A discussion from the Masters Rowing International Facebook Group - very useful insights from people with similar health situations, medical experts and the rest of us who are following and bookmarking the discussion in the hope that we won't need to refer to it for ourselves in future.
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I had an episode of atrial fibrillation a week last Sunday. As a bloke in his early 60s that's not too surprising; apparently rowers have 8x the chance, and I'm in the peak age bracket too. Looking back I have a suspicion that those times over the past year when my heart rate monitor was acting a bit weird, it's because my heart was acting a bit weird, and the HRM was probably fine. I'm waiting for a followup with the cardiologist, but have discovered that the beta blockers I'm currently on until then make ergs and weights completely impossible - serious "head feels like it will explode" side effects. The erg was especially exciting. And not in the good way. Clearly won't be on the water for the next couple of weeks.
Does anyone have any advice for training/rowing with AFib, assuming I get put on a gentler treatment plan? I realise everyone is different and it may not be relevant to me, but it would be nice to know it isn't 100% certain my rowing days are over. I'm not quite ready to just swan around at regattas in my blazer telling people how good I wasn't. (Although that is the backup plan.)
Further resources
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