Excercise and irregular heart beats??? Any info please....

[worktheday]

Hello all,

Hope this finds you all in great health! I'm going to keep this as abbreviated and to the point as possible.

I was in the hospital for an overnight stay a few weeks ago. I had AVR replacement (St. Judes mechanical) in '07. I wont get into all the details of why I was in the hospital recently because it will just drag out this story with a lot of non important information (It truly is non related). They did an echo of my heart and valve seeing as I hadn't had one in nearly a year. In addition they did a cath and went up and looked at everything with the scope. Afterwards got a big all clear from the doctor, valve looks great and "crisp". No blockages at all in my arteries, etc. Go live your life and do all the excercising you want.

Well leading to my question. Of course these things happen on holiday weekends when doctors offices are closed, etc. Side Note - In the last 7 weeks I've lost about 30 pounds (needed) and have about 15-20 more to go. Strictly through diet and progressive excercise. By progressive excercise what I mean is....and I'll be very specific here....7 weeks in now with my dieting. I gave myself the 1st 3 to just eat completely healthy. That alone shed 15 pounds. Week 4 worked out once...workout is 3 sets of push ups, 3 sets of situps 3 sets of curls. Week 5 work out twice. Week 6 3x...begining to incorporate more resisatnce training with different muscle groups. Now in week 7, alternating days with muscle groups with every third day off. This has been working well for me. Again all of this is mostly resistance and light weights, so dont feel im "overdoing it".

I have an Omron blood pressure machine that I use regularly to check my BP. My BP has been great. Not the issue. Issue is tonight while working out for the first time, and not sure why, I decided to take my BP immediately after one of my sets. Upon doing so BP slightly elevated as expected, but I noticed and indication on the machine I hadnt seen before. Looked it up and it was a sign the machine picked up an irregular heart beat. So I did as the instructions indicated, waited 3-4 mins and took it again. No indication this time. Went back to working out, another set, another immediate BP check and again the irregular indication. Waited the 3-4 minutes took again, gone. This happened 4 times.

I'm wondering, is this normal? Does your heart go out of normal...rythym I guess is how you'd put it, during resisatnce excercise? Even just briefly? Is this completely common for some people and it means nothing, and abnormal for others and should be looked into further? Any follow up info would be greatly appreciated seeing as will have to wait until Tuesday to reach out to the doctor.

P.S. - I had absolutely no symptoms at all if that matters. Just the reading on the Omron (I do feel pretty comfortable with this machines readings and indications. Only a few months old and really accurate - have brought it to the doctors with me)

Thanks in advance!

Jay

 

[Julian]

I have an Omron BTW its a great monitor. Concerning the irregular heart symbol:

Probably your monitor detected the skip as 25% lower than the average rhythm, since the monitor would see the skip as a long pause in the rhythm.

Skipped beats are normal cardiac activity, normal in the senses that (1) about half of us have skipped beats, that (2) skips are easy to understand as normal cardiac activity from knowledge of the heart's electrical system, and (3) skipped beats don't mean you have heart disease or will in the future develop heart disease or any catastrophe.

Just because your a "heart patient" It wouldn't hurt to bring up the concern with your cardio just to be sure.

Probably no big deal, BUT if your super worried you can do a 24 holter monitor, or a KOH (king of hearts) monitor for more than 24 hours (worn for up to a month) to really give the monitor a chance to record an irregular beat.

 

[normofthenorth]

Skipped beats are often caused by PVCs, which are a very common and most often benign form of arrhythmia. My cardiac-rehab RN tells me the skipped beats/PVCs aren't totally absent, but they don't create a detectable "pulse", because the Ventricular Contraction is early and doesn't actually pump hardly any blood. One of the advantages of cardio rehab, and of stress EKGs, is that your body gets "read" while you're exercising, and also while you're recovering (which is when many skipped beats occur).

I don't think it's holiday-weekend-emergency urgent, but you might as well ask your Cardio about it and get it checked out.

 

[ken taylor]

Im 5 weeks out The pvc are very comon and no proublem, P.S. for me they were more before my AVR

 

[worktheday]

Thanks for the replies so far guys! Any more directly relating to the workout end of things in relation to the machine response?

Thanks again

 

[moggidoggi]

In my cardiac rehab programme it was recommended to keep heart at 95 but I there so quickly. Now at the gym eight months down the track from mitral valve replacent and continuing AF I wanrt to push it harder. I have been getting up to @110-115 and recover within three minutes to aat least 82 then sit on around 75. What do you guys get to (I am female 57 yrs old and have lost 65 kgd since 2009 to be 92-95kgs I have loymphodema wchich means about 17 of this is retained lymphatic fluid in the lower legs. As i post more I'll add to my list of probs. The surgery seems secondary to the other issues eg taking warfrin when I have wet Macular degeneration and compromising my sight

 

[ALCapshaw2]

Another possibility is Exercise Induced Atrial Fibrilation.

Do you have a Stethoscope? You may want to Listen to your Heart Beat.

Regularly Irregular (or premature contractions) are typically a sign of PAC's or PVC's
which are usually considered to be benign (as indicated by the yawn on your Cardio's face when you tell him).

Irregular (WHACKO) heartbeats are often a sign of Atrial Fibrilation. Also rapid heartbeats (which can also be signs of other arrhythmias).

Your Cardio may want you to wear a 24 hour Holter Monitor to positively identify the type of arrhythmia you are experiencing.

Since they tend to clear up after a few minutes, there is 'probably' nothing to worry about.
If they do not go away, you should definitely have them identified by your Docs.

'AL Capshaw'

 

[worktheday]

Thanks Al. Already plan on calling the office tomorrow to atleast talk to the nurse, who will in turn hopefully talk to my cardio and then go from there. As stated I am asymptimatic, and I'm just getting these readings from the Omron maching IMMEDIATELY upon finishing an excersize, but then gone within 2 mins when i take another reading. Still wondering if this is "normal" for some people and means nothing if you have no other symptoms, or if it could also be equally abnormal for someone else??

 

[JeffM]

Probably not necessary, but an exercise stress test would give you and your Doc a better idea of what your heart does during exercise. When I do my once a year 5-day Holter Monitor, I always throw in a few extra hard cardio workouts (Cardiologist approved) to see if it picks up anything irregular. BTW, just curious: why no cardio? Your heart needs it and it burns more calories. Also, why not get a heart rate monitor so you can watch the rate while you exercise? It won't pick up PVCs, at least mine never have, but it'll show you if you're having A-fib (which I doubt you are). I get PVCs on and off and they seem to come more when I'm not exercising than when I am. At least, that's when I've noticed them most. If you work out especially hard, relative to what you're body is used to, it can trigger PVCs as well. So can alcohol, caffeine, lack of sleep, stress, some medications .... blah, blah, blah.

 

[worktheday]

Jeff thanks for your reply, and again all of you.

I contacted my cardio a few days ago. Spoke with him through his nurse. Relayed my info to her, she put me on hold & spoke with him. She got back on the phone and said his simple reply was "tell him to stop taking his blood pressure with that Omron machine while he's right in the middle of a working out". Now I know what he meant by this.. First off my cardio is considered to be on of the top in southern Florida., and I have supreme confidence in him. Secondly, he is fully aware that I have a major anxiety issue I deal with, so anything that gets in my head throws me into a tizzy. Lastly, he just did an echo and a cath and series of ekg's over a 4 day period on me not 6 weeks ago, and has seen my twice since at appointments, so when it seems as though his response may have been "flippid", he understands me and is confident in my health.

So I have received a little relief from his response. My problem has always been overconcern...convinced something else is going on that "they" (doctors) havent picked up on....hence the anxiety.

I'm still completely open to any and all responses and thank you again.

Jay

 

[epstns]

I don't know - I wouldn't even come close to being offended by your cardio's response. My cardio and I have a similar relationship, and I would have it no other way. We're direct and to-the-point, but we are not above joking, either. The tone of the conversation is that of two friends talking with each other, the content is as serious as necessary.

I would advise you to follow your cardio's advice, and hang onto him - sounds like a keeper.

 

[Gail in Ca]

My heart began beating irregularly about a yr after my 3rd OHS. It goes on all the time. It doesn't seem to bother me during my 1 hour walks, or when I do the weight machines. My cardio sent me to a specialist in cardiac rhythm, electrical issues and he didn't even listen to my heart. I had just had a MRI/contrast and an echo. He just said to go on living my life, not to worry about the irregular beats as long as they don't interfere with my life. If or when I feel they are worsening or interferring then they will deal with it. But for now, I am already on warfarin, which is what you get anyway when you have a-fib, which I do sometimes. That's my 2 cents worth.

 

[worktheday]

Epsnts and Gail,

Thanks for the words of encouragement. Every little bit takes me further away from the "doom and gloom" mindset. This has been something that I have carried with me off and on for 10 years (the anxiety), even before I was aware of any heart issue, so I cnat expect it to be fixed in a short period of time. In the meantime I'm just trying to take care of my body and my mind as best as I can.

Thanks again!

Jay