I have been a lifelong distance runner and casual athlete. I just turned 40 last month and am 14 weeks postpartum (easy pregnancies and labors).
I ented a kinesiology study at my university and took a stress test as part of that study and it showed a bigeminy pattern after 6 minutes of exercise (I was at about 50% Vomax); the test was ended and I was back to a normal rhythm in less than a minute and my heart rate and blood pressure came down quickly as well.
The arrhythmia occurred after several nights of poor sleep and an 11-week chest cold. It was completely asymptomatic for me, and I am a generally very healthy person. I had not consumed caffeine or cold medicine before it occurred. My QTc seemed normal.
I didn't think this anomaly was that significant, but the docs around me seem concerned. I've had a 24-hour Holter monitor test and an echocardiogram, both of which they said were OK, and just took a CT angiogram (don't know results). I realize that postpartum cardiomyopathy could be a possibility, but this has been ruled out for me. I've been banned from all exercise, even walking (!), until I see a cardiologist this week.
What else are the docs looking for as a cause of the bigeminy and should I be as concerned as they appear to be? Or are they just being cautious? It's difficult for me not to exercise at all, and I want to know if I should be more concerned than I am.