Hi Taranjit,
1. What is a dissection / aneruysm?
An aneurysm is a balloon-like swelling which develops in the wall of a weakened blood vessel.
The aorta is the largest artery in the body. It starts at the heart and passes through the chest to the abdomen.
Aortic aneurysms can develop anywhere along the aorta. Once an aneurysm has started to develop, it slowly grows in diameter over a period of several years.
As an aneurysm grows larger, the wall of the artery thins. When the strength of the aneurysm wall becomes too weak the wall can break, resulting in a ruptured aneurysm.
Blood loss from a ruptured aneurysm is usually large and rapid. In most cases, aortic aneurysms cause no symptoms until they rupture; at which point they cause sudden, severe abdominal and/or back pain, sometimes loss of consciousness, and shock due to severe blood loss.
Despite best efforts, most patients die soon after aneurysm rupture.
What causes AORTIC ANEURYSMS?
The exact cause of aortic aneurysms has been difficult to identify with certainty. Although it is thought that family history (Of all patients with aortic aneurysms, approximately 20% are eventually found to have a family member that was, or is, also affected.), smoking, hypertension, and high blood cholesterol are probably the most important risk factors, it is not yet clear how these factors interact to cause the development of aneurysms.
Once an aortic aneurysm is known to be present, the best guides to its risk of rupture are size, progressive growth, or any symptoms that might suggest the aneurysm is dangerously close to rupturing.
Who is most at risk?
Although aneurysms cut across race and gender, they are ranked in the top ten causes of death for white males over 55.
2. Who orders them? Your doctor will have to request that you have a CT or MRA. These are done on an out-patient basis at a hospital. Many people are now having full body scans as a general health precautionary reading.
3. How are they found? Dissections and Aneurysms are best found via a CT or MRA.
4. Any other weight lifting advice to be careful of while lifting.
Yes. Breathe Correctly! The 2 exercises that put the most strain on the circulartory system are Squats and Leg Press. DO NOT hold your breath while doing these exercises. The strain on your circulartory system is tremendous doing these exercises and can / will cause a balloning or tear,(dissection), in your arteries if you have any existing weakspots. Holding your breathe makes it worse.
My doctors also told me to get off all suppliments. They still do not know what caused my dissection, and write it off as a " congenital tissue disorder". I mainly took Creatine, MegaMass, and some Amino Acids.
I personally know of an other competitive weight lifter that had to retire, not only from lifting but from work. The doctors are not going to operate due to the severity. He knows he is on borrowed time.
Obviously there are many people that do not have this problem, but if you have any heart disease issues, I would strongly reccommend that you consult with your doctors before jumping back into heavy lifting, and get throughly checked out.
It was a very hard thing for me to do when I went back to the gym and only used 45 lbs for my rountines. I cheat alittle now and go up to 65 lb.. IT still is humiliating to use these weights in my mind when I let my vanity take over. MY doctor told me, " All you have to do is look into the morror at your scar as a reminder..that in itself should be a strong warning that it could happen again". He is right. I would much rather continue living and enjoying the world around me as apposed to looking buff and kealing over, no longer to be a part of this wonderful world.
You may want to go and check on some other sites for additional information. Go to some hospital sites like the Mayo clinci and do a "search" on aneurysms and dissections. Or just go out onto the web and do a "search" for dissections or aneurysms. There is little documeted information on them, since there are so few of us left living to study.
A great site for general information is one for folks with Marfans syndrome. This is a disease that generally weakens the arteries and those that have it, are very susseptable to aneurysms and dissections.
The site address is:
http://www.marfan.org/pub/emergency.html
Hope this helps,
Rob
[email protected]
