The widowmaker heart attack can strike cyclists of almost any age. It’s not isolated to cyclists, but cycling plays a critical role in your chances of surviving a widomaker heart attack. If it happens while cycling, knowing what it feels like can help save your life.
In the Movie Heart Attacks
You’ve seen it in the movies; someone grasping their chest in pain, and no one doubts what’s happening. But most heart attacks happen more slowly, and if you’re out on your bike, the simple fact that you’re pushing yourself can cause you to hurt. But there are indicators that you might be having a more serious issue.
Why a Widowmaker Heart Attack Occurs
A windowmaker heart attack can occur when arteries become blocked in the heart when cholesterol, fat and other substances build up in the blood over an extended period of time. The substance forms a hard coating, known as plaque, on the inside of your vessels, narrowing them. Also known as CAD, or coronary artery disease, the plaque-choked vessels restrict blood flow to your heart. Widowmakers occur when the blockage occurs in the left-descending anterior artery. The left anterior descending artery supplies blood to the heart muscle.
One Out of Ten
Heart attacks are one thing, but on average, only one out of ten people survive a widowmaker heart attack. A blocked left-descending artery is typically an issue of genetics and lifestyle. You’re not bullet-proof if you cycle, but you’re more likely to survive a widowmaker because of your lifestyle, and the fact that cyclists tend to eat healthier foods, and pay more attention to what their body is telling them.
Surviving a Widowmaker Heart Attack
Widowmakers are survivable depending on the degree of blockage. Odds of surviving anything over a 90 percent blockage are not good. Cycling can give you the edge needed to survive a widowmaker heart attack by strengthening existing veins, utilizing additional feeder veins, and keeping you overall healthier. If by chance, you do have a widowmaker heart attack and you’re an active cyclist, the overall fitness of your heart and circulatory system give you better odds of surviving it, and your recovery is faster.
Get a Checkup
If you’ve not yet began a cycling regimen, or even if you’re an experienced cyclist, a complete physical by a doctor is in order, especially if you’re over 50. Inform your family doctor that you plan on getting into cycling. If your doctor has any suspicions that you may have issues with your heart or circulatory system, he or she will refer you to a cardiologist for further evaluation, and you and your cardiologist can take it from there.
What it Feels Like
If you’ve not had a physical in the past six months, or even if you have had one, there’s no guarantee that you won’t have issues with your heart. The most common symptom is angina, which is pressure, pain or fullness of the chest, and it typically feels deep. For cyclists, angina might not be present until you hit 10-20 mph, or less if you raise your heart rate to a certain point. When you back off the pedals and your heart rate lowers, the pain level may or may not lower with it.
If it Gets Worse
If the pain continues to get worse — a burning, expanding sun in your chest, spreading to jaws, arms or back, get off the bike immediately. If you feel nauseous, sick or sweaty or a combination of all of them, you could be having a widowmaker. Call 911, and whoever else you need to. Don’t get back on your bike.
Women and Men
Symptoms of a widowmaker, or heart attack in general, can be different in men and women. Instead of intense pressure, such as in men, women may experience shortness of breath, pressure or pain in the lower chest or upper abdomen, dizziness, lightheadedness or fainting, upper back pressure or extreme fatigue. But the symptoms are not specific and they may or may not be grouped together and can be different in everyone. One cyclist who survived a widowmaker, thought a deep, sore throat was the cause of his pain.
The Emergency Room
In the event you are taken to a hospital, the odds that you survive a widowmaker improve. The cardiac team at hospitals are trained to take care of you. They deal with it on a daily basis. The first test they administer will likely be an EKG, followed by an angiogram. The angiogram involves injecting dye into your veins to find the location of the blockage, and to determine the procedure needed to get you back on your feet, and bike. It could be that they place a stent, a hollow tube, in your artery, to open the blockage. If that’s not possible, by-pass surgery may be the only option, roll with it.
Recovery Time from A Widowmaker Heart Attack
When to resume cycling is based largely on how well you recover from the operation. That in turn is dictated by your age, your level of fitness and your general standard of health prior to the operation. Everyone is different, but if you only have a stent, you could be back on your bike in a few weeks or less. If it’s open heart by-pass it will be at least 6 weeks or longer, and then, for short rides only. The main concern with open heart is the healing. Vessel grafts heal relatively fast, but your chest is held together with wires, and cartilage takes longer to heal. Physical exertion is not the issue, the real issue is the possibility of crashing, and opening up your zipper-chest, and it’s not pretty.
Stay on Your Bike
No matter how many miles you have under your belt, you can still be genetically predispositioned to high-blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. And even though you can knock out a century in six hours, it doesn’t mean you’re invulnerable to a widowmaker heart attack. Keep eating right, stay on your bike, get regular checkups, and beat the odds of the widowmaker.