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Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer (Read 6228 times)

Skippy66

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Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Jun 29^th, 2010, 1:21pm

I've decided that I need to change my life and change my mentality.

As a teen I played football 5 times a week, tennis all summer nearly every day and golf, swimming, athletics - I was super fit and rarely got ill.

10 years later and this has all changed. I am unfit, feel ill 95% of the time and wallow in my health anxiety.

Several things happened to make me this way, mainly that I developed palpitations aged 21 and soon after that a famous footballer died on the pitch. The palpitations got worse, and my anxiety fed off them big time. I have since developed chest pains, stomach problems, shortness of breath - loads of ailments which fade and return, but there is always something. Right now? Daily lower chest pains radiating to neck and upper chest. Scary right? Also palpitations to go with that - just google that combo if you want to be scared witless!!

I do exercise but I never really push myself through fear of something bad happening to my heart, and as a result I'm unfit. My body feels like I'm in my 60s when I'm still in my 20s.

Anyway, my goal - to play football again. If I was a pro I would be in the prime of my career age-wise, and I don't want to miss this window of opportunity. I will never be this young again.

Over the coming weeks and months My aim is to be getting my mind and body fit again to something resembling my old self. I want to sort out my chest and stomach problems either medically, mentally or otherwise. I want to improve my diet. I want to start an exercise regime. I want to rid myself of health anxiety. Ultimately I want to join a football team - I used to be quite good before all this!!

I know this will be tricky, because even now writing this the goal seems unattainable - easy to write down, but I can't see myself doing it. The road will be hard and long - this is why I am posting on here,I need your help.

Any tips on diet, how to start an exercise regime with palpitations (pacs and pvcs) (diagnosed benign by cardiologist), tips on getting more healthy would be greatly appreciated.

I will update this thread with my progress periodically.

Wish me luck! Here goes - life is not a rehearsal.

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jason

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Re: Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Reply #1 - Jun 29^th, 2010, 1:31pm

That sounds like a great plan, similar to my goals.

Regarding diet this site has by far the healthiest diet plans I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot having a qualification in nutrition myself. http://whfoods.org/ it's all about nutritios foods with LOTS of variety.

Regarding exercise I'd start slow depending on how unfit you are, perhaps walking / swimming most dayus, mornings are best cos you get the feel good factor for most of the day, then build up to everyday or so at 70 - 80% max HR for say 30 mins or so at a time

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jothenurse

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Re: Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Reply #2 - Jun 30^th, 2010, 4:23am

I have had tachycardia (up to the 160's) with my panic disorder. I know how scary it is to exercise. I was in fantastic shape before I started to have the tachycardia. I started having more and more anxiety until I lost 20 pounds and was having panic attacks. I am 56 years old. I am trying to get back into exercising like I did before. I started out with short walks. I now am doing walks up to 30 minutes (though not every day) and I have mowed the lawn (with a self-propelled motor). My pulse does go up and I have to keep telling myself that my heart is ok, as my doctor has reassured me and with several EKG's. I hope to keep pushing myself to push myself a little harder so I can get use to the feel of the pounding heart with exercise again.

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Dickyboy199

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Re: Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Reply #3 - Jun 30^th, 2010, 11:48am

Hi there,

I gave up exercise competely for 8 years! I didn't even go walking! But last year I started again because I was so fed up with being unhealthy and overweight. I'd always weight trained, swam and cycled and I had just got into running when my heart went totally berserk. Racing and skipping right after a run. This led me to give up everything to do with exercise because any sort of exercise would trigger the palps.

Now though after nearly a year I run two to three times a week. (4miles each run) I swim once a week do circuit training with weights twice a week and do boxercise once a week. I slowly built up this regime by going into the gym where I work and doing very small sessions and then brisk walking on the running machine until I could start to jog lightly.

All the time I monitered my heart worried that it might go crazy. Even though it did throw a lot of palps in and it does even now I just work through it and I have increased my fitness 10 fold! Today at boxercise I was working so hard and yet my heart was missing beats right left and centre but it doesn't faze me in the slightest I just carry on pushing myself to the limit.

I am not going to be led by these things and ruin my health by not exercising. It also keeps reinforcing and proving to myself that my heart can take some beating! Get it! and it shows just what you can achieve. I never thought I'd be able to exercise ever again.

Just start gradually, light sets, brisk walking, don't overdo it and just build up slowly to a few more minutes or another half a mile or a few more exercises. When I first started I couldn't run any faster than 5.5 miles an hour and I could only run about a mile. Now I run at 7.5 miles an hour for at least 4 - 5 miles. I sometimes do interval training where I do 4 minutes of fast running then 4 minutes of slower and then back to 4 minutes. I keep doing this until I have either achieved a set time normally about 40 mins or a set distance (about 4- 4.5 miles)

The confidence and positive mental outlook that this brings let alone the amazing after glow and exercise 'high' you get straight after a run or workout is amazing and I can fully recommend it to get you out of a rut give you a goal to work to and give you so much self esteem and renewed faith in your trusty heart. Overall it's fantastic and I think that I am totally hooked.

Good luck in your attempt to get back into it. I hope it goes well. If you start gradually and don't set too high goals then this will help you to succeed. Don't worry too much about what your heart is doing try to forget it and think of the amazing benefits that you are getting from exercising.

Best wishes
If you need anymore advice let me know
Rich

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Stav98

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Re: Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Reply #4 - Jun 30^th, 2010, 12:04pm

Hi Skippy,

That all sounds very familiar; well excluding the bit about being fit in the first place. I can relate to the rest though.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how quickly things turn around for you once you start exercising again.

In terms of hints and tips, do what you feel you can do safely and add 15%.

My anxieties left me for a good 4 months through training 3 or 4 times a week. Mostly rowing and cycling, some weights and a little swimming. The palps left within a week of starting.

Due to getting gout (not really normal in a 32 year old), I couldn't train for 5 or 6 weeks. 3 weeks ago I started getting big (8-10 second)heart flutters and anxious. One trip to the gym this week and all seems to sorted itself out again. A few minor "thuds" but nothing more.

Give it a go and don't look back; a normal healthy life isn't more than arms reach away from you.

The other option is to of course grow up not doing what you want to do, get to old age and look back at all the things you miss - That's pretty much what was put to me by my doc.

Wasn't really a difficult choice to make.

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Kalah

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Re: Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Reply #5 - Jun 30^th, 2010, 12:59pm

I cite exercise and diet as probably two of the biggest things that helped me, although I can't say it was as drastic as going to the gym and seeing a nutritionist for me... I simply peeled my butt out of the computer chair to take a 30 minute walk once a day and stopped eating so much sugar and junk food. But it definitely had an impact!

I too suffer from bouts of health anxiety and for me I have to say the biggest part of it is the feeling of losing control, that my body is betraying me. A way to get your control back is by taking good care of yourself, getting your regular checkups and so on... and when your doctor tells you you're healthy then not only believe it but be proud.

Of course when I feel I've got my own health nailed down then I worry about the health of my family... :rolleyes: but that's just the same ball game on a different field.

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jason

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Re: Exercise regime for palpitation sufferer
Reply #6 - Jun 30^th, 2010, 1:28pm

It's great to hear from people that have been there and done that so to speak.

I myself did weight training from age 13 to 33 real seriously, then my son came along, weights etc went out the window, in came junk food and gradually up went my anxiety, down went my fitness, then I had 2 real bad events in my life and along came the palps, at 1st they were rare and the docs assurance would make them go, then a while later they would come back & things like positive thinking and a book on anx would make them go, then when they returned again a wekk of exercise would make them go, now I've had them more on than off for 1 year plus, and 3 weeks exercising is just making them deminish a bit.

So it seems like the longer you have them the harder it is to vanquish them, I guess they become habitual. I think if I had put exercise etc in plaec after they 1st started and kept at it then they would have gone for good.

Also I think they will go this time, but will take longer and also my thought patterns really have to change for good too, I was just glossing over the surface before.

So yes certainly start exercising it will only do you good, but dont be dissapointed too much if you dont see an immediate effect, just keep at it. It took a while to build your anx habit, it will take a while to unwind it and build your fitness habit.

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