excessive overload of left atrium

[malan]

Hello
Today, after awakening in the morning, I experienced sustained  skipping heart beats, with a tight sensation in the stomach. On lying down for the ecg, the skipping beats disappeared and the heart returned to normal, but the ecg report stated "excessive overload of left atrium".
Could anyone shed some light on this? What was the reason for the sustained skipping beats, and what does the ecg reading mean? I am male, 50, with a history of irregular heart beats, once identified on the holter as nsvt. In addition to  irregular and also fast heart beats, I have experienced missing beats in the past, but not sustained. I also have bradycardia with an early morning resting pulse rate of 53. The echos indicate a heart with normal structure. However, is it possible that the echo is missing some slight defect, for example to the heart muscle, or could the interpretation of the echo by the doctor be wrong? How could the heart be structurally normal and yet cause such varied symptoms? Most of the times I get onto a holter, it has been a waste, since the heart functions normally at that time, except for the one episode of nsvt. How safe is exercise with all the above symptoms, and what kind of exercise would be safe?
This is rather long, but since I find the doctors to be of not much help here, I am wondering if people with a similar experience can shed better light on what is going on. Living with uncertainty is very tough!
Thanks for reading through this.

[malan]

Thanks Jerry, again, for reading through the post. I have been trying to check this out on the net, with some success.
With best wishes

[Jerry_NJ]

I have no knowledge of myocarditis, but looking it up I read you need to address that condition directly.  I didn't read enough to know how the condition is treated and how cure is determined.  I can only suggest the usual, ask your doctor.

Other read these posts and your question above may be addressed by someone with specific experience.

Good luck.

[malan]

Jerry, thanks very much for the suggestions. Would you know for what period of time one should avoid exercising if one is suspected of having chronic myocarditis, after an episode of acute myocarditis? Is there any exercise which is safe under this condition, and are there any exercises one should avoid at all costs?

[Jerry_NJ]

I have no idea what "overload of the left (or right) atrium" means.. have you done a search to get a definition?

I can't even imagine what that could mean, the atrium are really just helper chambers and we can live with them not functioning at all, albeit with much less exercise tolerance.  

I suffer from permanent atrial fibrillation which means neither of my atrium chambers are working to move blood through my heart.  I guess that is a "under-load"... ha!

I'd think you can do any exercise you like, given you warm up, exercise at a reasonable heart rate and build up you exercise intensity very slowly, over month or years. If you can't build you exercise endurance with training/time, then you know you have hit you maximum, or you have a problem you may want to discuss with your doctor.  

Never exercise at excessively high heart rates, the number for you is very personal but I'd guess in is in the range of 150-160 when you are in good condition .