nikigrl8883 Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 wow after exercising my heart rate has been extremly low for hrs now in the 40s and my bp is going up and down even sitting its getting really low then normal then low........does anyone else get this after exercise? has anyone gotten pots after having a heart virus by any chance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenwclark Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 My heart rate drops after I exercise or do anything that wears me out. Usually high 40s or low 50s. It feels pretty yucky, but it does go away with time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 POTS doesn't happen after heart viruses. It's normal to have fluctuations. The more you look, the more erratic your readings will be- it's like biofeedback.My lowest hr recorded is 17bpm and I am still here to tell the tale!relax. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiactec Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 lowest rate has been 39, highest rate has been 220. lowest BP has been 80/50.i think pots can be brought on after getting a heart virus because heart tissue/cells are richly innervated by both parasympathetic and sympathetic fibers and infection or virus can wreak havoc on this innervation by either enhancing parasympathetic tone (slowing of heart rate) or sympathetic tone (increasing heart rates). we have had several patients come through cardiology with viral infection to the heart and after the virus was controlled, they had profound tachycardia and/or bradycardia..... this being said though, please know that by no means does pots CAUSE heart viruses.heart viruses such as bacterial endocarditis are hard viruses to miss during a cardiac workup because typically these patients are extremely symptomatic -- HIGH HIGH fever, malaise, extreme SOB, out of control blood work -- all of which are followed up via echo (typically transesophageal) which reveal vegetations (big clumps of crap basically) hanging from heart valves that are affected. this depends on what virus the heart is trying to ward off, but the most common is endocarditis and these patients are extremely ill. complete heart blocks and second degree heart blocks are very common in acute situations of endocarditis/viral pathologies and these kind of blocks will demonstrate with specific morphologic patterns on ekg, with, yes, heart rates of 40's, 30's, and sometimes 20's. but without evidence of viral infection to the heart (fever, abnormal bloodwork, abnormal echo), a heart rate of 40 alone can be normal and not mean heart block caused from virus or virus in and of itself. typically after exercise the heart rate is faster, but after a few minutes should return to baseline, and after an hour can actually be quite slow in a normal heart........hope this helps... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dizzygirl Posted February 4, 2007 Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 hey.. your Bp going up after exercising .. and ur heartrate being in the 40's is probably a response to the exercise for one..as many of us have exercise intolerance..(all part of pots)...and your heart rate in the 40's your bp going up was more then likely a compensating for the fact that your heart rate was lower then your used too.. ther for the body has to find was to keep you upright...pots developing after a heart virus.. i dont know...but you have a pretty good work up right? and it you had a heart virus im pretty sure that your doctors may have picked up on something like that..such variation dear.. from low to high to normal back down and up.. its all very normal with pots..it is alot to deal with and it is very scary at times..the lowest my hr has been is 33 and the lowest my Bp has every been is 45/23 also ive had bp's with zero bottom numbers.. the highest i hav every been is Hr 240 and bp 195/145...I hope that i dont sound like im down playing waht you are going thru.. im just trying to find a way to reassure you that what you are experiencing is normal when dealing with pots.. the ans system is so complex...and it really does affect so many different things that its mind blowing at times...but if this is something new its always good to get checked out by your doc.. do you have an ans specialist?hang in there hugsdizz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikigrl8883 Posted February 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2007 cardiactec,i did have fevers off and on for months and flu like symptoms ...i know i dont have a bacterial heart infection as those are quite obvious but i think i may of had a viral heart infection....a virus that went to myheart....i was not eating right before i got pots and working all the time and under alot fo stress,,,,,everyone at my work was sick eith a flu bug the week before i got sick...i then developed all the symptoms along with pots.......the echo couldve missed the heart damged because it was in august i had that done its been 5 months since then,,,,i ist got sick with a virus type bug in late april id say may.....so it may have developed during that time and turned into this.....thats what im nervous about Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiactec Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 nikigirl,are you still getting fevers? if you are concerned, i would check in with your doc and tell him/her about this (have you mentioned the fevers off and on for months you had with your doc?)....to ease your mind, i'd see if your doc would be willing to do some bloodwork to see where your counts are at and if something is off there, follow it with an echo.also, flu bugs/colds/mono can cause pots. one of the causes for pots is "post viral illness". so it could just be that you had a bad bug and your autonomic nervous system is now out of wack because of it.hope you start feeling better soon... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nikigrl8883 Posted February 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 no im not still getting the fevers they stopped in august and when i had them at ist there were low grade fevers but all the time off and on so it was wierd..... up to about 100 but usually 99.0 -99.8 ....ive had blood work many times since this started many many times at ist my white count was up slighty but not enough to cause the doctors concern they said......i kept getting blood work after that and i think it was ok as far as infection went and cbc counts white counts,,,, do you know how long a heart virus can be active? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiactec Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 nikigrl, it depends on the virus for how long it can be active. usually though viruses to the heart are acute, not chronic. they spike rapidly and then slowly die off. this is not true for all cases though.... some viruses last longer than others, but typically if a virus or bacterium are cardiac targeted/specific or are so bad to effect the heart in the first place, symptoms typically persist, and the heart continues to be affected until proper treatment is in place.....but as i said, it depends on the strain of bacterium or virus. some viruses can effect the heart and people dont even know their heart is in jeopardy. just had a patient two weeks ago, 31 years old with slight SOB and persistent cough - he just thought he had bronchitis. i did an ekg on him, he was in a second degree heart block at 41 beats a min. we checked him out further and he was found to have a viral induced cardomyopathy. he wasnt very symptomatic. a few months ago we had another patient around the same age and he was extremely ill (coded) and thankfully survived, but was found to have virally induced complete heart block. so how a patient responds symptomatically varies, and also is dependent on what virus or bacterium could be affecting the heart....that being said, if your bloodwork was normal the last round, chances are slim there is any sort of viral or bacterial issue going on with the heart. also, i think there are some people on this forum that have swings in their temps, because temps are controlled autonomically and if the autonomic nervous system is malfunctioning, people can have low grade fevers because of it. i know you said you actually had a flu bug, which would make me more leary to believe it was just autonomic dysfunction, but since you are no longer having fevers, as i said, i think chances are slim that this is a bacterial or viral induced cardiac problem.keep checking in with your doc if you continue to be concerned or are symptomatic with fevers. if you have a good doc in place, they will help to eliminate any possiblity of this (viral/bacteria) being an issue. but it sounds as though they are doing what they should by checking your blood counts and such....take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogini Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 I just wanted to add that, in most people with POTS, the heart is perfectly healthy and there is no damage to the heart structure. (This is why for many of us, all of our tests come back as negative, other than the Tilt Table Test) Although we get tachycardia and/or low BP, the cause is neurological, not heart-related - the heart is beating to fast to compensate for the fact that the body is unable to maintain blood pressure. POTS often occurs following a virus - not necessarily a heart virus - but any virus could spread and attack the nervous system. If you think you have damage to your heart, I think a cardiologist would be able to pick it up pretty quickly with basic tests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morgan617 Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 viral cardiomyopathy is pretty easy to see and diagnose....it causes massive enlargement of the heart and congestive failure. If you've had any testing done niki, they'd have no problem picking it up..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P SUDIK Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 POTS doesn't happen after heart viruses. It's normal to have fluctuations. The more you look, the more erratic your readings will be- it's like biofeedback.My lowest hr recorded is 17bpm and I am still here to tell the tale!relax. Hi I thought POTS could come from many many things , How do we it can't come from heart virus? Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiactec Posted February 5, 2007 Report Share Posted February 5, 2007 pots CAN be triggered by heart virus. pat, look at the above post i wrote about cardiac innervation........i agree with the rest of you in that it would be fairly obvious to detect damage to the heart from ANY type of virus that attacks the heart. though some viruses can be more chronic or slowly progressive than acute and may take weeks before a patient is symptomatic and/or before actual cardiac structure presents with specific pathologic changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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