The first day of the rest of my life

Diltiazem. Good luck with your new medication. Hope it makes a big difference for you.

yeah, that sounds right. Do you use it?

I am 43 and at 38 started THE PILL. Boy, WAS I A BASKET CASE. I could write 400 essays on this; lucky for you, I'll spare you 3,99 of them.

If it's not an ace inhibitor then it's almost certainly an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB's). There's a chemical called angiotensin II that constricts blood vessels, raising bp. Ace inhibitors restrict the amount if this chemical; ARB's reduce the effect of angiotensin II on the blood vesel walls. Both work similarly.

ARB's are a lot more expensive than ace inhibitors ( which can be bought in generic now ) but HOW MUCH is your heart worth ?

Effects on my training (at least up to now: NIL)...matter of fact, 5 yrs ago I got off my a$$ and started all this stuff......along with the bp med.

Both of these meds may be somewhat preventative, to an extent, on your heart and kidneys. Dr's can comment more on this.

I'll be happy to talk, answer ?'s... but thru all I've learned .....if you're gonna obsess over something, let it be bp.

RELAX.....deep breaths, lots of H20, and getting skinnier helped me.

By the way, are you type A ?


Edited by tri42 2007-08-17 7:44 PM

I started taking Metatoprol earlier this year and I LOVE it.  Overall HR lower, BP and HR lower especially after endurance workouts (2 hours plus).  Overall, I feel calmer, less anxiety, sleeping better.  Once I had everything checked out to ensure that nothing was physically wrong with my heart, I felt great having something mesh with my long-distance training.  I was given the Dr.'s full steam ahead to continue with 1/2 and Ironman training on this.  I take 1/2 of regular dose per day, so very low, but that was enough for me. 

Type A? OMG yes!

I'm still a little new to all of this terminology, but I thought this stuff was a "calcium blocker"?? Truthfully, I never heard of it before today. The reason that the cardiologist gave me this is because not only do I have HBP, but my heart also "pounds" at night, and he said it would solve both problems. After doing some reading, that seems to be the case. In addition, earlier in the summer, I was diagnosed with "left ventricular hypertrophy". My left ventricle is getting thicker because of the HBP.

I've been working pretty hard between workouts, diet, and suppliments to get my BP down, but no luck. I'm just looking forward to seeing 120/80 come up on the monitor now... It's also 10:20, and I haven't felt my heart "pound" yet, so I guess I"m heading down the right road.

I guess if I'm lucky, I'll end up like you guys and this will actually help me (in the Tri's) instead of hurt me. It's just nice to know there's someone else out there going thru this. Thanks guys.

Glad to hear that pounding is going away ...I had that too.

How was your LVH diagnosed ? with a stress echo ? Looks like you're doing the right things ! Keep up the good work.


Edited by tri42 2007-08-18 5:34 AM

Well, I originally went to the cardiologist for heart palpitations. During the course of the 'normal' tests, I had an ECG done where they found the LVH. The doctor said there was no way to be sure whether or not my LVH was caused by my blood pressure, or by my increased athletic load. Until last year, I was practicing for the couch potato olympics, and was pushing close to 240lbs... Since I just took up Triathlon, and started hauling all that weight around, he said that was a good possibility for the LVH. I'm supposed to be re-evaluated for it in a year. But - if all goes as planned, I'll lose a bunch more weight (in addition the the 25 - 30 I've already lost) and the BP meds will get my pressure to where it's supposed to be, and hopefully I'll have a stellar report next year. Let's hope so right?

I'm with you on this one. I have a bad family history and have been checking my BP regularly for about a year. Watched diet, improved fitness, lost some weight (about 15lbs overweight w/ BF about 18%)... no luck. I'm in the PRE HTN category but started an ACE Inhibitor with little side effects. On the side, do not take your first dose after a long ride/run like me. I was in a daze for half a day because of dehydration/vasodilation. My wife thought I took a qualude!

I looked up Diltiazem and it's listed as a calcium channel blocker.  I am now only on a calcium channel blocker after being on up to five different drugs at once to control my hypertension.
  Most recently I stopped taking a beta blocker and I am amazed how much that was limiting me (bike speed went up 3-4 mph).  I don't feel that the CCB is limiting me anywhere's near the same way, butI won't know for show till I get fitter/healthier and can stop taking it as well.

Yeah, I heard that beta blockers were probably the worst thing for endurance athletes. From what I can tell, they really sap your strength. What's the down side of CCB's though? Surely they don't inhibit calcium in your system do they?

Check out Hypertension in Athletes recommendations by the American Academy of Family Practice.

It is written for the public and is very helpful. Generally speaking, ACE inhibitors are best tolerated. Ca Channel blockers do NOT effect calcium's function at the level of muscle (skeletal or cardiac). Diltiazem is often used for palpitations BTW.

Thankyou! That's exactly what I was looking for! Yeah, the entire reason I starteed seeing the cardiologist in the first place was because of heart palpitiations. It was while investigating that that we discovered my HBP and LVH. Diltiazem was the drug of choice because it would help both.