Exercise And Heart Rate...

[firewatcher]

For those of you who actually CAN do anything cardiovascular (I do not include myself in this yet,) have you noticed that your tachycardia has dropped? Are your POTS numbers better, or do you still have the wild swings in HR with posture? Has your resting HR gotten lower? Does the increase in cardiac performance translate into less of an orthostatic response?

[lieze]

Well I'm not exercising yet besides normal activity but yes everything has gotten more normal with activity.

My resting pulse has gone from 99 down to anywhere around 79-80's and my bp's those last couple episodes actually went up to 120/80 rather than bottoming out. It felt really weird because I'm not used to anything like that so I had to keep telling myself "this is a normal person's blood pressure."

Even when the endo saw me in the fall he thought my sitting standing bp was within normal range.

I'm not sure if I would pass a tilt table test or not but I do still have some POTS like symptoms here and there.

[TXPOTS]

Yes, my resting pulse is now between 55 and 70 bpm. It used to be between 80 and 90 bpm and 120 bpm a year ago even when supine. My standing heart rate is anywhere from 70-90 bpm. I still have brain fog and coat hanger pain, but I am managing much better overall. I may still fail a tilt if I was forced to stand still. My ECHO showed a reduced stroke volume in December, but was thought to be due to an abnormally small, deconditioned heart and not heart failure. Overall, a big improvement since the days when my husband had to escort me to the loo.

[juliegee]

Yes, my resting heart rate used to be over 100. It's now around 60 BPM. That's the biggest improvement exercise has offered me. I still have a 30 BPM rise when I stand, but it's much more tolerable now. I don't use a heart monitor when I run or cycle. I KNOW my HR's would scare the living daylights out of me . I'd rather NOT know- it would truly freak me out.

Prior to my current med regimen, I was unable to do anything cardiovascular. I am now blessed to be able to be able to run and cycle. Just because I can do it, doesn't mean it's easy. My brain screams STOP. A cardiovascular workout is an major "exercise" in mind over matter.

I hear you can't do cardiovascular now, Jennifer. I can totally relate & pray you find something that helps.

Julie

[anna]

Ok this has made me think about the whole POTS diagnosis!!!! My children still and have always had a HR in the low 40's to mid 60's while spine or while sat and fidgeting, but on standing or staying still their HR go up into the 90's when they walk around it goes up even more any cardio stuff and their HR go 170+ within seconds, is this a normal POTS thing. My children all do dance and physio and are well conditioned, muscle wise.

[Guest tearose]

No, exercise does not improve my POTS heart rate issues. If anything, I must be careful not to overdo exercise or I become "oversensitive" to standing and orthostatic changes.

I do exercise, sensibly.

[Simmy]

Yes, I actually do get on my elliptical trainer at least twice a day, except for really bad days. Because of my blood pooling, when I get on I'm at about 120bpm, but as soon as I start walking it drops to between 90 and 100. It takes 2 to 4 minutes for it to slowly creep up to 130 and that's when the headache and dizziness start and I get off and lie down. As long as I continue walking (up to the 4-minute limit) my heartrate remains pretty stable, but the instant I stop and just stand in place I feel the blood falling back into my feet and my heartrate immediately jumps up at least another 20bpm and all the nasty symptoms shift into high gear. Start walking again and it drops 20. Amazing! It's obvious why this happens, but still incredible how the heart does exactly the opposite of what it would normally do if I weren't sick, when I stop exercising.

I do the elliptical trainer because it's about all I can physically do, besides couch based leg lifts, to keep from becoming too deconditioned and to maybe deflate the belly a bit.

As far as it lowering my heartrate, obviously I don't do nearly enough to have any sort of impact on it, but before my meds my sleeping heartrate was between 56 and 60 (early Holter monitor), now it's between 40 and 43 (latest monitor).

[jump]

This is a tricky one to answer.

SOME cardio activity definitely helps my POTS symptoms, and decreases the severity of my tachycardias.

But I suspect my POTS was triggered in part by severe over-exercising and over-training, which strained my body and my heart. I know if I push myself "too much" then my cardiac symptoms are worse the next day; I suspect if I pushed myself too much for a period of time, my cardiac symptoms would get much worse.

For me, building up to being able to go for a brisk walk has helped me. I think if I tried to make myself jog, or something "more" cardiovascular than brisk walking, I would have adverse effects.

Additionally, when I do what is considered moderate exercise, I often reach what doctors would consider my "target heart rate" for cardio exercise - something other people might get to from running or cycling. This, to me, signals that a modest amount of cardio exercise is all my body can handle right now.

[Chaos]

This is a tricky one to answer.

Additionally, when I do what is considered moderate exercise, I often reach what doctors would consider my "target heart rate" for cardio exercise - something other people might get to from running or cycling. This, to me, signals that a modest amount of cardio exercise is all my body can handle right now.

Glad to see you have this too. Before I got so sick this last time,(and figured out the POTS thing) I'd be well beyond my target HR and not be feeling like I was doing much of anything. I'd keep going til I felt like I was "working" and by then my HR would be 180 and I'd be seeing black spots. Of course it was kind of hard to tell for sure what my HR was because it jumps up and down all over. e.g 105- 45- 120- 60- 130-65- etc etc etc. Then I got sick and my HR would be 150 just standing at my sink. Now I'm trying to be better and wiser with my exercise but so far, this old dog hasn't learned new tricks very well. I still tend to overdo it.

Firewatcher, in all honesty, I'm not sure if it's exercise, meds or just time that is helping me. A couple months ago when I tried to go for walks I'd have lots of symptoms for days afterwards. Now I still have symptoms but not nearly as many, intense or prolonged. It seems more like my "normal abnormal" many days.

[Dizzysillyak]

I've never taken my BP or HR before or after excercising but I can tell just from how far I can walk without getting winded that excercise is helping me increase my stamina and muscle strength. I was booted off the treadmill when I tried doing the stress test. Evidently, my numbers or I didn't look good. I never thought to ask why but that was at least 7 years ago.

About 1 - 2 years ago, I took PT for OI. I'm very excercise intolerant and find that I can only walk or ride the recumbent bike at a very very slow speed or else I get light headed. My leg muscles were going into spasm on the bike when I was trying to ride it too quickly.

The physical therapist said it was because my blood wasn't carrying the nutrients to my leg muscles fast enough. The longest time I ever rode the bike while in PT was 10 minutes but they all the therapist allowed me to do. I can walk my dogs for 20 minutes now as long as I go slowly and take breaks. I could do all the other PT excercises while on my back fine if I went slowly. Upright was a different story ...

I tried walking my dogs (chihuahuas) every day for a year a few years ago to see if it would help me but I never noticed an improvement in my OI or CFS. I stopped because it took away energy that I needed to use on housework, cooking, etc ...

My abilities seem to come and go at this point too. Some days I can barely stand up long enough to make a meal but most of the time now I'm ok for 3 hours at at time ... and then on other days I'm doing heavy yard work for hours on end. At this point, I'm looking at hormones ...

sorry for the book ... tc ... Marcia

[Nikki]

Well, I can't exercise that often..When I do it's usually only for 15 minutes or so, but my blood pressure seems to go a tiny bit higher, along with my heart rate. Nothing major though. Which surprises me..Doing normal things most days makes both things go crazy. When I exercise, it stays within normal ranges lol.

[yogini]

Years ago when I was first sick, I did cardio - mostly riding the recumbent bike and some swimming. It did result in a decrease in my resting HR and also the swings I would have from sitting to standing. It got to the point where I was having HRs in the 80s or even 70s standing, down from 120s-30s. Resting HR went from 90-100 to 60s/70s. I was on daily BBs at the time and I was slowly able to wean off and for the past couple of years I haven't needed any BB on a day to day basis. I switched to yoga 3 years ago, added Paxil shortly before I completely went off BBs and now I am down to 1/2 the amount of Paxil I originally took.

I actually lost my tolerance for cardio again, and am finding it hard to start up because I feel headaches and tachy afterwards - which sometimes keep me awake at night, last into the nexy day, etc. It is much easier to go to a yoga class where I can walk away feeling more energized. But I do think I had more endurance in the days when I did cardio.

I definitely noticed a difference from the cardio as when I was first sick, I couldn't take stairs at all. Then it would take me 10 mins to get up a flight of stairs and leave me sick for a while - be it an hr or 2. Now I can do it at a normal pace, I feel heart pounding/tachy and short of breath but it goes away within a few minutes. Now without BBs my HRs are a bit higher, but I usually don't feel sick except around that time of the month or during times of high stress or activity. So less functional than a "normal" person, but way better than I was when I first got sick. This is after 6 yrs of having POTS. So making progress slowly, but surely.