Diagnosed with Asymmetric Septal Hypertrophy

Training Injuries
1

Hi All:
Five months ago I was diagnosed with Asymmetric Septal Hypertrophy: Septum is part of the muscle of the left ventricle (LV: the main pumping chamber of the heart). Hypertrophy means thickening of the muscle. Unlike concentric hypertrophy where the whole LV is thickened commonly due to high blood pressure, in Asymmetrical Septal Hypertrophy (ASH, which is genetic) only the septum is thickened which may obstruct the blood being pumped out of the heart. This may be dangerous especially during exercise, and one of the causes of sudden disease.

For that reason, I was forced to suspend any kind of exercise for six months. Next month, I will repeat all the exams to see if the Septum reduced the size or not (it was in 0.86 inches and the normal size should be 0.46). If it did not do it, probably I have to leave the training forever (the three doctors that I consulted said the same thing).
The question is: does anyone have this diagnosis and is still training?

Thanks in advance for your help.
Gabriel

2

If you don’t mind me asking I am curious about how you discovered this? I can PM you if you don’t want it public.

3

No problem, is not a secret. I’m from Argentina, and my gym demands a medical approval every year to be able to continue training.
Last November (when I had to revalidate my medical approval) a specialist -a cardiologist- requested three exams: an echosonography (to control the size of the heart), an ergometry (to measure the effort) and a Holter for 24 hours to have a complete picture of the heart and prevent arrhythmias.
In November 2009 I did the same tests and were successful (there was the same problem, but the size was within normal for an athlete).
Anyway, take it easy: it could be genetic (1 in 1000) or could be overtraining.

But my question is if anyone has this problem and continues to train, because my doctor was very clear: if it’s genetic, I will not be able to lift weights anymore.

Thanks.