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Who Am I and Why Am I Doing This?

You know that is an excellent question but I am not sure I even have the complete answer for it myself. But, maybe I will find it as I go…so lets go.

I have to admit I never thought I would be writing a "medical blog" but here I am. I do know that I am writing this mostly for myself. Primarily, I hope this will be a place for me to get the "stuff in my head" out (it makes a lot of racket ricocheting around in there and the neighbors are complaining).

As a secondary goal, I also noticed when I started looking into Myocardial Bridges after I got my diagnosis that there is not much out there so I figured a little more information in the world could not hurt.

My condition: 

I have four Myocardial Bridges. The first bridge is on my LAD and is at least 8 cm long and during systole blocks 100% of the blood flow. Also, in my LAD is a plaque that does not pose a significant risk at this time. The second bridge is on my left circumflex and it too is over 8 cm in length. During systole it blocks 60% of the flow. The third bridge is on my PDA is very short but deep. The final bridge is on my Ramus. It is of medium length (maybe 3 cm) but is deep. Also, in the Ramus, is plaque that obstructs 85% of the blood flow.

I am symptomatic: pretty much anytime my pulse rises above 100 for a sustained period I develop Angina Pectoris. The severity of the pain, speed of onset, increases with altitude. My pain does not start in the chest however. Rather, it starts in the left arm then radiates to the right ultimately ending in the chest. Since my first attack I have a marked decrease in stamina and increased sensitivity to cold. Being at altitudes above about 6,000', even with low heart rate, triggers symptoms.

During the three months since my first attack the frequency of the attacks has increased. However, I have been managing to keep them under control by immediately stopping whatever I was doing, sitting down, and meditating / doing deep breathing exercises.

Background on me:

In high school I was a swimmer and played water-pollo. And, after high school I rowed crew my freshman year of college. Now, please don't take this to mean that I am an athlete / fitness person of the first order as I am most certainly not. I enjoy working out and" moving" but have a real struggle making (and keeping) it a priority. So, after college I entered the work world, got married, had two kids and exercise fell to the very back burner. So much so that shorty before I turned 40 I took stock of myself and really hated what I found; I made exercise and eating healthy a priority again and was reasonably successful. (I dropped almost 50 pounds.)

After a few years of this improved lifestyle I thought things were great – and for the most part they really were.

See the but…coming?

Anybody else notice that the moment things get "pretty good" life's wicked sense of humor shows up? This was proven when shortly after turning 40 my marriage failed unexpectedly. It was a very dark time for me yet I kept my activity up, kept eating cleanly (okay, mostly cleanly) and eventually I reached the other side. One of the things that really helped as I was going through that hell was rollerblading (yeah, yeah, I know but I am a child of the '80s what can I say – look at least I don't have sweatbands).

But, one day coming back from an 18 mile skate in 2012 I wiped out in the middle of the street and injured my left rotator cuff. Not a big deal. With rest and care in a couple of months it was healed and I got back to my activity level.

But, by the summer of 2013 when I was doing anything that got my heart rate up I would notice a strange pain in my left bicep. Not severe most of the time, but every so often, it would be uncomfortable enough that I had to stop. I chalked it up to the rotator cuff injury figuring it made sense as most of the things I was doing were full body (Yoga. P90X, P90X 2, cross-fit, rollerblading, or other wackiness) and I was using that arm and shoulder pretty hard.

I just sort of figured out what level of exertion was a problem and did not continue at that level for too long.

The problem got worse over the next year or so but learning to be a single dad 50% of the time (with more successes than failures I like to think) plus work took a major toll on exercising anyway. So it was not really a problem for me in the same way that every pan is a no-stick pan if you no-cook in it.

The bottom line was this was certainly NOT anything that I would link with a heart issue that is for sure. I exercised. I ate healthy. I felt pretty good I just had this old sports (rollerblading could be considered a sport) injury. Everybody (at least those of us over 40) has a sports injury that bugs them sometimes right?

Now, a Myocardial Bridge is a congenital thing and mine have been with me since birth. I, like many others with bridges, in my youth did not even know it was there and have been able to have a reasonably active life. (Although, it is worth noting that I did not have the "top end" performance of my peers. My endurance was not at their level and I never really could seem to get it up there no matter how hard I worked.) 

So my diagnosis bugged me for a long time. How could I have been as active as I was with this thing? Maybe the Doctor screwed something up? Maybe I really don't have these?

But, by looking around the Internet I have found a few other people whom have had a similar journey with their bridges and I guess I just want to add my "me too" to the pile. Just in case someone else's journey looks similar to mine and hearing my story can help.