I am 45 and I had a heart attack last Sunday.

I don’t know any of your answers to your questions just wanted to say I am glad you are okay, it hits us hard when someone young has a heart attack. I hope you are able to come back to the hot yoga soon. Am anxious to here what Gabriel says.

Take care of yourself and god bless.
Marilyn

Hi Mike

It’s amazing isn’t it? How modern medicine can help us in some major ways. You must be grateful for a procedure which has saved your life.

And it must be a relief for you to know that you’re on the mend. No doubt your doctor(s) will be telling you to get exercise! He’ll (or she’ll) be asking you to address your diet. And most likely they’ll be prescribing drugs and you will take them and that approach works too.

For me however, doctors can’t give us all the answers to all sides of the health equations. I don’t believe in the ‘pill for every ill’ mentality. So there’ll come a time where you choose how to continue your path to vibrant health.

What you do depends on you. Are you the kind of person who will be looking for alternatives to drug therapy? Or are you the kind of person who will be following your doctor’s advice to the ‘t’? Or perhaps you’re somewhere in the middle.

As far as exercise goes I can tell you that approached with the right attitude and commitment and techniques you can do this yoga. I am positive that Googling this subject will come up with students who have recovered doing hot yoga. Of course you will have to approach your yoga with caution too! But that may actually make you a more mindful and better yoga practitioner. 😉

Partly what’s GREAT about this yoga is the ‘interval training’ approach. Pose, rest, pose, rest and so on. It’s a powerful way and perhaps the most effective way to gain CV health.

There are many concerns from the other side of the story. I would like to know your thoughts. And then because it is not my place and I am unqualified to diagnose and treat you on a forum I will happily, depending on your response, point you in the direction of best information. I have some resources that may be very interesting to you. I’m not teasing you! But I am simply asking to know what’s important to you.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Mike

A very good friend of mine who has a serious issue (more difficult to treat than your issue) has decided to take her treatment into her own hands – with FANTASTIC results. And actually I am so overjoyed to share that it was I who pointed her in the right direction. The thing that struck me is that she went to see her specialist to share her findings and her system. He was noticeably peeved that she was taking that path … until the penny dropped. She pointed out that while he was doing everything she could for her, it was she who was able to take control and do it for herself. And that is something so empowering in itself!

So whatever that is, do the best thing for you. A friend of mine who is a health educator says that you should become an expert on your disease or condition and be in a position to make decisions.

So often we take the ‘expert’s’ opinion as gospel just because of their sincerity or credentials. While that can be the right way to go it may not always be so. It really pays to question and to be informed.

If you would like a few ideas then I am happy to share them via the PM system.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

doctors, dentists and optometrists all hate it if you demonstrate some knowledge about their profession…a couple of years ago a dental hygenist sees one of my larger fillings and tells me that the world is going to end and I need to get it crowned ($1500). I’m thinking honey just stick to cleaning my teeth and I tell her I think it’s fine. She then goes into more doom and gloom about how it could break and many many stories of the like(The use fear tactics like no tomorrow).

Two years later at the same place the dentist does a small amount of work I needed then I ask him about the filling. He sais mmm I think it looks fine, I’d just leave it.

Moral of the story is you will always know your body better than any professional so trust your instincts and always get a second opinion. They will vary greatly !

Um, as a dentist I can assure you Gus1 that a dental hygienist is not qualified to diagnose and recommend treatment plans as he/she did. This is why the DENTIST whom you saw gave you the opinion that he/she did. So it really isn’t the dentist being angry that you have knowledge, it is an overenthusiastic hygienist who it seems overstepped the bounds of his/her training…kind of like taking your car in for maintenance and having the receptionist tell you that you need new brakes but the mechanic says they just need to be adjusted. Doesn’t mean that the mechanic is an idiot, ya know? Specialist advice is always important and while you do have to know yourself, I personally would really listen and take the advice of a couple of cardiologists. As much as I need to educate myself and listen to my body, my superficial knowledge in this particular vital area doesn’t even come close to surplanting the years of training and experience that these highly respected professionals have.

Anyways, a great place to start would be to see a cardiologist, have a stress test, then ask if yoga is going to be a problem. Don’t even mention the “hot” part…this will separate the “hot” part from the “yoga” part with respect to poses and positions. If yoga is OK, the next step is to ask about saunas/hot tubs/steam units. Then the last question I might as is about running in really hot weather, taking hydration and electrolyte replacement into consideration.

I think that you’ll be able to figure it out with these responses from a cardiologist, and it’d certainly be easier than trying to explain exactly what Hot Yoga is…

As usual, JMnotsoHO
🙂
Freia

Well YAY! That’s fantastic that you found a specialist who knows about Bikrams! So often the knee jerk reaction from pratitioners who aren’t familiar with this form of exericse is a flat-out “no”, probably IMHO due to liability issues and so on.

Please let us know the opinion, and take care of yourself! I’m sure you’ll be back at it soon enough.
Freia

Hello from Canada.
I am a medical transcriptionist, and found this post quite interesting, as you had already embarked upon your healthy lifestyle prior to your MI. I can tell you that I have typed several reports on folks who have had MIs after QUITTING smoking, of all things! It’s like good health is such a shock to the body after so many years of mistreatment.

I wish you all the best in your recovery, and truly hope you are able to resume your Bikram practice quickly… because it feels sooooooo good!

Cheers,
Janice

Hi Sinclair

Well, I want to hear how it goes. It’s a personal decision to go back when YOU want and when you feel it’s safe to do so (the right thing for you). It’s definitely something I would choose to do earlier rather than later (of course it would always be on a case by case basis and determined by a multitude of factors). I hope you come back and report. It sounds as though you have done a little ground work to get you back on track anyhow which to me sounds like the prudent thing to have done.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂