Echocardiogram for a blast and cruise lifestyle, who is actually doing one and what did the cardiologist say?

[Mick AU]

Eight years into blast and cruise now and I have started thinking seriously about getting an echocardiogram done. Bloods I stay on top of, but the heart itself is the one thing I have never actually imaged, and left ventricular hypertrophy is the finding that worries me with this lifestyle. Has anyone here actually gone and had an echo done, and more to the point, what did your cardiologist make of it once they knew you were enhanced? I am half expecting to be lectured and told to stop everything, but I would rather have the real picture than keep guessing. If you have had one, did they find any wall thickening, and did they put you on a monitoring schedule going forward?

[BERLINER]

The thing I regret most is not getting a baseline echo before I ever started blasting. Without that first reading there is no way to tell your cardiologist whether any wall thickening happened over 8 years or 8 months. Mild LVH on its own is common in long term guys and is not an automatic stop sign, what the cardiologist actually cares about is the rate of change and whether your diastolic function still looks normal. If something does show up, getting your blood pressure under control is the single biggest lever you have, far more than fiddling with doses. I got mine from 145 over 90 down to about 125 over 80 and that matters more for the heart over the years than anything else I have done.

[GODZILLA]

Good thread, this is exactly the sort of thing more long term guys should be doing rather than waiting for symptoms to show up. The baseline point is the big one, without an early scan you have nothing to compare against a few years down the line. Keeping blood pressure in check quietly does more for the heart over time than most people give it credit for.

[TEXMEX]

Got my first echo about two years into blast and cruise and it came back mild LVH, wall slightly thick but diastolic function was preserved. The cardiologist was fine with it once we focused on the numbers rather than the cause, the conversation that actually matters is rate of change not a single snapshot. The biggest lever he put me on was blood pressure, got mine from 145/90 down to around 125/80 and that does more for remodelling over the years than fiddling with dose ever will. My one regret is not getting a baseline echo before I ever started so I could see the change properly, get one now even if you are years deep already. Repeat it every couple of years and you have real data instead of guessing.

[Chi Guy]

Got my first echo about a year into b and c and wish I had done it before I ever started. Came back with mild lv hypertrophy, wall slightly thick but diastolic function was fine so the cardiologist wasnt fussed, said the conversation is about rate of change not the single reading. The big lever he kept pushing was blood pressure, getting mine from 140/90 down to around 125/80 with more cardio and dropping the dose a touch. If you have no baseline you cant tell whether its getting worse, so book one now and repeat every couple of years.

[BIGDADDY]

Good to see this kind of thread. Look after the heart, none of the rest matters if that goes. Get the baseline scan early and keep your blood pressure down, simple as that.

[Mick AU]

Echo every 3 years for me since the first one came back with mild LVH at year 6 of B&C. Cardiologist was the one who pushed back on dose harder than anything else, BP was sitting around 145/90 and once we got telmisartan in alongside serious steady state cardio the follow up echo two years later showed no progression at all. That was the unlock for me, wall thickness stable not climbing.

Finding the right cardiologist is half the battle. First one I saw told me to stop and would not engage past that, second one was pragmatic, said he was not going to convince me to stop but we were going to manage the markers. Massive difference. Diastolic function preserved is the line he kept coming back to, not wall thickness on its own.

One thing I would add, get screened for sleep apnea if you snore at all. Untreated apnea drives nighttime BP up and makes everything else you do pointless. CPAP shifted my morning readings more than any medication did.

[emperorcaliano]

I personally check once a year with a cardiologist. I’m lucky that I have phone an open minded one. No judgemental regarding the fact I do steroid cycle, he is even curious and ask me question about it, how it works ect…

[Jock]

That's a proper find mate. Most cardios won't even discuss gear use. Yearly check is solid, just make sure you're getting an echo done at some point and not just BP and ECG, the wall thickening from years on test only shows up on imaging. Bloodwork and BP can look fine while the LV is remodelling underneath.

[BERLINER]

Baseline is the move I tell anyone serious about staying on long term. Without a first echo before or in your first year of blast and cruise you have nothing to measure rate of change against, and rate of change is what the cardiologist actually cares about. The other piece nobody talks about, get your BP genuinely under control before you panic about LVH. Going from 145/90 to 125/80 over a year does more for the heart wall than any cycle adjustment, and most guys can do that with cardio and weight loss before they touch medication.