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I have a couple of questions but some real quick background info first. I'm 40, non smoker, no diabities, etc..
I have as long as I can remember, been short of breath during physical activity. As a kid, playing outside all day would result in painful chest, burning lungs feeling, and my legs would get so swollen it was painful to sleep at night.
It never really improved through adulthood, but I think my body learned to adapt.
I recently decided to go in after a couple of years of really trying to improve my cardio performance through excecise, hiking and backpacking, but I never saw any improvement.
Symtoms I get during physical activity would be shortness of breath, tightness in chest, shoulder pain, pain up the back of the neck, lightheaded feeling, swollen ankles/lower extremities.
On the first stress test, I came back 'positive' - I hit my target HR in a couple of minutes, and max HR of 180 in just over 5 min. I just did the nuclear stress test, but won't know those results and the echocardiogram for another couple of weeks.
Now, my question: When I hike or backpack, my HR when walking on mainly level ground is generaly at around 160, and going uphill, generaly 185 - 200 (or more). And this is all day. (8+ miles a day)
Even going up one flight of stairs my HR will go up to about 150. Am I causing damage to my heart keeping my HR up that high for so many hours? Or will will it help strengthen my heart even if some parts of the ticker may not be ticking quite right?
Over the years I've learned just to tough it out, just deal with it, but I'm now concerned that maybe I'm pushing myself a bit too hard.
Any thoughts?
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