PAUL THORPE

From Pulmonary Embolism to Bodybuilder

Pre Emboli history

I guess my story starts with a promotion at work. After leaving the Royal Navy as an aircraft mechanic, I worked as a shop floor supervisor. This was a very stressful job with no support – just pressure – from the new General Manager, and I started feeling unwell. I developed an intermittent arrhythmia, chest pain, pain between the shoulder blades, headaches etc. I was diagnosed with stress. At work I suffered crushing chest pain and fast and erratic heart rhythm; the company nurse confirmed the arrhythmia. By the time I saw my GP that evening, the symptoms had mainly passed and stress was blamed again. I got used to the pains and dodgy heart rhythm and carried on as normal and I restarted my weight training after a long lay-off. One evening at home, I could actually see my pulse jumping erratically (I could also feel it in my chest). I was rushed to A&E and treated for a mild heart attack. Tests subsequently disproved that diagnosis so I was sent for scans. Doctors then explained to me that I had suffered massive bilateral pulmonary embolism, and all things considered, I was very lucky to survive. It was a bombshell. My life had now changed – permanently. I was advised to be on warfarin for life. There appears to be no reason for my clots but based on previous symptoms it seemed very likely that I had clotted before. I consider myself very fortunate to still be here. I have annual medicals at my workplace, the first one after my PE’s showed that I was left with the lung function of a 70-year-old man at an age. (I have improved my lung function to that of a 40-year-old man. I am now 52 years old.)

Post Pulmonary Emboli.

I continued my weight training and developed a spreadsheet to track my workouts and nutrition. I contemplated competing as an over-40 bodybuilder and researched the NPA Federation which caters to lifetime drug-free athletes (shows are drug tested to WADA standard and polygraphed). I started lifting more weight and eating more food, and use sports supplements. I shared my records with my INR Nurses/Dr’s; I did nothing without their consent. INR (International Normalising Ratio), measures how fast your blood clots. A normal person has an INR of 1. I have to take anticoagulant medication to prevent my blood from clotting and keep my clotting level between 2.5 – 3.0. A careful diet is needed; foods high in Vitamin K (spinach, broccoli etc) will reduce the effect of medication and could lead to clots; grapefruit and cranberries have the opposite effect and could increase my risk of bleeding. By keeping strict records and not deviating from my nutritional plan my INR became more stable and I could tell from my training diary if there was any great change in my INR, felt stronger or weaker. Fast forward to March 2011, I had a busy week at work and I was also training in the gym 4 evenings a week. One evening, after resting and enjoying a Chinese meal and a couple of glasses of wine (as a treat) and watching a film, I fell asleep on the sofa. I woke at 4 am with a bad cramp in my left thigh. I think I stretched in my sleep before the spasm had fully passed, then got up and walked around, had a drink of water and went up to bed. The pain got much worse. By 5:30 am my thigh had swollen dramatically. By 6 am I could hardly put any weight on it. Off to A&E, we went. I described the events to the staff and was treated for a clot in the groin. Fast forward 12 hours and I was in an Ear, Nose and Throat ward (due to bed shortages), dosed up on morphine for the pain. The swelling progressed rapidly; one particularly worried nurse kept measuring my thigh and checking the pulse in my foot. An ultrasound scan confirmed that I had a massive bleed in my left quadriceps. I started to receive Vitamin K injections (sometime later) to reverse the effects of my warfarin. The swelling stopped going out and now moved up and down my leg. My knee was unrecognisable due to the swelling and I had to have my underpants cut off. The nurse came back in the early hours and checked me again, lucky for me she did as I had now lost the pulse in my left foot. The next bit is a blur of activity as I was rushed to surgery. I had an emergency fasciectomy to relieve the pressure. I awoke on the ward with my thigh heavily bandaged. I had a 16 inch (41cm) open wound. The swelling was so severe that the surgeon was unable to close the wound. At its widest, the wound was 6 inches (15cm) across. I had a further 5 operations to attempt closure and to change dressings. I was finally driven 50 miles by ambulance to another hospital for plastic surgery as the only way likely to close the wound was by a skin graft. Luckily they were finally able to close it. It took 96 staples. My thigh looked like a zip fastener. Then followed a couple of months of infections, draining fluid etc before I was able to return to work. I am nothing if not positive and so I spent a lot of my downtime planning my return to the gym. I was advised that I would never be able to do certain exercises to train legs, NO SQUATS argghhhhhh!! The surgeons had managed to close the external wound, but could not close the muscle fascia. This has left me with an instability in that leg. Not to be deterred I put my creativeness to the test and designed/built some gym equipment that would allow me to use heavy weights safely (Smith machine attachment for my rack, parallel grip deadlift bar). I also purchased a leg curl/leg extension machine to isolate the quadriceps muscles in order to rebuild my strength. I started slowly, very very slowly. I gradually rebuilt my leg strength. I became focused on getting bigger and stronger than ever before. I was determined that I would not give in. I would not let my life be ruled by this condition. If I stopped doing what I do, I would no longer be me (as of 2016, I am now squatting again – 150kg for 3 sets). On July 15, 2012, I went to watch my first live bodybuilding show, the NPA Southwest. WOW!! I was blown away, especially by the over-40 year-olds. Indeed one competitor, Henry Elsom, went onto become world champion a few months later. It was there and then that I decided to set myself the goal of competing 12 months later. I put pictures up on the wall of my home gym, and Henry and the other competitors from the 2012 NPA Southwest Show. Whenever the going got tough, whenever the pain in my leg made me want to quit, when my medication was making me tired and my joints painful – all I needed to do was look up at those guys. It was those pictures and my memories of that show that got me through some difficult times. In July of the following year, I stepped on stage for the very first time at the NPA Southwest show. I placed last but at least I had proved the Doctors wrong. Also (more importantly) I was bitten by the competition bug. To date, I have competed in 10 regional qualifiers with 3 Federations and earned qualification to 5 British finals.

My Competition history:

2013 – NPA Southwest (6th) 2014 – NPA Southwest (2nd), NPA Midlands (4th), NPA Southeast (4th), NPA Finals (NP) 2015 – NPA Southwest (3rd), BNBF Wales (2nd), NPA Midlands (1st), BNBF Finals (NP), NPA Finals (NP) 2016 – BNBF Wales (5th), NPA Southwest (2nd), UKDFBA Heart of England (2nd), NPA Finals (NP), UKDFBA Finals (NP) 2017 – BNBF Wales (5th), UKDFBA Heart of England (3rd), NPA Southwest (6th), UKDFBA Finals (NP) The big lesson learned is that you never know what is around the corner. So make the most out whatever time you have available to you. NO REGRETS! My plan is to carry on competing for as long as I am “healthy”. I am learning at each show and gaining experience and confidence too.

Nutrition

In order to keep my INR stable, I stick to two menus each week. One weekday, the other for weekends. I favour lower carbohydrate and higher protein/fats. Typically brown basmati rice, potato, mixed veg, chicken, turkey, salmon and lean minced beef. For training, I tend to stick to basic moves using moderate to high volume. I find that as I get older, the low rep range work gives me joint/tendon/ligament pain. I lift as heavy as I can for 10–12 reps but not afraid to go to 20 reps if I can get them. I train alone at home in my own gym most of the time so use rest/pause as a way of extending a set beyond failure in a safe manner.

Goals

My long-term goal is to compete on the world stage as an over 60 athlete. Short to mid-term goals are to first break into the top 6 nationally and then to place top 3 consistently. I am a long way from these goals right now but learning and improving all the time.

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