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Hi,
Does anyone know of if a list which has all the do's and don'ts for sports with an ICD?
I used to SCUBA dive which I know we cant do but I also used to Kayak and the doctors have been giving me mixed answers on whether I can do that or not in the future.
If anyone knows of a list or a guide, it would be great to know about it.
Many thanks
Very good question and observation. I too get mixed answers from my cardiologist and electrophysiologist.
Have had SCA, CHF(s). ICD since 9-07. Latest diog. abnormal Q-T (520). Hope you received some informative responses.
VMP
How about checking with the maker of your ICD? I have a Boston Scientific and called them with a question...they were very helpful.
Cathy
My husband's SCA was in June of '05. He plays golf twice weekly, has kayaked, swims, snorkeling, snow skiing. We were told that he should live life to its fullest but "stay off ladders, no more flying as private pilot." Make sure the leads are in place and go for it!!
Yeah, my only instructions were to avoid contact sports. I play baseball and basketball with no problems.
I think any limitations on the sports are not because of fears that we can't handle them as SCA survivors, but they don't want the unit damaged.
Thank you for your replies. it's good to hear what other people are actually doing as the ICD litrature and web sites recommend consulting your phisician, whom as i mentioned arent giving me a clear yes or no to some sports.
I think I will just try to do as much as i did before but just be carefull with those cables.
Looking forward to getting on the water again!!
Thanks
Hi. I'm glad you asked that question. I too want to know my limitations. I'm scared to death to play sports or even exercise, because my defibrillator went off 5 times in a row one morning when I was rushing for work. My heart rate got above 150, which is what my defib was set at. They raised my bpm on my defib to 200 and doubled my Toprol. I'm still scared that my heart rate will get too high. All they told me was to wear a heart monitor while I exercise, etc. Were you more concerned about injuring your device or getting shocked? I wasn't sure in your question.
Hi
I haven't really been thinking about being shocked. All the advice I have been receiving has been about straining / moving the cables or about problems if I pass out.
I guess I'm just ignoring the fact it may happen again and just thinking of it as a one-off as the docs don't have any answers for why it happened.
For my fitness test my heart rate went up to 208bpm so they have increased the icd threshold to 214bpm, so hopefully I will never reach that but they also recommended getting a heart monitor too for when I exercise.
I was told though that the icd should still not shock me if my heart rate does exceed the limit as it analysis the ecg and can tell if it is just a fast heart beat or an abnormal fast beat. How come you where shocked??
OMG, I don't know now. I had no idea the device can tell the difference between the two fast heart beats. If mine is supposed to do that, then I will be asking the doctor why I got shocked. There is another girl on this website that got shocked five times in a row, just like I did. She thinks it's because she drank too much coffee and was rushing to the parade she was marching in. Did you read that about the girl that went to the hospital in her clown suit? Both she and I were off our Toprol for two days, but I thought that just keeps your heart rate down, I didn't know it makes you have abnormal heartbeats from being off of it. I'm going to ask the doc.
The question asked by Blake76 is crucial.
How to predict and prevent arrythmia?
One should start with,avoidance of certain foods.
Food,is anything that we get into our body through
any orifice.
Today we have a lot of information in this subject.
Lacking is the information about:
How do I know that one of these"Food",that I took
yesterday,will cause me to develope arrythmia now?
(As I am going to play soccer now)
Most of the people do not have ICD,to the rescue.
The coach at school,does not know if,the student
that he allows to play sport, have taken any stimulant
to improve his performance in sport specificaly,and
in scool in particular.
Today the school coach knows that he must have a defirillator available,for immediate use.
We all read,in this forum,on parents frustrations.
Parent of a child with ADHD,takes medications which
improves his attention.The child takes also Beta-Blocker to avoid arrythmias.This last medication
cause the child to be depressed,slow.
The child,then,drinks "energy drink",in spite of the
parent protest.Then arrythmia ensues.
The medical profession is working hard to solve this issue.
Still,that is not enough.You the individual,should work on yourself,and think.yourself:"What should I do (and not do) to prevent arrythmias?
I'm an avid BMXer and am slowly learning to skateboard. Other interests include martial arts and general exercise.
Your machine is more rugged than you might think (although it's not bullet-proof or anything). Go have some fun.
tkidman,
My ICD activated twice (months apart) because of high heart-rate. Most, if not all, ICDs can be programmed when to activate based on different conditions (e.g. heart-rate, beat-shape, etc.) and combinations of conditions.
Mine triggered simply because my heart-rate was too high for too long (160s for a series of beats). So they set that threshold higher (200). But it will still trigger at a much lower heart-rate if the beat-shape is "bad".
Is this consistent with what you learned from talking with your doc?
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