Palpitations long after exercise

[cheeser]

The details:

38 yr old male. 6'3". 175 lbs.
No medications, no "recreational" drugs (ever), never smoked, no caffeine, healthy diet, couple beers a week. No family history of heart problems (to my knowledge).

I've been exercising regularly for about 16 years - weight training and running/x-country skiing (in season)/indoor rowing.  4-5 times per week.  My resting HR is typically 45-50.  

The issue:

Heart palpitations that start 3-5 hours AFTER I finish exercising...most of the time, but not always.  If they appear they'll continue well into the next day (usually) and will gradually go away.  I'll exercise again, and the cycle seems to start all over.  Very annoying and a bit disconcerting.

Tests:

EKG (2)
Treadmill stress
24 hr Holter

All were normal, but I don't think much happened when I was wearing the Holter.

Question:

Should I be concerned?  It annoys me enough that I'm beginning to fear my workouts.  I feel great while doing them, but am afraid of what will happen later on.  

By the way, I have had "anxiety" issues and my wife thinks that it's more related to that than my heart.  Hard to say for sure, but the palpitations certainly feed my anxiety.

Thanks MUCH!

[Fran71]

Hi guys and thanks so much for standing by me!

Upbeat, what you say is so wise...We will deal tomorrow with whatever we need to face tomorrow, right? Since my ER visit last Tuesday I am on the BB daily and I hardly get a PVC at rest. Still I feel so scared the bigeminy will come back! I want someone to tell me this might decrease with time...but I usually hear otherwise LOL.

Upbeat, I can

[upbeat63]

Last spring I did a 48hr holter that showed 20,000+/pvcs/day and my GP Rxd toperol xl. I was resistant to taking any meds at all because I've had high frequency PVCs for so long, and a cardiologist 10 years ago said BB may not work and might make PVCs worse. So I didn't take BBs.

That was until I went into bigeminy last summer and I couldn't stand it anymore. So I took the toperol for three days and the bigeminy stopped. But then I stopped taking the toperol because I was just so darned tired on it, and it wasn't doing anything for the high frequency, that remained.  

Now, with the constant trigeminy the toperol isn't working to stop that......but I must admit, I don't feel the PVCs so much. And that's good enough for me. I still sense them every day, but believe me, the less I am aware of them, the more of the day I have to get on with things.

Ablation is an option, I know. So if it ever gets bad enough, I'll pursue it. But for me, for now, I'll live with the PVCs. Geez I've been researching another procedure--Lasix surgery for a long time also, but there is still a 5% chance that your eyesight could be worse so I figure glasses are ok for me until they can predict a 99% success rate!

[Fran71]

If they don't drive you crazy then I agree there's no reason you should go for the ablation. I guess I'm more intolerant of this than you are.  I also often get tachycardia with PVCs. That's probably what makes them feel even worse for me.

I wonder if there are different types of PVCs, since yours seem to be rather refractory to BBs while mine, for now at least, seem to respond pretty well to BBs (of course that may change for me, I know...SIGH)

Have a great day

[tictock]

yes that's what the doctors say if symptoms don't feel bad then live with it.i can't live with this bigeminy or this life style. I have read somewhere on forum that it's not a good sign when these pvc's or bigeminy come on during exercise, mine do, i 've also read that people don't feel pain with bigeminy, but i feel so much pain when i'm in this rhythm and trying to walk i have to stop because of it. I know having ablation is not 100% but if it cuts them down enough to enables me to get back to work, ride my bike and going for long walks by the river, that's what i miss. it is a chance to take but the doctors are willing to try again.i know that ablation is not often done for pvc's maybe because of the cost for what doctors think is quite a minor arrhthmia but it can be cured. fran i  sometimes get short burst of vt for a few seconds once in awhile.i can just about do all house work but it takes me longer these days.I'm glad to hear you all coping quite well we all have to hang in there some how. My friends think i have a good life at the moment watching daytime tv, lol. take care

[Fran71]

Dear Tictock,
I sympathize with you. I've only had bigeminy for about 12 hours last Monday and I freaked out. I'm sure the body gets used to it to some extent but I know that I will go for an ablation if my symptoms get worse, and they don't have to get as bad as constant bigeminy... So far the BB is working wonderfully, but I wonder if its effect will decrease overtime.

About your PVCs and exercise, I'm not a doctor but I think you shouldn't worry. I think the prognosis is slightly worse when exercise brings them on. As I understand it, you're having your bigeminy even while you watch daytime TV (LOL), so this means your arrhythmia is not caused by exercise. Sure, when one is in a bad PVC period exercise can make them worse. For instance, right now with the BB I have virtually no PVC at rest, but if I start walking I get some. When I exercise and I'm in a bad PVC period, I notice that they first get worse, but after 10 minutes or so they fade away. That's all so strange! When I'm in a no-PVC period though, exercise will not bring them on. I think that's what matters.

The best of luck to you! If you feel like chatting just email me at ***@****.

Thanks and have a great day everyone.

Fran

[tictock]

Thanks Fran, i took you up on your offer of sending email which i did. all the best to you. Take care.