PVC's during recovery after exercise

Is it true that PVC's during the recovery period after exercise are a bad thing?  I notice that I have them, sometimes quite a few, sometimes not so many.  I am concerned because I have had PVC's for years, and had numerous exams, though the last one was about 10 years ago.  Should I be concerned?

[Bromley]

Below, I post a question and the answer provided by a doctor last year on the expert forum.


More PVC's after exercise
by MegMc, Apr 11, 2008 10:18AM
Tags: pvc's, Exercise
I’m a 27 year old female, thin, a frequent exerciser, good diet, no smoking, glass of wine sometimes.  7 weeks ago I suddenly started having hundreds of PVC’s a day (I didn’t know what they were when they started, and thought I was dying).  I don’t think I was under any particular stress at the time, though I am a worrier in general.  I stopped all caffeine, but that didn’t help.  I saw a cardiologist, and had the usual tests:

Blood work – thyroid, iron, potassium, calcium, all normal
2 normal EKG’s
Stress test – PVC’s went away at high heart rate, though they showed up before and after.  Doctor said I was in good shape and it was safe to exercise.
Echocardiogram – Normal.  No “significant” MVP.  A bit of regurgitation somewhere that was said to be normal.
Holter monitor – showed 1080 PVC’s in 24 hours (I feel them but would have guessed a lower number).  Infrequent trigeminy.  Showed 1run of SVT in the evening that was only 3 beats and I didn’t notice.  Some Sinus brady and tachy that nobody seemed worried about.  The most PVC’s I had were 11/minute and 290/hour.

What worries me is that the minute and hour of highest PVCs occurred just after I finished a cycling class.  I do often notice more PVCs after I work out (though I have them before I work out too).  In light of that new study about recovery PVC’s, this makes me scared and confused.  Also, 11 PVC’s in a minute is over the limit of “normal,” from what I’ve read.

My questions are:

What does this mean in my case?

Does the “risk” involved with recovery PVC’s mean a person is more likely to die suddenly after exercise?  Or does it mean a risk for heart disease down the road?

Could my cardiologist have been wrong about it being safe for me to exercise?  I usually exercise for longer than the 14 minutes I did in the stress test.

Should I take a beta blocker to try and stop the post exercise PVC’s?  I wanted to avoid beta blockers because I’ve been hoping I’d improve on my own.

Thank you

by Michael J. McWilliams, M.D., Apr 11, 2008 07:23PM
There is not an answer to this question yet.  It is true that the study showed an increased cardiovascular risk for recovery phase PVCs, but there is not study or data on how to safely reduce them and if they were reduced, is it prognostically significant.  I look at this as I do other cardiovascular risk factors like family history of heart disease -- it might be there but you cannot change it.  Focus on the ones  you can change -- don't smoke, treat high blood pressure and diabetes.  What makes it difficult is that family history doesn't remind you that it is still there >1000x per day and I understands that feeling them makes it hard to forget them.  There is probably little harm in trying a beta blocker, but there is no data to suggest that beta blockers reduce this risk either.

I know this is clear as mud, but it is the best I can say for now.
I hope this helps.