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Avatar universal

Heart Problems after excercise or hard activity, and beyond

Hello. First of all, a little background that might help:
Ever since I entered puberty, I had heart problems. It first started when I almost accidentally fell off my chair. That, for the first time, trigger a tachycardia that lasted for two minutes. Luckily my brother was there to help me (he has the same problem. Actually, both my father and mother have the same heart problems, so I probably got it genetically) to help me clam down. Since then, things only got worse. I was diagnosed with respiratory arrhythmia, tachycardia (possibly fibrillation, the doctors couldn't decide), and medium-high tetany. And as years passed by, the problems got worse. It even got to the point where I had to be hospitalized. The doctors couldn't, though, find the reason for my problems and wrote it off as "anxiety" and sent me home. I am 17 now, soon 18.

Now to my problem: I am not the most exercising guy, one of the reasons being the problems I have. Also, laziness. However, when I get some exercise, if it's a rushing kind of exercise (running) or if it'S over a long period of time (an hour+), I feel really weak after about half an hour after said exercise. That'd be pretty normal, but...
My heart sometimes effectively stops. I mean, not that it skips a beat, I mean it stops for about two, three seconds, and it effectively throws me to the ground. I can then barely move, and I am scared as all hell, which leads to panic, which leads to more problems. I have to lie down and squirm around out of fear of my heart stopping again, this time permanently. When it stops, I then feel even weaker, and my heart beats really slow and I am light headed and feel myself as being on an edge of another heart stop. The first time this happened was after I came out of the hospital where I lay for two days.

My point is, is there a way to prevent these except for the whole "exercise less"? I am already trying to not over-exert myself, but sometimes I lose myself in the moment and go beyond the limit (which is really, really limited). Is there a safer way to train my heart to accept more "burden" without almost destroying itself? I mean, when I don't do anything for days, the heart problems get worse, but when I finally do something, I am on the verge of a heart attack. I really need some advice, because my doctors won't do anything, instead opting to telling me to "monitor" my heart problems and leaving it there, without doing anything when I actually suffer the problems. Any help would be great, really.

Sorry about it being so long, and sorry about grammatical mistakes. I just came back from half an hour of biking and have the problems I described. Swaying around my keyboard like a drunk, because I feel weak and my heart is really, really freaking me out. Gotta love genetics.

BTW: All I am taking is some magnesium and Koenzym Q10 Plus (Coenzyme q10 in English, I guess), if that helps.

Peace,
Drakasin
5 Responses
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1807132 tn?1318743597
First of all you likely will not be able to prevent your tachycardia simply by exercising.  You can help your heart get stronger at dealing with it but you would need an ablation to correct the issue.  If it is an accessory pathway svt it is usually easy to fix.  If it is afib it is a bit trickier.  You would need to have it caught on a monitor to know for sure.  

As for the heart stopping a full 3 seconds and laying you flat you should definitely speak to your cardiologist about this.  Again you may need something like a 30 day monitor to catch these issues so long as you get them at least once every thirty days but you need to get them recorded so you can get a proper diagnosis, otherwise they just write it off as stress.  So just be persistent about what is going on until you get it all recorded.  If you are having long pauses a pacemaker may be needed to keep your heart at a health rate.  

Anyways, like the others have said, try not to stress out about what is going on.  That will only make the situation worse.  Take care and best of luck getting it all worked out.
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Avatar universal
So, was walking through the park when suddenly I did something like a hiccup and bam! Tachycardia or Fib or something like that. Luckily, I am pretty much used to it by now, and even discovered a technique to get rid of it fast. Thought I'd share it with you, though you probably already have better ways to deal with it.

(( The technique:
1. Lay down as soon as you can (I had to lay down on the dirty ground, but anywhere where you're in a horizontal position works)
2. Bend your knees (as if you were about to do some sit-ups)
3. Expel all air (as much as you can) and hold for a few seconds
4. Intake breath, expel as much air as you can again for a few seconds
5. Repeat 3 and 4. It usually takes me two "cycles" of these (That's about 20 seconds at most) to get my heart back to normal)
))

Anyway, I am trying to be more active and get my heart strengthened through some heavy walking as it's the least strenuous exercise I can think of. Hopefully it will yield some results other than giving me more tachycardias.
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Avatar universal
you are welcome. just try to get some comfort from the doctors tests, where they did not find anything. stay close to them, and keep us posted.
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Avatar universal
Hello. I've got all the possible tests I could get while in the hospital for two days, even got the Holster for 24 hours after I was released. As I had said, they didn't find anything (except the Holster, where there was some palpitation because of my respiratory arrhythmia that causes my heart to skip and do general silliness when getting worked up too fast), and by all means I should be healthy. Except that I am not. The doctors just think that the problems have basis on emotional level or whatever. That might be true (lots of repressed anger), but because everyone in my family has similar problems (though less severe), I am inclined to believe that it's more the cause of bad genes. They didn't put me on any meds otherwise. Coenzyme was recommended to me by my father, and it seems to help somewhat. Also, I try not to worry, and people say that I am one of the most chill guy they know, but it's really hard not to get a surge of panic when your heart starts doing crazy, even more than usual.
Thanks for the comment, any help is welcome.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
hello,

first of all, I am very sorry to read of your concerns and am astonished that your doctors have not run tests on you, unless I missed it in your post. I would find a Cardiologist that will run tests on you and at least give you some definite answers and suggestions for treatment, or meds. I get tons of PVCs, and they sometimes seem like they are stopping my heart, but I think it is resetting. there are many here that have ectopics and so much knowledge here, and support. take care, and TRY NOT TO WORRY.

best to you
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