IT IS coming up to 12 months since I started my journey to being diagnosed with a genetic heart condition. I have what is called a bicuspid aortic valve.
Talking about it actually makes it easier to deal with. I also want to raise awareness, as this condition effects two in every 100 people. It is the most common genetic heart condition. Anyone who has had news that they are not super human and have a health risk will understand.
A bicuspid aortic valve is a genetic heart condition formed at birth. It means the valve does not close as effectively and leaks blood back into the heart. Because of this it’s diagnosed as a form of heart disease as it can impact other areas of the heart and its function. This is absolutely f**king terrifying to hear.
The aortic valve is the first valve out of the right side of the heart, which provides oxygenated blood to your body. This means that, when the valve leaks, some blood returns back to the heart after it contracts. It means the heart is pumping more blood out than it’s meant to. This results in higher systolic blood pressure than you should normally have. This has all the negative side affects of high blood pressure and can lead to:
This is why it’s advised to have surgery to replace the valve before further issues arise. My valve is already leaking severely, which means early intervention will be required.
I found out about my heart condition through pure luck. I chose to participate in a study at Liverpool John Moore’s University on individuals using performance enhancing drugs. If I hadn’t, I’d have never known and would have been continuing to put my life at risk pushing bodybuilding.
I have now retired from competitive bodybuilding. The advice from the cardiologist was to stop pushing gear and to stop increasing my body weight. All of this is added risk to my heart. I can’t compete to just go get on stage – I only competed to be the best version of me. So if I'm unable to make the last time I competed look like a child, I don’t want to do it. For me to continue to be competitive I’d need to push body weight up. That means slamming loads of food – which is more pressure on my heart and valve.
If I continued to take anabolic steroids then that would also put more pressure on my heart. It also leads to other risks, such as blood thickness and potential negative blood markers.
The consultant says my valve needs to be replaced sooner rather than later to avoid it causing further damage to other areas of my heart. So I need to come off gear all together – including TRT – because I will need a mechanical valve. This means I will need to take blood thinning medication to avoid clots around the titanium valve. Even TRT makes blood thicker and harder to manage, so I have to come off this too.
I have the all-clear now to continue training how I wish. But in order to prove this, I had to do a cardiac stress test on a bike. This shows my heart is performing and coping very well when under stress. Honestly, this has been a saving grace of this whole issue. If I couldn’t train, I’d have lost my head big time. At least now I can maintain my size and have the stress relief that training provides.
But I do have a request to all my fellow bodybuilders. PLEASE do more to check your health than just get your bloods checked. Get an echocardiogram to understand your heart and other organs. Bloods alone will not identify physical conditions.
A echocardiogram is the best way to identify any issues to the heart. An MRI will then help view the full detail. But an ECG and monitoring blood pressure is a great start.
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