athletes with RVOT VT

HI
Im a 33 yr old athlete and was diagnosed with rvot-vt after an exercise ecg in june 08. I started having symptoms in april and was initially told by my GP it was stress (was under a lot of stress at the time) but i only really had the symptoms when exercising so i sought help from my sports doctor. After the ecg i had an echo and mri to confirm there were no structural defects and was put propranolol. I suffered with nausea insomnia and bad nightmares with the first beta blocker and the symptoms were not well controlled so i was put on bisoprolol in september 08, i tolerated these well and symptoms stopped completely.

Since my diagnosis my sports performance has steadily declined and i am working harder just to maintain fitness and am not improving at all. I know stress, the beta blockers,and other injuries could have played a part. My consultant agreed to bring me off the beta blockers in April 09. Since then I have VT everyday, and as little as fast walking triggers it off. I feel tired and find training a bit uncomfortable and am still not seeing any improvement in performance, which i expected to see now im not on medication.

I am trying to find out whether the condition itself could be inhibiting performance and whether i should persevere without medication or try betablockers again. My consultant has had two case conferences about me and each time they have decided against ablation so i dont know what to do next. I have just missed the team for the Winter Olympics and i want to regain my place on the national team next season so any advice is welcomed to help me manage this better.

My team mates and team managers/ coaches just think i get a few palpatations and dont really appreciate how hard im finding this. Im a speed/power athlete an most of my training is weights and sprints.

I have given up caffine and worked with a nutritionalist to make sure my diet is healthy. I have had lots of blood tests to rule out other medical reasons for fatigue and drop in performance and everything came back ok, but nothing is helping.

Any advice / information would be greatly appreciated

[Jerry_NJ]

Boy, what a rough bit of "luck".. and so much for the theory that cardiovascular exercise makes the heart stronger.  I  am only kidding (if I may on such a serious post), but it seems while aerobic training does strengthen the heart (cardiovascular) for most, but for some it causes heart problems, AFib among them.... my problem.  Albeit, I was never a contender for any athletic accomplishment, just a trudger, trying to burn calories and feel stronger.

While I have no experience with RVOT, I think you should be on some medication to limit the heart acceleration... I believe this can be dangerous, to life I mean.  

Perhaps you can get help from a Calcium Channel Blocker in place of the Beta Blocker.  I have used BB for years, and while I have gotten used to them to a degree, the BB still drags me down, or maybe it is my age.

Wishing the best,