I am having very similar effects only when I road bike. I wear a HR monitor which indicates that my HR drops. It wasn't until I purchased an Alivecor KardiaMobile device and took readings immediately upon seeing my HR drop via my monitor. In actuality my HR starts beating erratically at a slower rate. I have many other symptoms including muscle weakness, loss in endurance, tiredness. I have seen 3 cardiologists of which the last diagnosed a condition that resulted in my getting a pacemaker. It has done nothing for my condition. I regret it every day. I was also on HCTZ for almost 2 years which I know caused my condition. Once I got off it, many other symptoms went away included really bad tacycardia. When i ride and see my HR drop via my monitor, I will stop riding and eait until my HR restores to normal which can take from 30 seconds to 15 minutes. It is vital to stop and let it recover by lying flat, standing , ie changing postures until restored. Potassium seems to help but not too much. I am now focusing on iron anemia to eliminate it as a cause. It all goes back to the HCTZ which flushed my system for too long, especially since i eould ride up to 80 miles at a time. I am interested in following others success here. Hope my small input helps.
Me too! I just started having this problem 10/2017. Had the heart monitor for 2 wks. Showed PVC’s but the dang company didn’t open up what was going on when I was exercising. I’m having the exact same thing you guys. During exercise, heart rate drop about half for about 90 secs and then back up. I too want answers. I miss working out. I have a stress test coming up soon.
Darmaggi etal.,
I just came across this thread, and I am so glad. I have identical symptoms, not similar, but identical. It started May 2017. Initially it was intermittent, but then became every day. Each week my trigger point was lower than the last, and once I hit that point my HR would abruptly drop. My HR would then settle in at a lower rate, no matter how fast I walked or when I go uphill. When I exercised my HR would go up to 135-145, with an average of 119. My set point is currently 112-114, the new maximal rate is 103-104, and average HR for the exercise period is 90-94. I should say my routine is a brisk walk/jog for 6-7 miles. Now I am doing well if I can go for 6 miles.
I have been wearing a FitBit for 16 months so I have data to verify my experience. Before the issue cropped up the plot of HR was smooth, with even transitions. Now it looks like a saw blade, the rates go up and down - it never holds steady. If I jog or go uphill there is a delay in my HR going up, but it does not go up beyond 104. Same going upstairs, my HR does not go up until I reach the top of the stairs.
I have no orthostatic hypotension; in fact my BP has gone up, and it was well controled with HCTZ and Losinopril beforehand. I have been a well controlled type 1 diabetic for 53 years (now 64 years old).
Cardio stress test - perfusion studies showed no blockage, exercise 12 lead stress test was normal (except at the time it was done I reached a max of 132 bpm which was low for me, but felt the effort to reach that was more than what it should have been) cardiac echo showed some aortic stenosis, I have an obvious murmur, and RBBB.
Thyroid, adrenal-corticol, and other blood tests are all normal. My resting HR is 40-42.
While there is some overlap of symptoms to Cardia Autonomic Neuropathy, there are distinct differences. So it could still be some type of autonomic dysfunction. My potassium levels are normal. It could be an infectious disease, but none are known affecting only the heart.
My cardiologists seemed not to be convinced there is anything wrong, but then they are used to dealing with very sick cardiac patients.
So I hope you are still monitoring this thread and have some more insight into this disease. Maybe we could contact each other directly.
Regards,
Mike
Same here...I'm having problems with simple dance exercise as of this week. The dizzy, nausea sets in and legs become weak...hard to breath properly.
When I spoke to the doctor in December 2015 about the type of exercise I was doing he never advised against it since I had been doing the same exercise since June 2015. Now another report something is not working properly or more test.
I have the same issue. I am a 53-year-old male 6 foot 210 pounds I am an avid biker and I do spinning class 3 to 4 times a week. When my heart rate gets to 160 it immediately drops to 70 to 80 I always thought it was my heart rate monitor. Last week I went to mayo clinic in Jacksonville and had a stress test and sure enough there was nothing wrong with my heart rate monitor. I am presently wearing an event monitor. I would like to stay in touch with you and find out if you have any more information, and I will let you know what I hear from Mayo in 3 weeks when I meet with the cardiologist. You can reach me at ***@****
First couple of cardiologists I saw said they didn't think I was a candidate for beta blockers or a pacemaker....which I guess I was glad to hear, but I also was hoping for a little more intellectual curiousness as to the etiology. I guess the idea of too much exercise never really computed with me. I suppose I could try laying off all exercise for a while to see if it can detune my cardiac system and the parasympathetic nervous system and my vagal tone. I'm grabbing at straws here, but my mom had hypertension and she wasn't obese, and she also had Parkinson's disease which is known for a dopamine & acetylcholine imbalance, so I was wondering if I could have early symptoms of PD without the tremors because I get so much physical activity, which they say is a natural antidote to the physical manifestations of the disease.
p.s., unexplained brady seems to increase with age, and the only way I know to deal with it is a pacemaker. meds can't help.
Salt has been shown not to affect BP in caucasian males.
Low resting pulse is not necessarily an indicator of heart efficiency or health, I'm not athletic at all, my resting will be high 40s, low 50s.
I can also induce a rapid rate change, like yours, with a Valsalva maneuver. I've done it.
As more and more studies are being published about this, Hyper trained athletes are hurting themselves. There can be too much exercise.
It sounds to me like some sort of dysautonomia. Dysautonomia is a crappy diagnosis though, because it doesn't define the root cause or address it. It's like calling something a "syndrome". We know the ANS is screwing up but we don't know why and we don't know how to fix it.
Sorry I couldn't offer better advice than the docs involved. As I read it I'm thinking your ANS is sending your heart a sudden metric - ton of parasympathetic tone for some reason. ..... dysautonomia.