Shortness of Breath

Posted By Jim on January 28, 1999 at 19:27:42:







I am a 63 yr old male.I have always been active.The past three years have worked out aggressively ontreadmills/stairmachines three-six times/wk.Last summer I regularlyran/climbed 60 minutes,achieving 130 bpm heart rate with out feeling undue fatigue.This past fall,I started being quite fatigued  after12-20 minutes of the same exercise and I have great difficultly in achieving more than 100 bpm, althougth if I slow the pace/elevation I have been able to go 30 minutes and work my bpm to 100 without the exhaustion.  My heart bpm drops very quickly during a cool down, at least 10-20bpm in 1 minute and 5-10 bpm in the second minute.  Additionally, during these past few months, I become winded when climbing two or more flights of stairs.  I have passed stress tests over the years with flying colors,e.g.,in 1997 I went about 16 minutes on the Bruce protocol and had about 140 bpm with a very rapid recovery.InSeptember I had a cardiolyte stress test, again using the Bruce protocol where I did achieve about 15 minutes and a bpm of about 135 & no blockages. My resting pulse is 35-40.Why do I fatigue now?