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icd
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Aug 30, 2007 - 12:33am PT
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Any climbers out there with an ICD and still climbing reasonably hard. 5.12 ish The doc says I will tear the leads out if I continue to climb. Anyone?
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nick d
Trad climber
nm
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Aug 30, 2007 - 12:53am PT
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I have lost touch with this guy, but a friend had one and was an active climber. Probably not a 5.12er though. Of course, back then almost no one was.
I remember him telling me his biggest problem was carrying a pack, the strap pushed on it and hurt. He always just wore one strap and put the other behind his shoulder.
I don't know very much about them, but for what it's worth, they put his in through his armpit? I think? I don't know if they wind up in different part of the heart. Sorry to be so vague, but I figure any knowledge might be of some use.
Michael
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Gimp
Trad climber
Grand Junction
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Always dangerous to second guess another Doc since they know the details much better than someone outside looking in. With that said I posed this question to my wife, a cardiac electrophysiologist of some note, who still climbs on occasion.
She said she would be more concerned about an event than lead dislodgment or cracking. Presumably the box is in a pectoral or subpectoral pocket. She usually recommends limited use of arm for six weeks.
With regards to events, originally the recommendation was no driving with ICD, however, now if event free for 6 months most people will drive.
Would stress, sit down and talk with your Doc about your desires and give him more info, maybe it will alter his thinking.
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ramiroaramburu
Sport climber
Barcelona, Spain
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Hello,
I'm Ramiro, spanish sport climber, i just out from the hospital with an ICD, I had mortal arritmia, dead for 15 minutes, but luckly srvived and no damage on my brain. The only thing is de ICD the put on my body. Doctors were very serious telling me I MUST avoid climbing again.
Does anyone had any problem on climbing with ICD, any problem with de cables or leads?
Any information will be very helpfull form me...I'm totally depress......
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stilltrying
Trad climber
washington indiana
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Well I have some experience with this. I had my PM/ICD implanted in May of 2007 and replaced Jan of 2012. About a third of my heart is dead and I am totally PM dependent. There's more but I will skip it. I have climbed through years of heart issues and although I am not climbing currently I will tell you my experience. I am a very mediocre climber but have climbed at El Potrero, The Red, T-Wall, and Seneca with an ICD. A couple of years ago I climbed in the St. George, Utah area with some Canadian's and a Lady from California. Three of us had ICD's. I should of written a article about it as that was probably a first. The Lady and I climbed around 5.8 0r 5.9 on Top Rope. Rolf (from Canada) was 60 at the time and he led 5.12 sport on one occasion. My situation was due to heart attacks that left me in permanent a-fib and was killing me slowly. The PM raised my Ejection fraction from 15% to 50% - lucky for sure. Rolf and the Lady from California had both dropped dead from Ventricular Tachycardia and survived. I believe Rolf has been used on bill boards in Canada to show what can be done. To note , they could party like animals to. I don't drink except for an occasional beer and they could hit it late into the night and climb hard the next day. I really don't know how they managed that :0) Anyway I weight lift, mountain bike, road ride, do aerobics and climb when in shape. Don't get me wrong, it is HARD and it can be SCARY if it gets in your head. I find I am more afraid of the whole thing in the wee hours of the night and really do not think about it when I am working out. I am 61 yrs. old, too heavy, in decent shape and my heart and knees suck so hiking kills me. If you are otherwise healthy then you have to make decisions based on your judgment with the consideration of what the Doctor says and that is a different for every case. My device has never shocked me and I have considered having it turned off (the ICD part). In my case I have no escape rhythm so if my unit is damaged then I am gone. In your case if your device or leads are damaged you would face further surgery or if it failed during an episode it could be bad. My EP whom I trust does not seem too concerned that I climb or whatever. He did say that he worries about bench press type movements so I do very little of that. I have wrecked mountain biking a lot, collided with another cyclist and broke 2 ribs last year and survived decking from 40 foot (that was before ICD but was on blood thinners) so guess I have 9 lives. If you are super prone to Ventricular Tachycardia then you may want to be cautious. Oddly a lot of the people who have had issues are pretty inactive. I have one lead that was recalled 6 months after I had it implanted and it is still in there (closely monitored) so I know it will be an issue someday but I may get hit by a truck before then. All I know is I feel good when doing the things I enjoy and I go into a major funk otherwise. No easy answers. Some helpful sites. Pacemakerclub.com (Rolf use to be on there, not sure now) and Icdsupportgroup.com and Cardiacathletes.org there are some inspiring heart patients doing incredible stuff out there.
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ramiroaramburu
Sport climber
Barcelona, Spain
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Jul 14, 2013 - 03:00pm PT
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Ey guys thanks to all of you for the replies.
I'm feeling much better now.
Soon I will try to climb again some easy level routes and see how I feel!
Keep in touch guys!!!
Ramiro
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fat-n-sassy
Social climber
San Francity, CA
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Jul 14, 2013 - 03:54pm PT
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YER GONNA DIE
And then come back to life.
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Jul 14, 2013 - 04:18pm PT
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I'm sick of Yer Gonna Die posts.
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ramiroaramburu
Sport climber
Barcelona, Spain
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Jul 21, 2013 - 02:15pm PT
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Ey fat-n-sassy!
This is not a joke!
How can you be so stupid man?
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stilltrying
Trad climber
washington indiana
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Jul 21, 2013 - 08:22pm PT
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Nothing to do with climbing but a good illustration how one never knows what will happen in this life. Shortly after getting my PM/ICD I came across this account. Three men went out to lower a flag during a storm. They were all hit by lightning. One man had an ICD and when it detected no heart rhythm it kicked in and saved him. His two friends both died. Truth is stranger than fiction. Glad you are ready to give your climbing a shot, good luck and have fun.
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stilltrying
Trad climber
washington indiana
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Jul 21, 2013 - 08:32pm PT
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The article on ICD study was interesting. I have other heart issues so it applies to me in a smaller degree. Seems to indicate that sports participation is o.k. for the most part. I cycle a lot both on the road and on single track. To me this is more worrisome than climbing as getting blasted off your bike by shock would not be good flying down some dirt trail. I would for sure use a gri gri when belaying so if something happened the leader still has a anchor and a chance to extricate their self.
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Coverdale
Sport climber
Sliema
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I just got an ICD implanted too... how are you guys doing? I can't wait to start climbing again!
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ELM !
climber
Near Boston
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You can usually return to a normal lifestyle after an ICD placement. Most docs want you do avoid heavy upper-body stuff for 2 months but after that you should be fine. I have met marathon runners and many cyclists who have ICD's. I have been told stories of the ICD going off just at the wrong moment and people keeping it together. One guy said he could tell when it was going to go off so he had a second or two to prepare. He also had it go off when him and his wife were getting busy....she was not pleased.
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Coverdale
Sport climber
Sliema
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Sep 14, 2015 - 02:32am PT
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What about long stretches for example? The main concern seems to be damaging or detaching leads...do you have to be really careful when climbing or is it business as usual ie. can I just climb as I did before the ICD was implanted?
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stilltrying
Trad climber
washington indiana
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Sep 14, 2015 - 09:57am PT
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Boy the ICD business is booming. Be sure to give the leads a couple of months to get locked in. Been a little over 8 yrs nows with my pm/icd and I am on my 2nd one. Have not climbed in 3 years. About a month ago my device paced me out of V tach for the 1st time. No shock was needed and the event was 7 seconds long. I was unaware of it and only found out at my 3 month check up. Pretty sure from the day and time recorded that I was eating at 5 guys when it occurred. Maybe don't climb at your absolute limit but in the end only you can decide where the line is. Ain't it fun 😆
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Coverdale
Sport climber
Sliema
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Sep 15, 2015 - 06:55am PT
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Thanks. I've decided to start climbing again at the end of November which would mean 3 months since the implantation. Will start easy and see how it goes I guess!
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Coverdale
Sport climber
Sliema
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Sep 22, 2015 - 05:27am PT
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5 weeks since my implant. Feeling fine. Counting the days until I get out on the rock again. Have decided to allow 3months from implant date to make sure leads are securely fixed. Fingers crossed!
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ramiroaramburu
Sport climber
Barcelona, Spain
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Dec 15, 2018 - 02:56pm PT
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EY guys! How are You doing?
Just to tell You already passed 5 year since I have implanted my ICD and climbing since then without any problem!!! Hope all of You are great and keep doing sports!!
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