Chest pains in Athlete

Posted by Peter on June 12, 1999 at 21:52:44
I and 47 and have experienced chest pains for the past 2 months while cycle racing.
A year ago I had a treadmill stress test, ECG's and Ultrasound of the heart. Other than my high BP nothing was noticed. By BP is typically 140/90 and resting pulse is 43 bpm.
I have been cycing competitively for 12 years and am near the top of my age group in the country.
I have had a 3 week course of Losec to see if it was G/Reflux. No change.
The pain is a strong burning one in the area of lower throat to mid breastbone, that only occurs at 90% and above effort. Once the effort is removed it reduces over 5-10 minutes to normal. No abnormal pulse is noticed.
Posted by CCF CARDIO MD - CRC on June 14, 1999 at 11:11:33
Dear Peter,
It is always somewhat difficult to determine the source of pain in situations such as yours.  My strategy is to assume the worst, that it is cardiac related, and work to disprove that assumption.  You are in a high risk age catergory for heart disease despite being physically active.  Is this new or has this been happening for a while?  Is there a family history of heart disease?  Do you know your cholesterol?
I hope you find this information useful.  Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only.  Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies.  Please feel free to write back with additional questions.
If you would like to make an appointment at the Cleveland Clinic Heart Center, please call 1-800-CCF-CARE or inquire online by using the Heart Center website at www.ccf.org/heartcenter.  The Heart Center website contains a directory of the cardiology staff that can be used to select the physician best suited to address your cardiac problem.