Momentary Heart Rate Spike 223bpm

[axel_knutt]

I'm sceptical that anyone gets their HR as high as 230 with exercise alone, that's arrhythmia territory. Unmedicated, my AF is anywhere from 160-260, typically 200-230. Apart from being light headed when standing, I felt fine*, the doctors in A&E were staggered that I was sat up chirpy and chatty, feeling fine. One consultant who didn't see me like that insisted I'd have been unconscious if my HR was anywhere near 200.

* I've long had a theory that those who complain their AF makes them feel lousy are the couch potatoes, and fit people are the ones who shrug it off. Now that I've lost all my fitness after 10 years of de-training my AF makes me feel like death warmed up a lot of the time, and I've become even more convinced that theory is right. After 8 years of watching my fitness trickle down the plughole from trying to train carefully I got impatient and frustrated, and went back to training harder two years ago. That was a major mistake I regret bitterly, my heart has now become so bad I'm I can see a mobility scooter looming on the horizon.

[Nearholmer]

I'm sceptical that anyone gets their HR as high as 230 with exercise alone, that's arrhythmia territory.

I’m no cardiologist, but it sounds highly suspicious to me too.

It happened to me at the gym at age c52. Got on a static bike, started turning pedals at light load. 220bpm. Nah, can’t be right, must be faulty machine. Moved to another static bike, exactly the same result. I felt fine, but …,. Hmmm ….. maybe this is real?

The cause was not actually a heart problem as such, but thyroid over activity that once identified, which took oodles of tests over months, was sorted by a simple course of cheap tablets within short order.

Well over 200? Get checked over.

[Vorpal]

Today I went on hilly ride, 36 miles, 4,100 feet of ascent. The steepest climb was signposted 20% and part way up there were a few s-bends where the gradient might well have momentarily have exceeded that figure. My heart rate exceeded 200BPM, but this was no equipment glitch. Nor was it momentarily. The first instance lasted 30 seconds with a HR above 200BPM, the second instance for 75 seconds. The max recorded figure was 228BPM. I felt no ill effects.

If it were me, I'd see my GP sooner rather than later.

[Jdsk]

Today I went on hilly ride, 36 miles, 4,100 feet of ascent. The steepest climb was signposted 20% and part way up there were a few s-bends where the gradient might well have momentarily have exceeded that figure. My heart rate exceeded 200BPM, but this was no equipment glitch. Nor was it momentarily. The first instance lasted 30 seconds with a HR above 200BPM, the second instance for 75 seconds. The max recorded figure was 228BPM. I felt no ill effects.

If it were me, I'd see my GP sooner rather than later.

Me too.

Jonathan

[David2504]

Thanks for comments. Will contact GP.

Perhaps I have exercise induced arrhythmia

[axel_knutt]

For anyone who's not sufficiently interested to get into reading research papers, John Mandrola is an interesting guy. He's a racing cyclist, an AF patient, and also a cardiac electrophysiologist (cardiologist who specialises in treating arrhythmias).

Website
Book

[cjnd]

I read this thread today with interest. On Monday 4th April I finished my indoor "Zwift" ride at 1815. I was at home on my own. I made my supper and watched TV. When I rang my wife at 2030 she told me to ring 999 immediately as my speech was mumbled. By 2200 I was in hospital, a CT scan showed a blood clot on the brain and I was given clot busting drugs for a stroke. My speech and drooping mouth fixed themselves pretty well within the hour and I was discharged last Thursday with a lifetime prescription of blood thinners. Atrial fibrillation.

I'm 63 and have cycled, run and hill walked for years including some half-Ironman triathlons and adventure races. I went to a cardiologist about 6 years ago when I first saw HRM spikes over 200 bpm. The ECG and stress echocardiograrm showed than my heart was sound so the cardiologist said carry on. With lockdown I spent more time on the turbo on Zwift, probably pushing myself more than when on the road. I never felt any breathlessness or tingling when riding even though the HRM would shoot up over 200bpm. My resting heart rate has always been below 50. I've taken an interest in this topic but thought "that is how my heart is".

So I've now decided to take things easy and think that I should have eased off completely when my HR spiked so many times on different monitors and kept my HR <90% of my MRH of 163.

Hi, interesting. When your HR exceeded 200BPM, how long would that last for?

About 200 would be for 5 seconds or so but there would be periods of over 1 minute when it would be over 180.
I'm feeling fine now but when I have the results and reports of the ECG, echocardiogram and 7 day Holter HR then I'm going to see a cardiologist for his view on what exercise I can take. The strange thing is that I never felt these AF spikes.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Last night, this is probably a hardware spike!?
Have not seen 180+ for several years and not since on current meds which limit peak HR to about mid 160's.

a

Same ride later on very typical where, you crest hill stop pedaling and hr drops off.

b

Edited- A month ago but I was chasing an electric bike into a head wind...........I did pass
The rider was rather un athletic

c

This would normally be very typical graph when I am not on blood pressure meds, a good day for me

[Blondie]

I had thought that the maximum heart rate during exercise was 220 less your age, so 160 a maximum of bpm for a sixty year old.

The 220 - age for maximum heart rate is just a best fit trend line from a sample of individuals back in the mists of time. It tells us something at a population level, but it doesn’t tell you your individual max heart rate. Plus max heart rate depends on the type of exercise being performed. For instance the same person can have a higher max heart rate for swimming and running than cycling. It’s to do with the amount of muscle recruited etc.

For the trend line you may fall pretty close to it or you may be 20% or so either side. Thus at 60 your max may be 160 or it may be 140 or it may be 190 etc. But to find out you are going to need to do a maximal exercise in your chosen mode of exercise.

[Dingdong]

My heart rate roughly stays in a range from 95-165bpm, even when cycling flat out uphill, with a tough gear in play

I think if i saw a BPM North of 220, I would be absolutely terrified

[mail@nickavery.com]

I have a polar chest HR monitor and see strange peaks and troughs, not of that magniture.. I've done workouts on a static exercise bikes with built in HR monitors and see the spikes not replicated there.