This blogpost was created for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and does not constitute medical or other professional advice. It simply details an experience I went through.
Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen online.
One day I received two emails within minutes of each other – one confirming my successful entry to the Paris marathon and the other with details on applying for my senior bus pass. I was laughing so much and obviously thrilled to bits about Paris. I didn’t give much more thought to either at the time; the marathon was several months away and with COVID it was still very uncertain if it would go ahead, so I tucked the email away and forgot about it.
Then suddenly restrictions lifted a little and it was on. The marathon was going ahead and it was time to start booking travel etc and reading up on what I needed to do. There’s always more than you think involved in getting to that start line. Apparently, I also needed a medical certificate confirming my fitness to participate. Sporting events in France (and Italy) very often have this requirement.
I was worried about the medical. Years ago when I was at university I was in the lab and a pressure machine exploded in my face. Definitely not pretty. But more than that it’s left me with a totally over the top reaction when anyone mentions “pressure”. So of course having my blood pressure taken is a complete circus watching the doc’s eyes popping out on stalks when he/she sees my reading. Off the charts. Strangely enough, when I take my own blood pressure with one of those popular at home machines, it’s fine. Three times I’ve been strapped up to a monitor 24 hours a day for several days by concerned medical staff and everything is perfectly okay.
On the day of my medical I burst into the surgery desperate to inform the (new to me) doc about this blood pressure hang up of mine. “Relax,” he said. “Deep breaths. Calm.”
He left the blood pressure measurement until the end, by which time he’d distracted me by talking about some little known but fabulous trail running events in my area.
And to my utter shock my reading was acceptable. I was overjoyed. “But I can’t sign off your certificate,” he said, “You have a heart murmur. I’ll book you in for an ECG.”
Two days later I was back again as he scrutinised the screen where my ECG results had just arrived with a ping. My heart rate was low but he accepted that was due to the training. There were changes, he said. Changes in my heart that could be harmless… or not. I needed an echocardiogram. This is an ultrasound of the heart allowing a much more detailed peek at what’s going on in those chambers and with the valves.
I was fast running out of time to get this medical certificate signed, stamped and uploaded to the event website. Without it, I wouldn’t be allowed to run.
After handing over an eye watering amount of money for a private test (the NHS waiting lists were long due to the knock on effects of the COVID crisis) I lay on my side on a couch with my left arm raised as the scanner probed about and did its thing.
The moment of truth.
I was ready; they were about to declare that I couldn’t run ever again… that I needed to be sliced open and my heart lifted out… that my valves had lost their soft flexibility and were like little solid tombstones…
“It all looks good to me.” I let out the huge breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
And as I wiped the jelly away and got ready to leave, here’s what struck me: the echo operator said she was seeing more and more runners referred due to these changes. “Runner’s Heart” she said. She added that the majority of referrals comprised older runners as the incidence of heart disease does increase with age hence the added caution.
So while I would never, ever advocate ignoring a referral from your doctor for further investigation, isn’t it interesting to know that our hearts are adapting like this?
We accept that when we train our biceps, quads and other muscle groups repeatedly over time, our muscles grow stronger, bigger and better equipped to handle the stress we subject them to.
Something similar happens with our heart muscle too. Regular cardiovascular exercise makes our hearts more efficient at pumping blood around our body. To do this our heart sometimes enlarges, gets thicker and-as these two changes mean our heart can expel a greater volume of blood with each contraction-it doesn’t need to pump as often so our heart rate slows down. I’m sure many of us have experienced the lowering of our pulse rate as we became fitter.
However. The changes above can also indicate a heart condition when seen in an untrained person, so our GPs are duty bound to check it out. This is what happened to me.
I then had an anxious wait for the results to be received by my GP and for him to complete my certificate. I was a regular at the surgery reception for a few days. I’m the sort who likes to be organised and do everything well in advance so this last minute rush over getting clearance to run was firing my stress levels through the roof.
Finally, it all came good. With just a day to spare.
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