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Confused
- by Zobot
- 2013-01-21 04:01:15
- Exercise & Sports
- 1135 views
- 1 comments
Hi all, My name is Mike , i live in Spain and I had a pacemaker fitted last July. Before my pacemaker was fitted i was a regular weight lifter. Much to my disappointment after the operation my surgeon and his colleague informed me that any kind of weight training could not be performed, not even light weights as they would damage the cables. I found this site today and was amazed to see that there are people on here training away and all this time I have been sitting here in misery. I can't understand why my Spanish doctors have categorically prohibited me from training where as other people have obviously had very different responses. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Mike
1 Comments
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Life does not stop with a pacemaker, even though it caught me off guard.
advice
by Tracey_E - 2013-01-21 09:01:49
Ask ten drs, get ten answers about activity! The two biggest reasons why we are told not to lift weights is 1) they don't have any other patients in the same situation so they really have no idea if it's safe or not so they go conservative or 2) your wires are placed so that it could truly be a problem. How close are your wires to your collarbone?
It's really a judgment call. No one can ever say that something is 100% safe, there is always some level of risk. For me, my dr said it's a very minimal risk and I choose to take that risk. In nearly 20 years, however, I have never had a problem! If I did have a problem, I'd get it fixed and more than likely go right back to what I am doing now. But that's just me, I'm not willing to sit on the sidelines if someone doesn't give me a darned good reason to and I'm ok with a small risk of lead fractures. My dr feels that it's more important for me to be as fit as I can and have a strong heart than it is to baby the leads, but not all drs agree with that.
If you have ruled out the wires being too close to the collarbone, if you are ok with taking a risk (that could be miniscule or more, who knows?!), if you are comfortable cautiously ignoring your drs advice, then I'd say start slowly and see how you feel.