Athlete's Heart?

I'm a 23 year old male, 171 cm, 57 kg. I exercise four times a week (3 days in the gym, one day of jogging). About 3 months ago my heart suddenly started beating faster and harder. Walking would give me the heartbeat of a run, actually exercising would cause my heart to literally pound, whilst alcohol seemed to make my heart go absolutely nuts. Around the time this started, I had recently broken up with my girlfriend and had had a few late-night drinking sessions, so I figured it might have something to do with stress/lifestyle. I went to the doctors and was diagnosed with a faint heart murmur, but subsequent ECG showed no abnormalities. I am now making efforts to drink less (I would say I definitely drink less than most people my age), eat healthy and relax more, but it doesn't seem to be making much of a difference. At times I seem to be at a shortness of breath, a lot of the time my chest feels rather 'stuffy' and my tolerance for alcohol seems to have gone down - and the hang-overs gotten worse (yesterday I woke up with double-beats). I am having lots of trouble sleeping with this constant awareness and fear that my heart might not be right. A fellow student at my university, 30, recently passed away after a heart attack caused from an enlarged heart. I am now wondering if I might have 'athlete's heart' and if I ought to stop exercising for a while (although I did this the first month after my heart starting playing up)? It has also crossed my mind that I am rather skinny, and that a lack of body fat coupled with a hard training regime might have something to do with it. Has anyone had any similar experiences? Thanks for any comments or suggestions!

[Cleveland Clinic]

Aerobic exericse is typically good for you heart, so without any more information I would say that you should continue with your routine.  As far as your symptoms go, they may be anxiety related at which point relaxation should help but you may need some professional help to help you deal with the break up.  Alcohol is not a good way of dealing with it and it may have an impact on your heart, so can caffeine and nicotine.  All three have been shown to cuase atrial palpitations and atrial arrhythmias.  Alcohol is something you should definitely stop at this point.  I think it is also importnat to try to document what your heart does when you develop palpitations.  Wearing somehting called a Holter monitor would help.  Also, going to the ER when you develop those symptoms would also help because they could obtain an EKG during your symptoms to document your heart rhythm.  

[MrBrown]

Thanks for the reply.
I went and got the 24 hour holter monitoring two weeks ago.

The results were:

1. Dominant rhythm was sinus bradycardia. Mean HR  - 57bpm.
2. Ventricular ectopy was very rare, uniform and isolated.
3. Supraventricular ectopy was very rare and predominantly isolated.
4. Rare periods of bradycardia, slowest 30bpm.
5. Symptomatic recording period corresponding to sinus tachycardia and sinus rhythm.

This didn't mean much to me, but the doctor explained that the occasion racing heart wasn't much of a concern, but that the instances of it slowing down was more of a worry. He recommended that I cut out all nicotin, all alcohol and stop going to the gym and see a Cardiologist as soon as I have time.

I had started getting used to the idea that this was all stress-related and his talk of "if it slows down much further you could be in danger" got me a bit worried.

Do you think these results signify any sort of danger or is he overreacting?

Thanks

[MrBrown]

PS: I was also told my iron levels were a bit low so I started taking iron supplements yesterday. Do you think this could have had anything to do with it?

[jhess]

A related discussion, shortness of breath was started.