How can an Olympic medalist  die of a cardiac insufficiency?
409485
May be HOCM (HypertrOphic Cardio Mypopathy)\n\nSudden Death Syndrome is the term, which is now used to describe unexpected and unexplained death occurring in apparently healthy young people. When the heart is examined by an expert pathologist a probable cardiac cause of death is found in the majority. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common cause of sudden death in those under 30 years of age. It is a relatively uncommon heart disease although is estimated that ten thousand people in the United Kingdom have the condition.\n\nIn a healthy heart beat results from electrical signals starting at the top and passing down through the heart. HCM is a disease, which interrupts these vital electrical signals, which keep the heart beating. It is an incurable disease, which causes excessive thickening of the myocardium (the muscle in the heart). Heart muscle may thicken in individuals who have high blood pressure or who have prolonged athletic training, but in HCM patients the muscle thickens without an obvious cause.
531681
if the person dies immediately, something either clogged the bloodflow-like a clot. or the heart's "electrical system" could tell the heart to beat too fast, too slow, or not at all.\nthe person dies.\nthe heart is really just a pump. when it stops pumping, the blood settles to the lowest part of the body. oxygen can no longer get to the cells. everything stops functioning.
481493
same as a non athletes.. fluids.. rest.. vitamins and wait it out.. :p
316625
It depends on the cause of death.  If it is something to so with the lungs, then yes, but if it a stroke or a fall, then maybe not.\n\nThat is a bit of a weird question though...why are you wondering that?
410364
Steroids, Creatine, or working out like your life depended on it. All three ways could kill you though.
859618
a few years back, there was an olympic swimming event that had a european nation that was new to the olympics (at least in that event). it was one of the prequalifying runs, and the guy swimming was nowhere near finishing in time for the event, but he just wouldnt stop, and the crowd went NUTS. they didnt care where he was from, they didnt care that he wasnt going to win, they just were cheering on a guy who was clearly pushing himself, and didnt give in. even when he knew he lost, he was going to finish for him, and his ppl. THAT was a great moment in my book.
970260
Don't use steroids.They can kill you.On the news they said a man died because he used steroids.
552187
Yes, it has happened in cases where nothing would show on any equipment and the heart had stopped. It is possible to be legally dead and brought back to life, but only in certain circumstances. Consider drowning. You can be legally dead from drowning, your heart stopped, but an electric charge will bring you back if done within a certain amount of time. There are alot of stories on this under 'near death experiences'. Look em up. Crazy stuff.
901004
no they can die from steroids. my friends boxer had steroids and it died
876386
No, otherwise everyone would be dead!  God bless you is just a pleasantry.  If your heart stopped, even briefly, it would cause an arrhythmia and you would at the very least have severe chest pain or become unconscious every time you sneezed.
252352
As discussed above, a heart attack is a process where an artery feeding the heart muscle with oxygenated blood becomes blocked or is obstructed, to the point where "infarction" occurs.  Infarction is deprivation of oxygen causing cell death.\n\nDifferentiating a "massive" heart attack verses a regular heart attack does not have any specific medical criteria.  Usually we talk about a massive heart attack in terms of the end outcome..."he had a massive heart attack and died"  or "he had a massive heart attack, he's in intensive care and its touch and go."  Now, why would one type of heart attack be minor and another be massive?\n\nAteries are like trees.  Large ones feed smaller branches, etc.  So a massive heart attack has to do how far upstream the artery is blocked, what the blocked artery feeds, the extent of the blockage, and amount of time it took before reprofusion was accomplished.  There are very large arteries that are the main arteries feeding others - Left Main and Left Anterior Descending, for instance.  The left side of the heart is the largest and the one responsible for pumping blood through the body.  So any artery feeding the left side heart function is critical.  \n\nIf its one of the two arteries mentioned above and its a complete blockage then death or mortal injury is very likely unless you are surrounded by medical people when it happens.  \n\nOn the other hand if a small artery is 85% blocked downstream and feeds the right side of the heart; then by blood test or EKG the person has had a heart attack, but might have walked around with it for days.\n\nAs you can see these are very different events - both heart attacks - one massive and one minor.
801783
As someone who, like your friend, developed heart failure in middle age (I was 49 at the time), I can tell you that his life expectancy is directly related to how well he takes care of himself.  And that, of course, is bad news for your friend.\n\nAs you realize, he is doing everything wrong.  The shortness of breath would be relieved if he lost weight, gave up the cigarettes and dropped the sodium.  I don't know what medications he was prescribed, but probably at least one of them would help him shed the fluid that may be getting into his lungs and making it harder for him to breathe.  \n\nIt's no wonder he is always fatigued.  How would anyone feel if they have reduced heart function and reduced lung capacity?\n\nAs to his other meds, there are wonderful drugs now that can lighten the load on his heart and make it easier for the heart--the part that's still funtioning--to do its job.  If he doesn't take them, he is overstressing the working portion of his heart as it tries to do the job of the entire organ.  It can't, at least not without help.\n\nThe nausea is a very worrisome symptom.  That one suggests angina, which sometimes comes out that way.  His poor heart, overworked as it is, may be sending out distress signals which are perceived as nausea.  \n\nDepending on how much alcohol his is consuming, daily drinking may or may not be a problem.  One or two drinks a day (NO MORE, and NO doubles) actually seems to benefit the heart.  But some people think that if one is okay, four must be great.  It's not.  The beneficial aspects of alcohol completely reverse if you have more than about 2 drinks (just one for a woman).\n\nOverall, this man needs to go back to his doctor and lay all his cards on the table.  Could he be depressed and "giving up"?  That is very common with heart patients.  He needs to tell his doctor *everything* he is doing and not doing, and why.\n\nI believe that patients have rights, and so does your friend.  But he also has children, which means he has a responsibility to be around for them until they are well established on their own.  If he lets himself die while they are still young, they will never fully forgive him.  What's worse, he will have missed out on seeing them grow up, which one of the best parts of life.\n\nGood luck!!
351401
Well-trained athletes CAN pump more blood from their hearts at maximal exercise, but the main reason they tend to have slower heart rates is because their muscles are much more efficient when it comes to extracting oxygen from their blood.  Therefore, for the same amount of work that their muscles are doing, not as much blood flow is needed to supply the necessary amount of oxygen.  Therefore, their hearts don't need to pump as fast or as hard to keep the muscles well-supplied with oxygen.\n\nThink of it as two people standing on a riverbank.  One guy (the non-athletic heart) is using a crappy fishnet and can only catch 10% of the fish that swim by.  If he needs 10 fish an hour to survive, he needs to have 100 fish swim by to in an hour.  If the guy next to him (the athletic heart) has a brand new fishnet that can catch 50% of the fish that swim by and HE needs 10 fish an hour to survive as well, he can do just fine with only 20 fish swimming by every hour.  Does that make sense?
123861
see  \nhttp://www.olympic-usa.org/12181_19096.htm
993957
ABSOLUTLY NOT. What is wrong with you guys? He is in a very dangerous situation. If it's not treated, the infection will likely become septic ( poison his bloodstream, if it hasn't already). This is an infection, more dangerous than many. If the infection gets to his heart, he could very easily die, and without immediate treatment, he will. I've seen this tragedy two times in the ER. GO NOW, not later, or tomorrow. This is a job for an oral surgeon.\n\n\nGrizz
235364
That is quite a stretch there but the way it works now is that an Olympic athlete can be replaced by another top finisher from the same nation. But if there were no available candidates then the specific sport would be listed as having no winners.
449878
Everybody's a little different.  For example, a person's ability to run a marathon might be limited by muscular endurance (not having enough stored energy), or it might be limited by cardiovascular endurance (not being able to deliver enough oxygenated blood to the leg muscles).  In theory, you want these things to be matched pretty well--if you're pushing yourself to exhaustion.  For example, if your lungs crap out before your legs do, then you've basically wasted all that reserve energy you've got in your legs.\n\nWhat determines muscular performance?  Nutrition, muscle mass, regularity of exercise.  A lot can be attributed to the physical shapes of your bones and how the muscles are attached--that's stuff that you can thank or curse your parents for.\n\nWhat about cardiovascular performance?  Again, there is some genetic component to it, but this one is probably much more dependent on training--getting the heart rate up for sustained periods frequently.\n\nI'm willing to guess that most athletes are limited more by their muscular endurance, while most average people are limited by their cardiovascular endurance.