Following a recent heart scare (90% blockage to my right artery) and the fitting of a drug elluting stent two and a half weeks ago anyone out there in STW world been through the same procedure (must be, the NHS do 90,000 of these insertions each year) and how long before you went riding again?

Also, how long before you stop wondering if you’re gong to wake in the morning:-/

Ta.

Ask your doctor, take it easy. Get a heart monitor and set a conservative limit. A friend had one fitted last year, he seemed happy enough doing his normal walking and skiing but his friends continually wanted him to take it easy.

DONT get a heart monitor.. your ‘signal’ can be all over the place .. enough to make your monitor show you appearing to be in all kinds of trouble.. DONT.. the good news.. 30 years ago you d be dead probably now and your not.. you will wake in the morning and you will feel okay… mountain biking is not for some time though.. take life easy change to an appropriate diet do the recommended excercises to raise your heart level and let it fall again.. literally run the thing in you ll be shifting more blood now and things will have to balance out a little.. drugs? let them settle let your body be fully comfortable with them before you go hike a bike or downhill racing..

i found sex was great a raising and lowering the pulse and its relatively short time wise excerise.. am i a dr. no but i ve had my heart out on a table and been sliced and diced.. 17 years 4 months ago..

It depends if it was fitted for stable angina or an acute heart attack (‘acute coronary syndrome’). Usually we would suggest a graded return to activity over a few weeks based on your symptom burden with no ‘limits’ as such. More exercise is almost always better. But I am not going to make any recommendations without knowing a detailed medical history. So yeah, speak to your doctor – ideally your cardiologist if possible.

Good luck with the recovery – let us know how you get on.

COI: I’m a Cardiology Registrar. 7037729.

I had five stents fitted just before last Christmas. I was advised not to push too hard not to return to cycling for a month and was put on a rehab program at the local hospital run by the physiotherapists. When I did start cycling again I took it easy at first and gradually increased the length and intensity of my cycling. Look after yourself and have a nice Christmas.

Two stents fitted 5 years ago, started cycling within 1 month because of need to exercise more, and always had cycled loads in youth. Wondered about what was going on inside for a couple of months, would they collapse, block etc

Then went for one of those “treadmill of death” tests at the hospital where you’re given free reign to go as hard as you can until you can’t go any more and are left near death as gradient increases. Specialist said results were fine, so that meant to me no limits on bike as I wouldn’t push myself as hard as I did on the treadmill!

Never think about them now unless subject crops up in conversation or on forum such as this. STW – Stenttrackworld

Good luck

I’ve just been through this, and all the advice is to take it easy but start with low intensity exercise.
I went to the local rehab clinic and was given a HR monitor and limit of 110 BPM for the first 2 weeks and then told to exercise using the Borg exertion scale but keep things in the relatively low to medium intensity.
I do more running than cycling now but I was back out running after about 6 weeks but keeping things steady and built up from there.
I had my event in July and a couple of weekends ago dropped my local parkrun pb into the 18s.
As above consult your doctor, but all the advice I’ve been given is to exercise but be sensible and don’t try and push too early on. Build up slowly and enjoy some more relaxed activity. Reset your goals and take each week at a time. Listen to your body and know when to stop if anything changes.
Good luck and welcome to the club (Stent).

When I had my stents fitted I was on Beta Blockers, so doing much was impossible, and back on the aspirin soon after the hole in my groin had healed up. I didn’t fancy opening that up again, so I didn’t cycle for about 3 months. There’s plenty else you could be doing.

Thanks for the reassuring comments everyone.

When I had my angiogram the doc said that I was suffering from acute angina, given that the episodes were coming in without any exertion. Pre-stent I’ve been road riding between 80 and 140 miles per week up here in the Lakes, so most rides are a min of 3,000ft of climb. There are some flatter routes I can do to set me off slowly.

I’ll start off slow and steady and build up over time whilst listening to my body.

Thanks again all.

“treadmill of death” tests

How long did you last St George? I did 14 minutes but they still told me to take it easy on the bike (nothing competitive).

How long did you last St George?

Honestly can’t remember but I don’t think it was as long as that, but felt like never ending!

Please ask your Doctor / Surgeon. Don’t take advice from here even if someone has been through same procedure we are ALL different.