Irregular Heartbeat Following Exercise

[Klynn45]

Hi there. I'm a 24 yr female recently diagnosed as hypertensive with an average BP of 145/100. I was prescribed several drugs at first that all caused intolerable side effects (Lisinopril Carveidlol Chlorthiadone). Now I'm on 50mg Losartan no side effects that I can tell. Keeps my blood pressure in a very safe level.

I am on a strict diet and exercise daily. My exercises are mainly low impact - stretching, crunches, aerobics, power walks. Yesterday I decided to hop on an exercise bike. I did push myself a little harder than normal, my HR got up to 150. I was only on the bike for 10 minutes then got off. A few seconds after I got off, I was having palpitations (normal for me - I get them daily) then I felt my heart chanhe into an abnormal rhythm in my chest. It sounded like: bump, bump, pause for two seconds... BUMP! Bump, bump.. and lasted about 10 seconds at the most. I also felt a little lightheaded.

I had taken my Losartan about 20 minutes prior with food.

I had a very recent echo done that showed normal except "trace transcupid valve regurgitstion" which I was told is considered a normal finding. They didn't feel any medical attention was needed. Normal EKGs although no stress test was ever done on me. Holter monitor for 30 days - no abnormalities.

Does this warrant a call to my doctor? Unfortunately my primary is out for the rest of the month and the other physician I like seeing is always 2+ weeks out. Their are other physicians there but they are very young and just google symptoms.

For the time being I'm pretty scared to exert myself that much again so I'll be sticking to lower impact.

Again, just wondering if this warrants a call or if I exerted myself too hard? Maybe taking my medicine in such a close time frame had something to do with this?

Thank you.

[Rosemary349]

I would always call the doctor where it concerns the heart and because you have a history of blood pressure.  I suspect though that these may have been pvc's, which usually are benign.  pvc's feel like a pause, but what is actually happening is that the heart is just taking a bit longer to fill with blood before the beat. This is because just beforehand there was a beat that happened too early (we usually don't feel that), so the heart has to 'wait' a bit longer to fill.  It feels like a pause in an otherwise normal pulse.  Then you get the BUMP that's felt more strongly.  Not all pvc's are benign, but they usually are if you have structurally normal heart.  It's worth calling the doctor to be sure.