British Heart Foundation – Why I support it

British Heart Foundation – Why I support it How important is the British Heart foundation? My personal interest in its work I feel profoundly lucky that research and consequent developments in the treatment of heart problems has benefited me. I have a pacemaker/defibrillator in my chest which ensures my heart rate never falls too low […]
What’s wrong with my heart? A surprising heart problem, my recovery and ICD pacemaker

Anyone who meets me would probably think that I am a very healthy individual. I have felt very well this year and have been very active doing exercise routines most days, swimming in the summer in the sea and rivers, gardening, painting and decorating, and doing quite a lot of walking etc. Hidden problems However, […]
My unexpected experience as a heart patient – Part Two, the Angiogram

What it’s like having an angiogram – actually a very interesting experience I was moved into a cardiac ward and put onto a bed. I had hardly got onto the bed and looked around me when a message came that I could have an angiogram immediately. Hospital porters pushed my bed into a small room. […]
My unexpected experience as a heart patient – Part One, a lucky start

I believed I was reasonably fit (February 2019, age 76). After all, for about 10 years I’d been doing a lot of jogging and other exercise. Typically I ran 6 or 7 miles a week (almost two miles every other day) and on days when I didn’t run I usually lifted weights for about 20 […]
Can too much exercise kill? – How I nearly did too much

I’m now 76 (August 2019). For the last ten years or so I’ve run a little under two miles every other day, and on my off days I’ve enjoyed exercising with weights, nothing massive. About 7 kg in each hand: 10 lifts above my head from shoulder height, ten lifts from floor to above my […]
Disturbed heart rhythm – risk of sudden cardiac death

If you are in tip-top physical condition and exercising a lot you may be in greater danger than you realise. I thought I was super-fit but one day, at the age of 76, I unexpectedly felt faint and had a fast heart beat. I was later told that this “episode” could have proved fatal. It […]