HR not increasing with exercise?

[LuckyGuy]

Hello All,

I'm hoping somebody else has experienced this or knows something about it.

I'm a 46yo male, 3 months post-surgery for AVR and MVR. I started cardiac rehab a couple weeks ago, after a relatively sedentary period (recovering from surgery, getting rid of a-fib, fluid in lungs, etc.), so this is really my first time doing any aerobic workouts.

The problem is my heart rate is not rising with exertion. My resting HR is about 77 right now, and goes up to maybe 84 when walking or performing 'daily living activites.' When I work out (on a bike or treadmill) at cardiac rehab, I can get it up to 93-96 but then it taps out.

Today we even did a test, where I exercised for 5 minutes at 4 METS, and my HR was around 94. Then I did a minute at 8 METS, which should have caused my HR to increase quite a bit, but no luck (it actually went down a beat or two). Needless to say, this is limiting my ability to get a good workout and is also concerning me a bit.

Anybody hear of anything like this before? I'll mention it to my cardio when I see her next week but I have a feeling you guys will know more about this.

P.S. I am not on metropolol or any other beta blocker that would limit my HR.

 

[tprice54]

Well, it sounds like you know what to look for (you knew I was going to ask about BB!)
IF there are no meds affecting your HR, then the alternative is that your exerczie is not hard enough to raise your HR. Many of us have not raised our HR too high at first, letting our bodies get used to working out again. I was bale to get to 130-135 after 6 weeks or so. I'd be interested if others have found it difficult to raise their HR if meds are NOT involved.

 

[Lynlw]

Well I'm not a doc, but it sounds alot like sick sinus syndrome to me, Justin has it where his heart rate doesn't increase with excercise as much as it "should" of course Justin has alot of problems with his heart, but I'd look into sick sinus http://www.med.umich.edu/mott/chc/patient_arr_sick.html

 

[Philip B]

Heart Rate

Heart Rate

It would probably be easy to speculate...you've got this...or you've got that...it sounds like this...or that, but what good would it do to speculate?

What does the individual who's running your cardiac rehab program say about your heart rate during rehab sessions? What heart rate targets are integrated into your program?

Your question is a good one, but I think you're asking the wrong people. Your rehab supervisor and cardiologist can address your concerns very accurately.

One experience I can relate is that my rehab program was designed to keep my heart rate within certain parameters during the first month or so to keep me from messing-up the work my surgeon had done. It took awhile for things to heal. I don't know if my experience was the norm as I started rehab a couple of weeks post-op and others have reported waiting six to eight weeks before starting theirs.

-Philip

 

[Bina]

LuckyGuy, it's worth considering that maybe the Amiodarone is not out of your system yet.
Please let us know what your cardio says about this next week.

 

[LuckyGuy]

Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. I did meet with my cardiologist yesterday.

She said to keep exercising for another month and see if things improve. If not, then she'll suggest a pacemaker.