Athlete's Heart, PVCs and Afib

I have frequent PACs, PVCs and occasional Afib. I find that unlike many PVC sufferers my arrythmias disappear with physical activity. They return later when my heart rate falls back into its normal range of ca. 64bpm. Another poster mentioned "athlete's heart". I Googled it and found many references to enlargement of the heart muscle from training presenting as a faux cardiomyopathy. What are the implications Athlete's Heart and arrythmia? Is the suppression of PVCs with activity a positive indication? My heart is structurally normal and I performed better on my treadmill test last November than two years previous, but my PVCs have become more frequent and intense of late. My cardiologist is of the opinion that medication should still be the course of action to take and not an ablation as of yet.

[Michael J. McWilliams, M.D.]

Athletes heart is very different from what you are asking about.  Athletes heart is confused for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

PVCs that increase during the recovery phase of exercise is associated with increased cardiac events.  PVCs at rest are not known to increase the risk of events.  I think this is what you mean by positive.

PVCs with structurally normal hearts have a good prognosis.  Ablating the PVCs may improve your symptoms if successful, but does not improve prognosis.  There are virtually no risks associated with conservative treatment.  There can be complications to procedures.  Therefore, there is less risk in doing nothing or medications than ablation.  Your cardiologist is correct that conservative treatment is the standard of care and ablation is reserved for failed medical therapy in very symptomatic patients.

I hope this helps.

[upbeat633]

I may have been that poster who said that a doctor told me I had an athletes heart, but it was ***in the sense that when I "exercise" and get my heart rate above 120bpm my pvcs go away completely!. So that I should exercise more! It was a comparison only. They always come back under a certain heart rate.

Pvcs post exercise in the recovery phase may indicate increased cardiac events, but I believe this is witnessed in people who do not have pvcs through out the day normally, they only experience them post exercise. Please correct me if I am wrong on that interpretation.

[Uboat]

I guess the "recovery phase" is when the heart rate goes back to normal post exercise. I don't experience PVCs then. At rest however, quite often. Does this also go for PACs? I have both.