Tachycardia=Exercise for the heart?

Exercise is very good for your heart.....right?  Well, if you are in constant PSVT or atrial tachycardia at 130bpm, aren't you basically just giving your heart a little exercise?  Would someone tell me, "What's the difference?"

[LindaTX]

I may have just come up with an answer to that stupid question.  Right now my brain is not working very well because it is being deprived of oxygenated blood. Right?  When you exercise you breathe in oxygen into your lungs which send it into your blood which circulates through your entire body.  If you are in PSVT or any other arrhythmis, your blood doesn't circulate as extensively....maybe it doesn't do anything but pool?  Does taking deep breaths help when you are in the throes of an arrhythmia?

[ireneo]

PSVT for long periods of time just irritates the heart. You're right that a true cardiovascular workout also requires some aerobic aspect to it. I can sit with tachy at 190 for 30 minutes (thank goodness I don't do that anymore) but it's not the same as jogging for 30 minutes.

I was told if my heart is tachy for 30 minutes, go to the hospital. I admit I've never followed directions well. :-)

[LindaTX]

OMG....thanks for the helpful advice.... did your ablation cure the tachy episodes?  After 72 hrs in it...mine last night got up to 145....I was getting scared.  I took my meds, no beta-blocker, and drank a beer and went to bed.  I was at the point I just said "skrew it." Well this morning....finally I woke up in a beautiful normal 62 beat NSR!!!   I'n curious, for future reference...what do they do for it at the hospital???

[ireneo]

My ablations improved my tachy if that makes sense. I used to have long episodes of tachy running 150-almost 200 bpm. Now I still get the same stuff but it generally lasts less than a minute and only rarely does it linger for 15 minutes. It's so much easier to handle.

If you went to the hospital with tachy, they monitor for a bit and then they may try to cardiovert your rhythm using some meds. I understand it feels a bit weird and uncomfortable but it gets you back to NSR.

[LindaTX]

So when you are in atrial tachycardia, they don't shock you back, right?  The just give you meds probably along the line of lopressor?  I'd , at this point would like to avoid the ER at all costs if possible. But if it doesn't convert on it's own in a few days, I'll head for the ER so my heart doesn't get used to staying in that aberrant pathway, don't want any new routes to be able to forn....that's what got me in trouble in the first place, lol.

[is_something_wrong]

No, tachycardia is not good exercise for the heart ;)

Good exercise for the heart both makes the heart run faster and pump harder. A rapid heart rate alone will in the long run dilate the heart, and just heavy beats (high blood pressure) will in the long run thicken the heart walls.

It's something like "minus x minus = plus". An athletes heart is both dilated AND thickened. It grows, but in both proportions. Just one of them is just bad.

[kenkeith]

Hi Linda, I understand your logic and I have visited the explanation a number of times.

Cardiac resizing can be a physiological or a pathological condition.: A physiological resizing is a compensatory change in the proportions and function of the heart and this type of resizing (remodeling) can be seen in athletes. Pathological remodelling may occur after conditions such as heart attack, high blood pressure, etc. and the myocyte heart cells are damaged or are restructured.

The difference in a micro sense between a pathologically enlarged heart and an athlete's heart relates to the physiology of the myocyte cells of the heart muscle. The cardiomyocyte cells have a special characteristic with the ability to stretch to dilate the ventricle and then hopefully return to orginal size. As a normal function the heart dilates (cardiomyocyte cells stretch) and that increases contractility and stronger contractions.  The phenomonon is explained by the Frank/starling law and is a method to maintain a balanced of blood flow between the right and left side of the heart.  As an example of compensating with F/S law, when there is an early heart beat the time to fill is decreased and less blood is pumped into circulation with that heartbeat...the next heartbeat filling time is longer and there is a dilation of the chamber and stroke volume will be increased due to stronger contractility... the balance of blood flow will be restored.

With a physiological heart remodeling, the heart should return to original or close to orginal size when there is a reduction in rigorous activity.  Sometimes the pathologically enlarged LV may reverse some remodeling as cardiomyocyte cells may not have lost some of their elasticity characteristic as has been noted with a reduction of the afterload (high blood pressure).

The dilation phenomonon is related to the Frank/Starling law, and heart muscle mass relates to cardiomyocyte charcteristics.  With F/S law, there is limit and overstretched heart will begin to lose its contractility....the enlarged muscle mass will impair adequate filling as the thickened heart walls lose there elasticity and do not dilate very much due to the rigidity of the thickened heart wall and cause DD.  A dilated LV when pathological will lose its contractility.

[LindaTX]

Makes perfect sense to me...Thank you.