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Ectopic Heartbeats

Ajay999Ajay999 ✭✭
in General running
Hi, I’m new to the forums so please bear with me…

I’m looking for help regarding Ectopic Heartbeats that are directly linked to my running. Any advice or help on this would be greatly appreciated.

I’m a 47 year old male with a BMI of 24. Throughout my life I have been fairly active with 5-aside football, although I gave this up about 5 years ago. I don't drink or smoke.

About 2 years ago I started running and preparing for a 10k. I made basic mistakes in my prep (not using a heart rate monitor) and overdone it and gave up after 5 months. I gave up because I developed really bad Ectopic heartbeats. At the time I consulted my GP and I was put on a 24 hour monitor and the feedback I got was that everything was fine and that I was ok to run. I decided however to give up as the Ectopic heartbeats were worrying me. About a week after I stopped running the Ectopic heartbeats disappeared.

About 3 months ago however I decided to give it another go but this time I researched properly and trained with a HR monitor. I have been running in Fat Burn Zone and Aerobic zones to build my basic fitness however in the last 3 weeks the Ectopic Heartbeats have returned again. I have had a Stress ECG and the Dr's say that everything is fine with my heart and they even suggested that I was "imagining" the Ectopic beats although they picked them up on the ECG.

The Ectopic Heartbeats are most noticeable at night at rest and occur every 3/4 minutes and although I've had tests done it's still worrying as I know they will disappear again if I stop running which I don't want to do.

I run for about 50 minutes on a Treadmill and as I'm running in Aerobic HR zone my treadmill is set at 8km/hr which I appreciate is slow but I'm reluctant to crank it up until I understand what may be causing the Ectopic heartbeats. I sweat a lot during the running and try to drink a lot of water but end up peeing all day long :-)

Has anyone else experienced these and/or have any ideas as to what could potentially be causing these Ectopic hearbeats ? Also, is it ok just to try and ignore them and keep running as I'm a firm believer in that's its my body's way of telling me something is not quite right.

Any advice would be really appreciated

Thanks
Andy.
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Comments

  • MrM2MrM2 ✭✭✭
    Hi Andy, There are several on here who have/have had heart issues; all with slight variations. There's likely to be someone with similar experience. My particular problem was Atrial Flutter, which was sorted out with a catheter ablation 40 months ago. I was surprised by the specialist's reaction to my condition. One of the options he gave me was 'to do nothing about it...It wont kill you'. Reassuring, but it didn't help my running.
    Hope you get some good medical advice, and some useful responses on the forum.
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  • Ajay999Ajay999 ✭✭
    Hi - Thanks for your response - really appreciated.

    It seems like the advice you got was the same as I’m getting just now in that it’s nothibg to worry about. I’m not comfortable with that so will keep pushing for answers which is difficult.

    What did you need to do to convince the Drs that you needed this procedure ?

    Any other advice from anyone else would also be appreciated.

    thanks again
    Andy.
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  • mrcharlymrcharly ✭✭✭
    Sounds like you need to speak to a friendly cardiologist who is sport-oriented. Anyone else is really offering possibly dangerous advice.
    My wife has an irregular heartbeat, that sometimes goes into fibrillation for sustained periods (I've heard it going for over 10s). It's scary. Coughing helps restore normal beats. She doesn't run or do other strenuous exercise.
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  • MrM2MrM2 ✭✭✭
    Agree with mrcharly.....I spent half the time talking to my cardiologist about running; he was aiming for the Gt S. Run (10miles) and I was still running marathons.
    My 'flutter' was constant for more than 18 months before I had the procedure.
    So, Andy, I didn't have to do any convincing; I was just told the three options, although cardioversion was eliminated straight away due to probability that the flutter would be straight back. So that left the 'do nothing' or the ablation. Hope you soon get sorted.                                               
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  • Ajay999Ajay999 ✭✭
    Thanks for the feedback guys.

    If anyone has any additional help / feedback then that would be appreciated to as I'm trying to decide my best options - i.e. keep running or stop again and seek further specialised medical help.
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  • ElectrictenElectricten ✭
    I had been suffering with palpitations for a few months and the Dr said they were probably eptopic beats. I am due to have a 24hr heart monitor in the next few weeks so they can look in more detail, but after doing a 5K a couple of weeks ago they have almost completely gone. I did a 10K yesterday and still not returned so fingers crossed that's the end of them, though I cant understand why they would go!
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  • 71540121K71540121K ✭
    What do you're electrolyte levels look like?
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  • ameliaharry654ameliaharry654 ✭✭
    Agree with you
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  • redbikejohnredbikejohn ✭✭
    My wife had quite bad ectopic heartbeats but they've gone now. She started out by taking a daily supplement of magnesium which helped a lot. Next she reduced her stress at work and regular running also helped with stress. She would never believe the stress element until she bought a garmin fenix and it shows your daily stress figure, her's was sky high. Less stress, running and the magnesium has stopped the..
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  • YoelDovidYoelDovid ✭✭
    Are you sure these are abnormal ectopic beats, and not PVCs, muscular twitches which can mimic the sensations, or an unrelated issue?

    What makes you suspect ectopic beats?

    Apologies for this being my first post, for some reason I can't find an option to begin threads.
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  • naninani ✭
    Hi All, I don't know how to create a new question here. I was on and off runner. I used to run a couple of months and stop for a few months and then start kind of. December 2018 changed everything. I was getting indigestion issues, gas etc. I decided to take my running seriously and lose weight to keep my BMI at 24. I started running again: 30-45mins run every day at 85-95% Max heart rate for 6-7 days a week and followed strict diet for the last 4 months. My all health issues were resolved and my BMI came down to 24.2. But suddenly one day ,i started getting ectopics. Cardiologist confirmed them with ECG. Echo cardiogram showed left verticular wall thickened. I am on 7 day heart monitor now. I am scared now. Cardiologist wont see me until my 7 day monitor test and MRI test results received. MRI will be scheduled next week. Could you please help me if any one of you faced the same issue. Some one told me that this sudden life style change from sedentary to high intensive might changed my heart capacity and structure but i am not sure. My BP is normal. I have no other symptoms other than these ectopics ( 3 or 4 every minute it seems). My resting heart rate reduced from 69 to 56 within these 4 months training. Please help me.
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  • cougiecougie ✭✭✭
    This does seem a bit excessive - "I started running again: 30-45mins run every day at 85-95% Max heart rate for 6-7 days a week" 

    I think you've just overdone it. If you do sensible exercise - so not doing flat out every day and resting properly you'll be fine. 

    I know I've had my heart skipping beats but it was with a period of intense exercising for a specific event.  

    I backed it down after that and not looked back - so I don't think there's any need to be scared.

    Trust your cardiologist - it's his job after all. 
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  • littlemissrunnerlittlemissrunner ✭
    Anyone offer advice please. I am getting multiple atrium ectopic beats which last for a few days if I run. It has got so bad I've had to stop exercising because I am exhausted if I run a few miles. I have been seen by a cardiologist but they can't find a cause. I also have bradycardia. I had covid in September and although I had a few previous issues they are putting it down to this. Is it safe for me to run or do I just rest and hope it goes away?
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