Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Undercoversub

Greenlighter
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Apr 29, 2018
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Hi, been lifting for a few years now. 4 years later I started my first cycle, just test, ran it for 4 months came off and loved it. Got amazing results and next cycle threw dbol in just for a kick start.

Decided to, besides blood levels, get a check up and asked to see my heart. Came back I have an enlarged heart. But only in a certain part. Now I do have family history of hcm (yes very stupid to lift as juice but oh well can't go back...) and I'm stating to wonder what was the mail culprit. Lifting, juicing or genetics. Athletes heart would enlarge the whole heart, where as in my case it is just a small portion. (Septum is 20mm)

My real question is does anybody have any idea of future growth. I haven't lifted now in months, and will it be possible to shrink? Or could it be a product of juice (swelling of tissue) but than it would be whole heart? Lifting was my life, but as we all know we take what we get and move on. I'm in my early 20's and im looking for the long road here so whatever I can do. Cardiologist isn't sure if he wants me doing cardio or nothing but most certainly no lifting.
 
Lifting will cause left ventricle hypertrophy. Gear can pronounce the effect as it makes all muscles grow including the heart. I'm not too versed in the common remodeling that takes place from being an athlete and all that.
 
What's your ejection fraction? LVH or septal thickness in itself isn't necessarily a problem for a number of reasons, and a lot of cardiologists have next to no knowledge when it comes to athlete's hearts.
 
Athletes heart would enlarge the whole heart, where as in my case it is just a small portion. (Septum is 20mm)

Just the septum? Not the left posterior wall?

I'm not a cardiologist but 20mm is huge for a septum.

If you have a copy of your echo you can calculate the left ventricular mass using the formula on this page. That's a better indicator of hypertrophy.

Did your cardiologist talk to you about lisinopril or any ACE inhibitor or ARB? They help prevent cardiac remodelling.
 
CFC thank you for your response, my ejection fracture was normal, 63%. I didn't have any symptoms for anything, I was on dbol and eating 5k calories a day and sometimes, I would have these uncomfortable feelings as if my heart was beating too heavy and like I would feel disoriented/ dehydrated almost but it was once every 2 weeks and only after I started dbol, so figure it was a weird side from that. The specialist I go to claims athletes heart goes up to 16-18mm and mine is past that. Being that my dad his dad and brothers all have it, they are ruling it towards that. Also had 48 hour holter ekg, had 3 extra beats the whole time. No arythmea also. Would love to be able to do lighter weight, anything to just get my gym fix but for now I just wait..
 
Hi seep, thanks for replying. Yeab 20mm is on the larger side, sorry for ignorance but I'm trying to learn more about cardiology. The cardiologist doesn't want me on any meds rn, be cause he wants to see what will come of the 6 month abstinence from juice and lifting. From there we will see.. and for all I know it was just my septum that's enlarged on the lower part, was the thickest, mid was thinner, and top was thicker.
 
That's a decent EF.

I think mine reached 24mm at one point. Dropped to 15mm within 6 months of cessation of AAS use and adjustments to diet (cutting). I didn't stop exercising at all (a very unhealthy thing to do), although I did increase the amount of HIIT to improve my EF% and heart 'elasticity'.
 
WOW.. that gives me some serious hope.. the cardiologist ordered me to "stop all physical activity or risk further enlargement" I still try to take a 20 min walk every night just because I can't see how being a couch potato could help cardiac health... but in a few weeks I get to see if it grew or shrank (cardiac mri). Only thing I guess holding me back is the heavy genetic history. If anything it gives me some comfort knowing it may return back to normal. I lost 30lbs be cause of cutting but finding myself pretty depressed (death in family, my health and relationship failure) all in the same 6 months, I've been kinda eating pretty shitty. When I find the results I will update this forum and shoot you a pm, thanks alot for the responses. If you don't mind me asking, what cycle did you run when you were at 24mm?
 
Eh, my 'cycle' was one of the 10-year non-stop varieties ;)

Even if you don't want to risk doing weights while waiting for the results of the CMR, 10 minutes of HIIT 3 times a week isn't likely to make things worse. Stopping all exercise might be ok as part of a temporary 'experiment' to see if you can bring the thickness down, but obviously doing no exercise for the rest of your life is unlikely to be a viable course of action (particularly if you want a long healthy life!)
 
Hey, update if you are interested. The report came back it shrank back to 13/14mm in 6 months. Now, he did say it's on the larger side still and abnormal. So a full diagnosis of hcm was given. He said to not lift weights...ever... But he said cardio every once in a while is okay, but is not "going to help your heart" (idk about that) and repeated that 2 or 3 times. I have lost a total of 30-35lbs give or take on the day now and I would love to start lifting but obviously life health is much more important. May look into second opinion.
 
Hey, update if you are interested. The report came back it shrank back to 13/14mm in 6 months. Now, he did say it's on the larger side still and abnormal. So a full diagnosis of hcm was given. He said to not lift weights...ever... But he said cardio every once in a while is okay, but is not "going to help your heart" (idk about that) and repeated that 2 or 3 times. I have lost a total of 30-35lbs give or take on the day now and I would love to start lifting but obviously life health is much more important. May look into second opinion.

That reduction is a significant improvement..

I think you should definitely look for a second opinion, HIIT cardio has been shown to be cardioprotective in most people... No weights ever..??????
 
Hey, update if you are interested. The report came back it shrank back to 13/14mm in 6 months. Now, he did say it's on the larger side still and abnormal. So a full diagnosis of hcm was given. He said to not lift weights...ever... But he said cardio every once in a while is okay, but is not "going to help your heart" (idk about that) and repeated that 2 or 3 times. I have lost a total of 30-35lbs give or take on the day now and I would love to start lifting but obviously life health is much more important. May look into second opinion.

Find another cardiologist, this one sounds ignorant (though we're relying only on your recall here of course). Not exercising is a terrible idea, and it's not unusual for an athlete's heart thickness to change rapidly and reversibly (it's also very sensitive to AAS, though that can be controlled with an ARB).
 
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