Skiing After a Heart Attack

The thing is... I don't have any chest pain or symptoms to let me know when I am pushing too hard. Physically I feel like nothing happened but from everything I have read, vulnerable plaques do not just occur one at a time. I imagine my heart to be surrounded by them, all of them on the verge of rupturing at any moment without any warning just when I think this is all behind me.

Doctors don't know anything. There are ways to remove plaque from arteries but they won't do it. They don't want cures they want treatment plans that are expensive and leave the patient psychologically and physically addicted to them.

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Doctors don't know anything. There are ways to remove plaque from arteries but they won't do it. They don't want cures they want treatment plans that are expensive and leave the patient psychologically and physically addicted to them.

I'm a doctor, but not that kind of doctor, so here's what I know:

live your life, and die your death; life's too short to worry about it or to waste it trying to prolong it. Good Luck!

I'm with acarey on this one. You've had a tough break and the dark touch of mortality at an early age and it's scary!
Your main problem now seems to be mental rather than physical.

Ease into it, ski moderately controlling your output until you gain confidence.

I had a similar experience ( although different problem)when I was  36. My arm turned blue and I had two blood clots that formed in my chest area.
I was rushed to hospital and spent  days in intensive care with drips in my arm to dissolve clots that where nearing my lungs. Doctor told my wife I had a 50/50 chance of making it.  I eventually had to have part of a rib removed that was causing constrictions. I survived ( obviously duh!) but it was sobering and made me evaluate my life so shortly afterwards I quit my high paying executive job and moved to Santa Fe , NM.

Took me years to regain most of the strength in my arms that had been lost due to nerve damage but now I ski and train without a second thought and if I drop dead, so be it!

The stress relief I gain from enjoying skiing and working out is more benificial that leading a couch potatoe life.

From Bladerunner one of my favourite films ( I paraphrase)" better to lead your life like a blazing meteorite, short,bright and spectacular than long, dull and bland."

Thanks for mentioning "plaque stabilization". The search results for that are far more reassuring than the results for "plaque rupture". My Dr says that the meds he has me on reduce future bad things by 80-90%. Most of the articles I've found show much more modest numbers like 15-20%, so I called him and asked his assistant to provide a reference for that number. Hopefully I'll get a call back and read something that makes me feel better.

I requested and got a referral into a cardiac rehab program and I am going to push the hell out of myself to simulate on the slope exertion. I might go in with ice packs strapped all over my body as well to simulate the cold. I don't know how I'd simulate the altitude. Hold my breath? I'm also going to start doing Yoga and meditation.

Taking it easy on the slopes sounds like hell to me. I get off on adrenaline, steeps and deeps. I guess my wife will appreciate it since I usually beat her to the lift and whine about it.

The very best place to have a cardiac arrest (besides an ICU or ER) is 8am at a ski slope ticket window. I offered to help a downed man at the ski rack at Stevens a few years ago. NO KIDDING, there was an ICU nurse, an ER doctor, and a cardiothoracic surgeon (all very nicely outfitted for the ski slope ) already coding the guy. I backed away politely to make room for the paramedics.

If you can make it to the chairlift, the odds get bad. Sure the red jackets store AEDs at the tops of the highest chairs and are all trained in CPR. It will take a while for them to get to you and to get you off the mountain.

Really dude - take your asperin and your blood pressure meds and your statins and get back in the game as soon as your cardiologist clears you. You werent on those meds before and now the deck is stacked in your favor now. Never exercise beyond your comfort level.

If you really think your doctor is trying to poison you, you should find a new one.

So, I will probably take it easy this season. Hopefully it will be el Nino and suck and I won't feel so bad about missing out (nanner nanner on everyone else).

I will ask my Dr this but one question I have is: If I have a heart attack should I stay put on the slope and wait for patrol or try to make it to the base? My last attack I was still able to walk around just hurt like hell. I was in the middle of exercizing at the gym and I think I could make it down the hill if I was already halfway there.

Next to the worst case scenario is I'm past the 90 minute window on saving the muscle by the time I get to the hospital. In this case I'd probably lose about half of my heart's pumping capacity. Maybe I should stick to Snoqualmie this season to be as close as possible to the hospital?

Thanks for all the advice guys.