Heavy legs

[Phil]

Hi,

I'm wanting to know if others get 'heavy legs'? I currently have moderate aortic stenosis and I feel pretty ok apart from my legs feeling very tired and heavy (some of the time).

I this common, or is it just me?

Any responses appreciated.

Cheers.



Phil.

 

[Fundy]

Phil,

I got heavy legs from a few long hill, or stair climbs this summer. Even though my breathing felt well, no dizziness, or feeling of exhaustion. However, I wondered if maybe this was the way my body was telling me I was going from almost severe into severe.

I did a stress echo on the last week day of September and my legs didn't want to move faster after second level, did another level or two anyway though...but I felt great. Ended up doing three minutes less than previously. Following week I met with cardiologist and she mentioned it was now time to replace the valve, and it would take about 6 weeks to get to that point.

Yesterday I got home from the hospital after the aortic valve replacement.

It wouldn't surprise me if you were now severe yourself. I might take it easy until you can confirm otherwise maybe.

 

[Phil]

Thanks.

He mentioned he felt the valve replacement surgery was most likely 12 - 24 months away.

When I was approaching my first replacement in 2002 I experienced the heavy leg sensation then. It's not there all the time, or is it particularly diblitating, it just seems to creep up on me and makes me feel tired.

Thanks for your response.

You got home from hospital yesterday. Wow. Hope all is going well.

All the best.


Phil.

 

[yotphix]

Phil, I had heavy legs, fatigue and very sore calves quite often in the few months prior to my surgery. Those were actually the things which lead me to tell my Cardio to suggest that I was now symptomatic, and should talk to the surgeon. The Echo showed a fairly significant deterioration from previous looks. Whatever your symptoms, the decisions regarding surgery with have more to do with the progressive remodeling of your heart as it attempts to compensate for deficiencies. The idea is to stop the progress before it is irreversible. Make sure your cardio knows that you have these feelings.

paul

 

[Bean Counter]

Prior to surgery, I was a pretty serious marathon runner. I really pushed the envelope with the mileage I was putting in 80 to 100 miles per week. Never had any problems with my legs being over fatigued.

My BAV eventually worsended to the point where the cardiologist pulled the plug on marathonton training. He restricted me to lower mileage and told me to cut out all the intense stuff; basically keep all my running at an easy pace. As my condition worsened over the next 6 months, I noticed my legs were always tired. This did not make sense since I was running 1/2 the mileage my body was used to and the intensity was easy.

 

[bradvo]

Yes my legs were tired, I did not now at the time my Aortic valve was bad. My lungs were also tired tho.
While working I would dread having to walk from one side of our plant to the other, our facility is about the size of a city block.
I now have my new valve and walk around 20 minutes, my legs are slowly getting stronger along with lung capacity, I'll bet by end of next month I'm going
to feel 10 years younger. I never knew before I was oxygen deprived, I'm happy to already feel some positive results of valve replacement. In fact I think I felt positive results
while still in hospital.

Brad

 

[scott.eitman]

Thanks for posting this. I have been meaning to post something similar. Yes, I experience this. Slightly with my legs, but much more with my arms. Unfortunately, surgery has not made it go away for me. I have a stress echo scheduled an 12/9, so hopefully I will learn more about the reasons.

 

[Phil]

Thanks Bean Counter, Brad and Scot,

I only found out my valve was deteriorating a few weeks ago and since then the symptomns seem to have exacerbated. I'm having trouble knowing if they are in my 'head' or real.

My next Echo is in April next year and I hope this will provide more certainty as to when the surgery is likely to occur. I don't really want to continue for months or maybe a year or so feeling the way I do at the moment, but understand this may also be the case.

In the meantime I know I need to get on with things which includes a run, before work now. Nothing like the miles you do Bean Counter - a few times around the park over the road followed by a walk with the dog. Thanks again for your responses.

Cheers.


Phil.

 

[yotphix]

"I'm having trouble knowing if they are in my 'head' or real."

That's a familiar sentence to most of us, and something I struggled with for 10 years between initial diagnosis and surgery. Once my surgery was scheduled for a date 3 months out, I began to internally monitor myself even more closely, and had to really fight to keep a level head about things. I was specifically unsure about the heavy leg feeling, right up to the surgery itself, (by which time I had been living with it for nearly one year, and acutely aware of it for six months). It's also hard to know which things are symptoms of heart disease, and which are signs of aging. What I can tell you, is that I now feel physically better than I did 10 years ago, and can objectively say that I find it easy to run farther, faster and more often now, at 42 and 2.5 years post surgery than I did 10 years ago, when I had only 'moderate to severe' AV stenosis and a concurrently enlarged ventricle with thickened walls. The subjective indications of deterioration are factored into the decision regarding the time to intervene, along with the more objective measures of heart remodeling and valve disease progressive against established baselines. To reiterate, make sure that your Cardio knows how you are feeling.

Paul

 

[Phil]

Thanks Paul. Will do.

Phil.

 

[normofthenorth]

Last several weeks, when I've done my weekly gruelling 45-minute Exercycle workout in Cardio Rehab, pushing my HR up to ~140 then letting it settle to ~125, over and over and over, I've noticed that my legs were starting to get tired before I was finishing the Cardio prescription. My Cardio nurse and I both thought that was GOOD news (She: "I can live with that!"), because it indicated that my CV fitness was improving enough that I had to push my legs harder than before to reach the target HRs. (I've also started playing volleyball again, and I play a 1.5-hour session the night before the Cardio Rehab class, which we both thought helped explain the tired legs.)

I hope we're right!