Heart Rhythm Conditions – Welcome to the group

Hi there. I was a competitive runner, snowshoer, and did a lot of hard cycling. I was in the Canadian Armed Forces for 30 years, always fit, well-looked after for dental hygiene and general health, always vaccinated before deployments oversees. I developed atrial fibrillation (AF) suddenly near the end of a 10 km maintenance run. Long story short, I had all the usual tests, none turned up anything. The last diagnostic left in the list was an overnight sleep lab ( a polysomnography with a gazillion leads and machines blinking at me all night. Fortunately, I slept well for about six hours). Or....so I thought. The result that was fed to me ten days later was that I have severe sleep apnea. Who knew?!

Is your arrhythmia determined yet? Chances are that it is either PVCs (premature ventricular contractions(, PACs (premature atrial contractions), or AF. It might also be SVT, or supra-ventricular tachycardia, but the tachyarrhythmias are still in sinus rhythm...they're just quite a bit faster than necessary, often well above 130 BPM even at rest. A Holter monitor worn for several days, or a loop recorder, or maybe even an ECG while your heart is acting up one day, will determine which of those it is.

Female, age 67. Married 41 years (to the same guy) a daughter, 39, and son 35. Avid runner, lap swimmer, weight lifter. Pescatarian. Sober alcoholic. 5'-5" tall, 127 lbs. Recent health issues have me confounded, high cholesterol, irregular heartbeat, slow resting heartbeat. I'm somewhat frustrated when my lifestyle isn't effectively protecting me from these issues. Landed here during random internet research.

Female, age 67. Married 41 years (to the same guy) a daughter, 39, and son 35. Avid runner, lap swimmer, weight lifter. Pescatarian. Sober alcoholic. 5'-5" tall, 127 lbs. Recent health issues have me confounded, high cholesterol, irregular heartbeat, slow resting heartbeat. I'm somewhat frustrated when my lifestyle isn't effectively protecting me from these issues. Landed here during random internet research.

I consistently have a HR when sleeping/lying down of 40 bmp, and occasionally, even 30 bpm. I have PVCs and have had SVCs, as well. I'm on Flecainide to help with the arrhythmia. My EC said that it's probably normal for my resting heart rate to drop and wasn't very concerned. I dunno. Have been hospitalized twice for my HR when it was 220. My usual resting HR is around 62. Feel confused as well.

In a heart that is working nominally, properly, a low heart rate is generally...not absolutely, but generally...nothing to be alarmed about. Many of us have low HR when resting, especially when asleep (but not when in REM sleep where our bodies can twitch, rapid eye movement, and we can moan or groan or utter unintelligible words and our heart rates can rise into the low 100's). If you are on a beta-blocker or calcium channel blocker, and your heart rate is under 50 much of the time, it might be an indication that your prescription needs a rethink, or at least a gander by the prescribing authority to confirm that the dose is correct. Things change, a heart becomes more efficient, gets better, less irritated, and then the current dose of BB can be too much. But, apart from keeping a record of daily/waking HR and BP, and looking for a trend toward lower numbers, I wouldn't worry for a second if my HR were at or above 40, and I felt good.

NB- Do be a bit more careful rising out of chairs and from the table, getting out of the vehicle, and arising from a prone/supine position getting out of bed. Take extra care to breath deeply two/three times, scootch your bum left and right, get some blood pressure up, and then slowly rise. Have a bail-out plan if you find yourself seeing spots and feeling lightheaded; be prepared to fall backwards, trying to keep your butt low to improve the distance you must fall if fall you must. Try also to keep your chin tucked toward your chest in case you fall back and slam a bit. Don't want a brain concussion as well as a sore butt/back.

Congratulations on a successful mitral valve repair. I think your heart is feeling improved and happier, and it needs to pump less forcefully. Assuming you aren't on any medication that might slow the heart or reduce its stroke volume, which beta-blockers will do, just keep an eye and if it gets worse, call a cardiologist right away.

Hi everyone. I'm Gael, a 73 year old woman with a long history of irregular heartbeat, apparently due to aortiv valve regurgitation. I also have hypertension and am taking three medications for it. That said, I have not seen a cardiologist in over five years because my husband and I were caring for my bedbound mother. She died a year ago and then my dear husband died a month later. I am thinking of going to the Mayo clinic nearest me to get all of this checked out. The arrythmia causes me panic attacks and makes it nearly impossible to do the things I want and need to do in life. Does anyone have similar experience? Is there anything that can definitively be done to make life easier with this condition? Thank you for any perspective on this.
Gael

Greetings all,
Thank you for this group!
I have a family history of atrial fibrillation, mother, father, 2 brothers, and a sister (that's all I know of). I had a cryoablation about 3 years ago and that controlled my a-fib for almost 2 years. When it popped up again, my cardiologists determined that it was because of a leaking mitral valve getting worse, which they have been monitoring for around 5 years. Last April I had a minimally invasive mitral valve repair (they went in between the ribs instead of a sternotomy, put in an annuloplasty ring to tighten the valve and added a couple chordae - it's amazing what they can do these days!). Surgery was successful. I have recently noticed, or think I notice occasional irregular heart beats - not a-fib - and recently am experiencing what I would call bradycardia, with a heart rate around 40 when I am lying down in bed. Wondering if it is something I should be concerned about.

@gaelgreen I also want to mention the book "The Afib Cure," by Day and Bunch. Although its focus is afib some of the suggestions might be helpful to you. Even before reading that book I did some of them: magnesium, low sodium V-8 for potassium, never reclining after eating, lying on my right side, tai chi for stress, breathing and exercise, daily walk and I use simethicone for GI gas. I continue to learn about my triggers. The book also covers "lifestyle factors" like weight, blood pressure, diabetes, diet and so on.

It sounds like your PVC's are so frequent that much of that is not relevant . In any case good luck with a cardiologist!