of this.
I guess it will be nice to know about this before I ever have any tests done.
Hope all is fine for you Katie.

[chuckm]

Today's stress test will most likely tell you you're fine. I've spent way too much time with cardiologists the past 11 years. Most of them are not accustomed to dealing with athletes, we fall way outside the range of "normal" that they're used to.
At the end of a maximal stress test 11 years ago, while still on the treadmill, the entire staff freaked out, yelled at me to "sit down NOW", and called for backup, readings showed I was having a heart attack. I wasn't and was fine, at least as far as the heart attack was concerned.

[jamesi]

Every year during my occupational health physical the tech operating the ECG will ask "are you ok" once all the leads are attached. My resting pulse is around 50bpm, but once I lay down and relax it's common for me to dip into the high 30's-low 40's. This freaks them out. These people are used to dealing with either sick individuals or out of shape individuals. One of the first things you are taught in emergency medicine is to treat the patient, not the monitor. An abnormal ECG finding on an athlete is common. Conversely, an abnormal ECG finding, with clinical manifestations such as shortness of breath, chest pain, excessive sweating (while performing passive activities), and numbness/pressure radiating to the back, arms, and jaw are not. While cardiologists have amassed an amazing amount of knowledge, and have more training and expertise than I can ever hope to have, they tend to march to a different beat. The main difference between a paramedic or emergency room physician and a cardiologist is that typically the medic or doc will assess and treat the patient first. A cardiologists first impression is usually based on an ECG. The heart is an amazingly adaptive muscle. We know more and more about sick hearts each day, but there's still a lot we need to learn about the extremely fit heart. I hope I didn't offend any docs with this post. I'm aware that I'm talking way above my pay grade.

[MarkD]

Hey Aussie - tell 'em what your grandpa (who was a doctor) says about doctors

[Aussie Rob]

Haha Durno! I was just about to chime in!

My Granddad, and apparently respected physician, told me to do everything i can to stay far FAR away from the medical profession. He said most doctors were a bunch of quacks!

[bberk1]

Katie, I was diagnosed with HCM or athletic heart almost 2 years ago. It's really nothing you want to mess around with. Many cardiologists aren't trained in diagnosing it. I'd say if you are nervous about it and want a second opinion, try to get in at the clinic with a cardiologist there. Dr.Hary Lever or any of his team with easily be able to tell if it's anything serious. Good luck

[KatieJo]

Thanks for the input! It's comforting to hear I wasn't the only one experiencing this. I had some other blood pressure related issues crop up a few weeks after I had the strange EKG results so my cardiologist suggested I take a bit of a break for 3 months. That time off has come and gone and a slew of specialists, after multiple tests, say they believe I'm ok and I do indeed just have an 'athletic' heart. So I'm back and ready to kick some butt! This was definitely a learning experience for me. After this experience, I thing it's really important for athletes to have physicians that understand the we have a different physiology from their typical, sedentary patients.