Is your heart marathon-ready?/HEALTH

Is your heart marathon-ready?

If you are a cardiac patient and are running the marathon, it is important to follow certain do’s and don’ts and make sure your heart is fit and ready for the long run

If you are a cardiac patient then unless you are re-evaluated by a qualified cardiologist you should not participate in the marathon. Your fitness levels must be justified with proper tests.

Coronary artery bypass graft surgery or angioplasty patients can definitely participate in the marathon provided their recent stress test, 2D echo colour Doppler evaluation, pulse and blood pressure are certified as acceptable by the cardiologist.

Recent heart attack patients should avoid participating in the marathon at least for 3 months. For complete healing and healthy scar formation it takes almost 2-3 months. Until then there are chances of other cardiac instabilities prevailing, which can be hazardous.

Massive heart attack patients getting ultimate effective pumping of their heart from normal 60% to anything less than 30% should avoid participating in the Marathon as there is a chance of heart pump or left ventricular failure causing sudden severe shortness of breath.

In acute crisis, modalities such as meditation, lifestyle modifications, sudden crash diets, zero salt - zero oil diets do not help. To stay healthy one does not have lose excess amount of weight. Instead it calls for conditioning of the  physique, maintaining proper height - weight proportion and a proper waist - hip ratio. Unhealthy ways of weight reduction can cause increased chances of heart attack and resistant infections due to drop in immunity all at the cost of looking fit.

Non-athletes or first timers need to first acclimatise and prepare themselves with brisk walks. If a one hour brisk walk is carried out without any complaints, then slow jogging can be initiated post two weeks or so. If a person is grossly de-conditioned for effort tolerance (but has normal ECG, 2D Echo and stress test results) then brisk walks are advisable for a  longer time stretch to prepare the physique for jogging and bearing stress later.

Cardiac patients who wish to participate need to take all the prescribed medications in the morning at least an hour before the actual marathon run. Diabetic's can skip one morning dose of oral tablet for sugar control to avoid hypoglycaemia. Those who are on insulin should take only half a dose of insulin. Those suffering from hypertension should not avoid their medication at any cost. Blood thinners or aspirins should be taken early in the morning as against the scheduled hour in the afternoon or evening on the marathon day.

All participants need to carry glucose energy power drinks or powder and ensure adequate hydration two hours before the marathon. 

Beware if you have atherosclerosis Angioplasty and bypass patients are normally prescribed lifelong medications, which cannot be stopped abruptly without a doctor’s advice. Stoppage of cardiac medication can cause sudden shooting up of blood pressure, acceleration of pulse rate and can initiate a new cardiac emergency. This happens because there is no treatment for the basic underlying cause of heart attacks – atherosclerosis. Wherever atherosclerosis presents as a significant block, it might present in a similar way adjacent to the previous block or same site by the virtue of its natural progression. But chances of acute emergencies increase whenever people stop the medication all of a sudden on some verbal advice of a non-qualified person, or quack. Yoga, pranayama, zero oil diet plan etc cannot manage emergencies, which time tested allopathic medicines do wonderfully. Alternative medicines or measures are no substitute for tested allopathic drugs.