exercise induced tachycardia

[scott365]

I am a 48 year old reasonably ( I jog 3x's a week - between 3-4 miles) fit male.  I have been active my entire life.  When I was younger, maybe in my 20's, I noticed I would have an accelerated heart rate sometimes when I played basketball.  If I slowed down and rested for a few minutes it would go away and I could resume playing.  Approximately a year ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism - I had been exercising and gaining wait, my skin was very dry and I seemed unreasonably tired at times.  I have been taking levothyroxine and things seem to be going better.  However, recently my tachycardia seems to be occuring more frequently  (only when I am exercising) and appears to be stronger that it used to be.  My Heart rate gets to be 220 or so.  My resting pulse is in the 50's.  I have had a stress echocardiogram and was told that everything looked very good - there was no blockage and everything seemed to be working well.  I have worn an event monitor and a holter monitor but was unable to have an "event".  On Wednesday before work I was on the treadmill and it hit me again.  I had to get off the treadmill and actually sit and rest for a while before I could go home.  I have an appointment with my cardiologist this week, but I was wondering if anyone has had similar things happen to them.  Thank you!

[sueinns]

Do you also experience dizziness or faintness?  I'm quite athletic as well and developed tachycardia a year ago after a bout with the flu.  It was always brought on by exercise and post-exercise. Besides the racing, I would get very dizzy and feel like I was going to faint.  Was diagnosed with SVT (supraventricular tachycardia).  Initially was put on beta blockers (difficult to tolerate if you are active) and then calcium channel blockers which were far better but stopped working. Had two options - go on a higher dose of med or have an ablation, which I did, one week ago.  It's the only hope I had for a cure.

So far, so good and I'm back running.

Maybe a long term event monitor would help with the chances of you being diagnosed.  I wore a loop for a week and luckily was symptomatic.

Good luck.

[deedle1976]

Does your tachycardia start and stop suddenly as if someone flicked a switch? SVT starts and stops instantaneously like this. The pulse would literally jump from normal up to 220 in an instant and would go back to normal again the same way rather than gradually.

[scott365]

Thank you for responding!  Yes, my tachycardia starts very sudenly.  It seems to slow down more gradually.  On Wednesday it seemed like I burped and suddenly my heart rate jumped. Yes, I do feel faint and dizzy.  I have to stop running and rest.  Later on that day I noticed that I had a pounding heart beat.  It didn't seem like it was faster, just stronger.

[acjviolin]

That is exactly how my episodes of SVT have always behaved- instantaneously, like a light switch- very rapid, 240s, then usually decreases gradually, usually over a course of only a few minutes.  The one exception was last year when the SVT came on, it was so pronounced (and I panicked- added a nice does of adrenaline!) that I quickly went into A-fib which was my first experience with AF.  I KNEW something different was going on...HR was monitoring wildly between 55 bpm and 240s (called 911!).  Took 3 hours to be finally cardioverted with Cardizem.  Since then, I have been placed on Sotalol, 80 mg twice daily, and it has controlled it for the most part...except when I exercise!  Good luck to you, Scott.

Amy

[scott365]

Thanks for your note.  Do you continue to exercise anyway?  I am becoming afraid of exercising.  I miss my running already.  It seems that my events are getting stronger.  Is that something you noticed?

[acjviolin]

Unfortunately, yes.  Just this week, my EP has ordered a two week Holter monitor to try to catch my post-exercise A-fib.  I haven't exercised yet, mainly due to the weather being snowy and all (LOL), but too I am a bit traumatized I think.  I have had serious panic disorder for years now, thoough.  Cognitive behavorial therapy cured me for 7 or so years, but I'm going for a "tune-up" this week (Lors only knows how long that will take!).  You don't sound like you're a mental job like myself, though!

[starvoyager1956]

Hey Scott:  I had similar symptoms as you...only I happen to find out on a stress test. I never had any chest pain or discomfort just an occassional heart skip. The routine  stress test found out that I had an LBBB...Left Bundle Branch Block. My other heart tests--echo--came out good. It is just when I excersise hard that my EKG goes wacko and I have a feeling of shortness of breath. I was referred to a cardiaologist that specializes in electrical rythyms in the heart. Appearantly the electricall impulses in the left branch of the heart go crazy when I excercise. The cardiologist says that I will not sudedenly die from this. But I am having a cardiac ablation procedure done this Thurs 1/24 to have it checked. They will insert wires into heart and "map" the areas of the electrical impulses of the heart. When they find the area that causes the problem they will zap the nerves, killing them so they do not cause the fast heart beats. Worse case senario is that I may need a pacemaker to control the rythym of the heart. Maybe this is what you have. Maybe you have the righ bundle branch block instead of the left. The LBBB is suppose to be less common.   Let me know what you find out. I will post my results after the Thurs.cardiac ablation. Good Luck!

[starvoyager1956]

HI.. I am having an cardiac ablation done this Thurs and was waondering what to expect from it. How was your procedure and did you have any complications afterwards. What restrictions did you have afterwards? What did the doctor find and what was corrected? Thanks for the info.
                                       Joe

[sueinns]

Scott, I did continue to exercise because my cardiologist and EP gave me the go ahead.  All my tests showed a structurally normal heart.  However, getting my heart rate past a certain point would bring on symptoms.  Running was very very difficult - had to stop every two to three minutes just to catch my breath and search for something to hold on to for the dizziness.  Without an ablation, it tends to be a chronic condition that comes and goes without rhyme or reason.  And it is very difficult to deal with if you are an active individual.  Drugs can help.

Joe, the ablation wasn't bad at all and I was very aware through the whole thing.  The nurses were on the ready should I have required more drugs.  They gave me a 95% chance of a cure.  Doc said that without the ablation, it would have been a life-long condition.  

Have felt great since the procedure and started working out just two days after but kept it to light stuff.  Was told not to lift anything heavy for a few days.  This is due to the incision sites for the catheters, not your heart.  Started running 6 days post-procedure and felt like my old self.  

They will either go through your veins or arteries (they went through my veins which is a little less invasive).  I did develop a hematoma on my left side but this is subsiding.  It's common and is like a big bruise - not painful at all.  Your doctors will tell you what to expect post-ablation.  Complications are rare but they will explain all that to you.  You may experience some weird rhythms while your heart heals which takes about 6 weeks.  I'm on baby aspirin for this time period.  

Once they insert the catheters, they will give you drugs to bring on your symptoms.  This can feel a little discerning but you are in great hands with the medical staff.  They need to do this to definitively diagnose your problem.  This is called the EP study.  Once they narrow down the area(s) that is causing the arrhythmia, they will ablade it (them).  Sometimes it takes a few ablations to get it right. It wasn't really painful but felt like bad heartburn (ironic word).  Had I needed more than two zaps, I may have asked for more drugs.

What type of arrhythmia do you have?  Mine was SVNRT (supraventricular node re-entry tachycardia