Working out

Hi It has been almopst five months since Ihad my ICD surgery. This is my dilema. I am currently in the military and enjoy an active lifestyle. I am stationed in Korea (leaving for the states soon to be discharged from the military). I had my surgery at a Korean hospital because we do not have a specialist over here to perform that type of surgery. i got a clean bill of health from him on january 4th. Basically he told me i can do everything that I did on Dec 13th 2012. My dilema is, when I go see my american doctors they reallyh don't want me to do anything. The profile the aarmy doctors gave me was no running or anything I enjoy doing. Finally, they allowed me to run but dont want me to get my heart rate up over 104 (60%). My Korean doctor who performed the surgery says I can do everything the military doctors here (who are not specialist) limit me. What is the right answer? Are we doomed to not be able to exer ourselves again? Are ther cheks I can have my doctors do to make sure that I can do these things? I spend the next year getting ready to transition from military to civilian and they will do an extensive check I was just curious. Thanks for any advice.
Jay

6 Comments

Jay

by IAN MC - 2013-04-21 03:04:05

Believe the Koreans ....( unless they are from the North ...in which case they are only bluffing ! )

Cheers

Ian

activity

by Tracey_E - 2013-04-21 06:04:33

Ask 10 drs, get 10 answers. It's a cya world so many tell us to hold back needlessly. Also, a lot of drs just don't see a lot of young active patients who have pm/icd so they give us the same advice they'd give the average pm patient who is roughly 3x our age and sedentary. For a military dr, they likely don't see any so they're remembering what they learned in med school.

Why did you get the icd? Most of us can do whatever we feel up to. Keeping under 104 seems a little crazy, very arbitrary, I can get up to that going up the stairs! An easy way to see what you can safely handle is to get on a treadmill while on a cardiac monitor, see what your heart does when you exert and how you handle it. Once I did this, my dr cleared me for anything I want. Hoping you are told the same!

Good luck. Thank you for your service to our country.

BTDT

by donr - 2013-04-21 10:04:20

Jay: The average Army Dr. has very little knowledge of PM/ICD's. Dunno if you've been seeing Cardios or general medicine officers (GMO's). The GMO's would really be in the dark about them.

Go w/ what the Korean Dr. told you - he deals w/ this stuff all the time. The GMO's don't - even the Army Cardios do not. After all, they sent you to a Korean Hosp for the ICD - the Army has no capability to handle them, therefore no experience w/ them. Even a lot of cardios who do handle PM/ICD's routinely are woefully out of touch w/ what we are capable of doing. But they are constrained in part by the terms of their malpractice insurance & their lawyers to act very, very conservatively, since they are professionals & are expected to be 100% correct in every word they utter when it comes to litigation. We are mere ignorant plebians in the eyes of the law & as long as we do not charge for our advice can tell people just about any whacko thing we please - BUT - we have been there & are doing that on a 27/7 basis & collectively have a pretty darned good feel for what the limitations really are on what we as individuals can do.

General rule - you can do what you feel comfortable doing. Only you can figure out what that limit is & you have to work up to it slowly, rationally & with some knowledge of what your HR is while doing it. Can you get hold of a pulse oximeter (The little gizmo they stick over your index finger to determine your oxygenation level of the blood)? That acts much faster & gives you an instantaneous reading of your HR. Also shows you how regular your HR is, beat to beat.

The major difference between you & me is that I have a PM & whatever it does, is not violent or dramatic. My heart does funny things, it just silently steps in & corrects them - I never sense a thing. I go too far w/ something & I just feel crappy & sense a bunch of strange arrhythmic beats that eventually go away.

If you do something to stimulate your ICD into action, it kicks you in the chest like a mule or drops a bowling ball from a 30 story bldg directly onto your chest & either knocks you to the ground (Not my words but those of a friend, Beryl, who has had her ICD do that to her more than once.) Therefore, you must be more cautious about what you do & carefully explore the envelope of your capabilities.

When will you get back to CONUS?

Don

It's called CYA

by Zia - 2013-04-21 11:04:35

They may or may not know what you should be doing, but they DO know what will happen to them if they goof it up.! So they try to keep you from doing anything that could possibly have repercussions on them. I've worked with those guys and have seen them doing just that. Keep in mind, though, that the profile they give you will help document any possible disability if you claim any benefits (VA or military) after you're out. You didn't say whether you are being discharged on retirement or disability, but this could make a big difference in your financial future either way.

So, I recommend you just hang in there until you're out of the military and then follow Don's recommendations. He is absolutely right about how to find out what you really can do.

All the best on your upcoming freedom!

Whooooops!

by donr - 2013-04-21 12:04:34

Jay: Forgot one small item.

Army Docs cannot be sued for mal-practice like civilians. They are exempted by law. Unless it has been changed recently.

Don

that is true

by Jay4 - 2013-04-21 12:04:34

Thanks Don, it took forever but i finally got my orders I get back to the states on the 4th of June. Report to the Medical unit. Then go through those battery of test to determine if I am fit for duty (by the regulations I already know I will be found unfit). I do work out to the my ability now and tend to take it easy. I have better days then the bad ones with the adjustment phase of having the ICD. It has only been 4 1/2 months. I am looking forward to the first checkup when they check the ICD out and see what it has been doing. i havent felt the jolts and just from hearing the messages I am not looking forawrd to it either. One day at a time

Zia good advice and that is what I am doing just hanging in there. I have almost 28 years and depending how long the board takes I might make it to 29 years. So good old 72.5% and then will see how much for the medical board percentage and then once I retire my VA claim.
Jay

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Your signature looks like an EKG.

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