Rapid heartbeat while exercising…….

It is almost certain to be a return to AF if you've had it previously. Or, it's on it's way to paroxysmal AF. It could be tachycardia, as in ventricular, but that would require a Holter monitor during exercise and when the rapid HR happens. Do you have a Kardia or a recent smart watch? Oura ring? Such devices can reveal AF. If you have such a thing, download an exercise ECG and look for irregular intervals between QRS complexes and look for an absence of P waves, the small but evident blip just before the Q. If no P wave, it's AF. If there's a P wave, it's probably VT.

You should consult a physician and have a Holter assigned for a couple of days.

Thanks for the reply….. I check my Kardia and just had a EKG at the Dr, and wear my I-Watch…. No indication of AFID…..

Certainly has my attention…. Guess I will contact cardiologist….

Good advise

Hi,
I have AFib and I love to exercise. I have slowly been able to increase my jogging indoors to 5-6 miles with an average pace of 10-11 minute/miles. My VO2Max on my watch is now 47 (it was 23 about 2 years ago), and I have multiple heart issues.

I have to be careful to keep my heart rate between 100-110 during exercise. I used to do aerobics, but now I have been advised not to try and use my arms overhead and legs at the same time because it stresses the heart to deliver blood to all limbs at the same time. If I push my heart too hard, my heart rate will spike, I see multiple arrhythmias (PACs), which can turn into AFib. I monitor my heart during exercise using my Apple Watch, Lookee Tech ECG (every mile), and Lookee Tech Sleep Pro continuous oximeter (oxygen level).

This strategy has worked for me and my EP recently said I could stop Flecainide and Eliquis after working with him to slowly tapered me off. I have a prescriptions for these meds if I experience AFib.

Intense pickleball could possibly push your heart too hard and result in spikes in your heart rate. I have attached Apple Watch reports of what happens if I push my heart too hard during jogging. My heart rate will spike and I see arrhythmias. I have to slow down and lower my heart rate. I had a real VO2Max test at Mayo last year and I went into AFib for 7 hours after the test. The arrhythmias started with PACs at rest and then progressed to AFib.

Best of luck to you. All Cardiologists have told me that exercise is good for the heart, including me with AFib, mild heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, tricuspid valve regurgitation, and an ascending aortic aneurysm. I now feel great thanks to the physical therapist I have worked with for the past 2 years.

Thanks for the informative response. Saw my cardiologist today. Says it is probably OK since my heart beat returns to normal at rest. However he wants me to wear a monitor for two weeks to evaluate…. You have had quite a journey. Wishing you the best

I have a pacemaker due to a fib. . It feels so good to go to a gym again . Salute to you .

Thank you for sharing about your use of the Lookee tech products (veyr interesting), especially during exercise. I use two 24/7 continuous ECG monitoring tech products: Fourth Frontier 2x & the Wellue Heart Health Monitor--& both can be worn continuously (& during exercise). The Fourth Frontier package can be set to be worn continuously for several days at a time.

I consider both essential to my understanding of my post-C19 mRNA vaccine-injured heart, which if it were not for my FitBit Charge 4 atrial fibrillation notifications...on the 4th day after receiving the Moderna bivalent mRNA vaccine "booster," I would have not known about & known that I need to obtain...medical diagnosis--acute autoimmune myocarditis (diagnosed via a cardiac troponin blood assay... with elevated troponin I (cTnI)).

As we know from the burgeoning peer-reviewed scientific literature, including the recent Swiss study (University of Basel Cardiology and Cardiovascular Research Institute ), Buergin, Lopez-Ayala et al., the risk for post-C19 mRNA vaccine acute autoimmune myocarditis may run as high as...1 in 35, which is orders of magnitude greater than the risk outlined in the CDC-FDA VAERS data/reporting. Interesting how much of this burgeoning C19 mRNA vaccine-induced myocarditis peer-reviewed literature is...conducted outside of the United States.

For my part, I wear the Fourth Frontier 2x chest-strapped monitor when I exercise, as it records & presents a range of very useful data, such as a metric it terms "Training Load," duration of exercise, percentage of normal sinus rhythm, percentage of "other" heart rhythms (arrhythmias), "noisy" rhythms (those not able to be assessed), heart rate zones, heart rate, heart strain (very important given my myocarditis injury), body shock, breathing rate, HRV, & step cadence).

On the other hand, I wear my Wellue 24/7 continuous heart monitor for up 24 hours at a time (it can record up to 24 hours of continuous ECG before it starts recording over the data recorded in the previous 24 hours). The Wellue tech also includes an old-school Windows-based software package that prepares an incredible, exercise-cardiologist-quality ECG/EKG strip & includes categorization of up to 17 different EKG/ECG events (including PACs, PVCs, PAC/PVC couplets, afib, atrial flutter, supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, etc.). This software then generates an incrediblly detailed & useful--& very comprehensible, report, including analyses of all the observed/recorded ECG/EKG events, which is easily as valuable as enduring an in-office exercise ECG/EKG and/or so-called "stress test"... & then getting the filtered/interpreted data results...spoken to me by a disinterested American cardiologist. With the Wellue, I have been able to share repeated 24-hour ECG/EKG recordings, analysies, & reports with consulting cardiologists (all of whom reject health-insurance payment), including one based in the UK. So in my estimation the Wellue Heart Health Monitor tech & software are...invaluable.

But I must also praise Apple Watch's "Atrial Fibrillation History" algortihm (which is APple-speak for the medical terms "Atrial Fibrillation Burden." Once set to Atrial Fibrillation History," the Apple watch measures heart thythm 24/7 & generates a once-weekly Atrial Fibrillaiton Burden report, which in both basic & clinical research is measured as the percentage of time spent in atrial fibrillaiton over (divided by) total time measured. The peer-reviewed data suggest that an Atrial Fibrillation Burden measurement of 11% or more signifies increased risk for stroke (primarily ischemic stroke).

The Apple Watch Afib Burden/History metric is a powerful & actionable metric--& I use it to get a broad handle on how I am doing & is an excellent foundation for the more-detailed Wellue & Fourth Frontier data. I also keep an Excel spread sheet of 37 different variables, which I attempt to model using correlational & low-level regression models, to identify patterns among/between the 37 "lifestyle" (including diet, G.I. factors, hydration, electrolyte intake, & other variables)...to help me predict & manage ectopic heart beats & onset atrial fibrillation.

Great to hear that you have returned to exercising & clawed back elements of your prior life--& gotten off the anticoagulants & pacing medications. Good on you!

Stay safe & all the best 🙂