Rider Down.

Checking in here at Johns Hopkins for the visit that would tell me if my heart is healthy to ride on through life, or if the railroad switch was pulled sending me into the fascinating world of ARVD.

Although my stress test went pretty well lasting 22 minutes (my previous best was a meager 19 minutes) a slight change in my ECG and the presence of PVCs originating from several different areas was the anticlimactic check-swing that struck me out.
ARVD is for me.

I don’t have much time to go into details (and my knowledge is mostly derived from the conversation I had with Dr. Calkins a few hours ago), but apparently ARVD isn’t as black and white as I presumed. Studies are currently underway that attempt to separate ARVD patients into two camps – those with the known genetic mutation, and those who do not have this mutation but might have an unknown genetic sequence that when combined with a medium-to-high level of exercise, either leads to ARVD or causes a condition that mimics it. The ‘exercise induced’ crowd seems to have it a little better than the genetic group who typically have more classic and obvious symptoms and test results. ARVD specialists are now doing research into the former group to find where these differences lie and if this means a different prognosis especially when it concerns exercise.

While it’s recommended that classic ARVD patients avoid all sports and any activity that would cause one to loose their breath, it might be possible that people with exercise induced ARVD can manage a certain amount of activity if they are deemed ‘low risk’ and take the proper precautions… whether that’s an ICD, or beta-blockers, or reduced frequency, or reduced intensity, or all of the above.

Time will tell what my risk factor is, and if I’m so lucky that I can be moderately active, what type of safety net I need to keep me out of trouble.