Mild Aortic aneurysm

[Smyth]

My brother's doc diagnosed him some time back with a "mild aortic aneurysm," and told him he shouldn't lift anything over 50 pounds. THis is not a situation where it burst, he just has one, and it is "mild" whatever that means. Now, he is champing at the bit to follow my stunning success with Starting Strength. He will of course talk to his doctor, who will probably instinctively tell him not to lift, regardless of whether he knows anything about lifting. Any thoughts on any of this? The man wants to lift.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The man needs to get this fixed, because it will kill him if he doesn't. He is ineligible to train in my gym with this condition, because I don't want to be on the news.

[Smyth]

He's going in again. He is hoping it being "mild" [whatever the hell that means] will be his saving grace. Thanks Coach.

[Mark Rippetoe]

These things do not heal, you know.

[bobman]

I was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm and a bicuspid aortic valve at age 48

It kept me from training from age 48 to 63
Was very frustrating but they wanted to let me get as old as possible before they opened me up

They replaced my ascending aorta and valve and I have no restrictions so I’m training again

In my case they wanted to wait until it’s 5 cm in diameter before they repaired it.

5 cm is the cut off where the aneurysm is more dangerous than the surgery. Mine stayed under 5 cm for a long time then jumped to 8 cm in a year.

I’m lucky they found it or I would be dead, I was pulling 600 plus at the time it was diagnosed

If it ruptures you probably will die in about a minute so he needs to get a darn good cardiologist and follow his instructions to the letter

There’s more to life than the weight room and training was a huge part of my life, but not worth dying over

My surgeon has given me no restrictions and I train hard now. I’m still trying to figure out what makes sense at this point in my life.

Sometimes you have to play the cards you are dealt.

[Michael Mullany]

How are aneurysm’s discovered? Are there symptoms associated with it?

[Daniel Cavallari]

Aneurysm is more a game of chance than anything else - many people have them and never find out. Your brother's may never rupture, training or not. It may also simply rupture in his sleep.
However, Rip is doubly right: no gym owner would want the bad press of having a guy die in their gym with a burst aorta, and this can be surgically fixed. He should just fix it.

[Mike Barry]

I was diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm and a bicuspid aortic valve at age 48.

Out of curiosity - how was it discovered?

[Ivey]

Wow, dude. You can't gloss over this. This is sudden death type stuff. I'm in the same exact boat as @bobman. However, I'll say that even after a repair you may not be guaranteed a doc's full blessing to return to lifting. Anyway, everyone here seems to be saying the same thing.

[Smyth]

These things do not heal, you know.

No, I really didn't have any idea. He's going back in. He was told about his "mild" aortic aneurysm 18 months ago, it turns out. He'll get everything confirmed at least. Gotta stay alive.