Posted by John Behle on August 04, 2001 at 13:56:19:
In Reply to: More on Chronic Lone AF and the Maze Operation posted by Osman M. Nassar on August 04, 2001 at 06:21:18:
In just a few months of finding this site, researching, having a successful MAZE operation and reading the experiences of others, a couple things have jumped out at me.
My frame of reference is more of a body builder, skier, extreme athlete point of view. I've always been puzzled why someone who at one time took such great care of myself could end up with health problems.
One thing that jumped out is how many athletes there are on this site and elsewhere that have or have had AF. Somewhere (I beleive it was either Dr. Cox's or Dr. Millar's writings) I read something about AF being electrical impulses passing through weakened or stretched heart muscle tissue. It's possible too that it was on the "super slow" exercise site that someone else mentioned.
It seems most also have an enlarged heart. When they performed my Ablation in 93 they said my heart was enlarged, but should get better now that they fixed it (ya sure). Doctors have always been concerned about my enlarged heart, but a few years back I read in the PDR about a condition of enlarged hearts from athletes.
That would also track with my low heart rate. I've also generally had a very low pulse and many here also mention that. When I have been in shape, it has been as low as the 30's and commonly in the 40's.
Since the heart is a large muscle, I can see how it would be enlarged from my exercise and pumping slowly and efficiently from the aerobic conditioning. The AF has gotten worse by the day as my conditioning became worse over the years.
There's no question there were times or many times when I severely overworked and overstrained my heart muscle. I remember skiing so hard I would taste blood.
So, in the little I know, the thing that jumps out at me is the electrical impulses passing through a stretched and weakened area of heart muscle tissue (an electrical short). That also seems to track with the MAZE who's success comes from building up scar tissue as an insulating barrier in those critical areas.
It would even explain the low success of Ablations because they focus on one accessory pathway and another one seems to pop up later.
OK, I'm glad we have the search function now. I searched under "super slow" and here is the link where Ed Wehan suggested the article by Dr. Cox.
http://www.mddietofutah.com/wwwboard/messages/6.html
- The new reference for the article is here. John Behle 15:39:45 10/23/2002 (0)