Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

I am 76, and had been doing yard work for an hour to two hours daily. Two times I pulled a muscle in my hip. First time it took about a week to recuperate, the second time three weeks. Also, I found it affecting my heart rhythm at times. I loved that I was doing, but my body is saying cut it out. Going back to just walking to town which is up and down steep hills and cleaning house.

Also, are you consuming ANY caffeine? If so, need to stop all. I would rather take practical, natural steps than meds and treatments.

I am grateful to have found this group as I was recently diagnosed with SVT after experiencing heart palpitations. I had an EKG and wore a Zio heart monitor for 2 weeks. My new PCP gave me a routine referral to Cardiology with a 7 month wait for an appointment. Two weeks ago, after experiencing lightheadedness and a 137 HR while working out (strength training with weights that I do 4 or more times a week), I went to the ER. I got blood work. EKG. echocardiogram and chest x-ray, all of which came back "normal". I guess that means I wasn't having a heart attack. Even with an "urgent" referral to Cardiology from the ER doctor, my appointment is still a month away. Any suggestions for how to find a great cardiologist; questions to ask, specialties to look for, etc.? Until now, I've been very healthy only taking one prescription drug (age 74) and this episode was unsettling and frustrating in dealing with our broken health care system. Anyone else felt an ageism bias from the medical providers you deal with?

Questions are:

What is your current protocol for dealing with possible paroxysmal or transient arrhythmias where a recent ECG showed no apparent anomaly? You'll want some kind of positive indication that he/she will want you on a monitor like a Loop Recorder that you will have for some time that will have a record over weeks, not a few days. Also, you'll want to hear that he/she will not be averse to exercise, or if he/she is, to what target zone should you try to take your heart?

Would he/she attempt a stress test, possibly a MIBI stress test with contrast and CT scan?

Is ischemia a potential culprit? If so, how would he/she recommend a definitive assessment? Angiogram, Doppler, MIBI...?

Should you be on a statin if you are not already? Why? Are your lipids in a good ratio, triglycerides in normal range?

The thing is, maggie, you are intermittently in tachycardia, and apparently mostly/only during exercise of a certain intensity or type. It could be that you will simply have to desist if you don't want interventions of any kind, whether drugs or some kind of intrusive diagnostic (MIBI and angiography).

Secondly, you really do want to nail down what KIND of tachycardia it is. If it is ventricular, it must be dealt with aggressively. If it's supraventricular (meaning originates and takes place above the ventricles), then it's only worrisome to the extent that you don't like how it feels, you don't like the not knowing, you don't like the potential for progression (yes, arrhythmias tend to progress) and what an evolution to a more intractable type of arrhythmia means for morbidity. Yours.

Lastly, how does your cardiologist feel about catheter ablation if that procedure is ever indicated? Will he/she refer you to a (really crackerjack) electrophysiologist, a specialist in electrical conductivity and disorders of the myocardium? If you are highly symptomatic, and would like this nipped as soon as possible, then you should get into line for an EP as soon as he/she can refer you to one. A good one. A very busy, highly sought one. If you know somebody in the health sciences locally, ask that person to sleuth around for a great EP, but be open to traveling at least a full days' drive if that person is not local. You want THE BEST!!

@maggie8358 can you try not working out/lifting weights? For me, lifting can be a trigger for afib and rapid heart rate. So it may not even be the exertion: it could be the physical act of lifting weight.

The suggestions above are excellent and having a longer patch monitor and also having a smartwatch or Kardia device will provide information, as will a stress test.

But I do wonder if changing your activity would help. I get a good work out with tai chi and the added benefit is lower stress!

Thank you for the suggestions and questions to ask. I'm trying to educate myself so that I am prepared for the appointment with the cardiologist. And I plan to get a second opinion. I have been diagnosed with SVT but so far none of the doctors, nurses, or PAs have explained what it is, what lifestyle changes to make, or any treatments or medications. Very frustrating!

Thank you for your suggestions. I do have an Apple watch and I use it to record mu HR when I walk, swim or workout. I actually love to exercise and strength training is very important for bone health as well so I don't plan on giving it up. I do walk a lot, bike ride, swim, and garden. I'm active and not about to give that up! None of the doctors I have seen so far (internal medicine and ER doctor) have suggested I give up strength training or suggested any lifestyle changes! I'm back in the gym and my HR has stayed under 120. However, just walking my dog for 30 minutes can also result in my heart rate pushing 120, so I don't think it's the weights. There's something else going on that just hasn't been diagnosed yet.

In my experience doctors don't get into suggestions of what to give up unless we present an activity as a trigger. Will you be telling the MD what activities seem to trigger problems with your heart rate?

I like the book "The Afib Cure" by John Day and another cardiologist. Some of it might apply to SVT. They do focus on giving up triggers in order to avoid meds, but of course also write about those who need meds after those efforts.

Acceptance of limitations is tough. I can walk 10 miles in a day but can barely lift a seltzer bottle. I have osteoporosis too with fractures. You are lucky to still be lifting. But a PT may be able to help you find alternatives to help bones.

I told the ER doctor about my heart rate going up when exercising. He did not tell me to limit anything or make any changes. My PCP has been useless. I finally see a cardiologist in December. I am reading the book "You Are The Placebo" by Joe Dispenza as I firmly believe that our thoughts and emotions can heal the body, and I'm learning to meditate more intentionally.
After all my tests came back normal when I went to the ER, the doctor said it was okay for me to get on a plane the next day and fly to 4 day conference. As of now, absolutely no guidance or advice from doctors.

Irregular heartbeat made worse by long COVID. Thank you

@maggie8585 everything I do to keep my rate of afib down is from forums or from "The Afib Cure" or common sense. I have an excellent EP who prescribes pills to take as needed ("pill in a pocket" diltiazem and Eliquis) and have told him my triggers but clearly, from the conversation, avoiding triggers is up to me. I also take magnesium, potassium (low sodium V-8) , eat early and don't recline after eating, take Gas-X if I have gas in upper GI, don't lift too much weight at once, walk and do tai chi, and try, not always successfully, to keep stress down.