Momentary Heart Rate Spike 223bpm

[David2504]

... BTW I wrote in after seeing David2504's letter in the Cycling UK magazine !

Any link to that?

[Ray]

The gist of David's original post was quoted as an item in the 'Cyclopedia' section of Cycle magazine - page 54.

Having noticed similar spikes on readouts from my HRM (I use a £29.99 Decathlon chest belt) over a period of years, I have always taken them to be equipment 'glitches' (artefacts), as they were randomly distributed, with no accompanying symptoms as far as I was aware.

I must say I was surprised - indeed rather disturbed - that the doctor's response in the article made no mention of the possibility of equipment or user error in taking the readings. The discussion of the very real issue of intermittent variation in pulse rate was fair enough, but there should at least have been a caveat against accepting sets of readings in isolation.

Maybe I am being too blasé, but I won't be dashing to my GP with my 'data'. At the very least, people need more evidence gathered under controlled conditions from medical-grade equipment before getting alarmed.

[axel_knutt]

Maybe I am being too blasé, but I won't be dashing to my GP with my 'data'. At the very least, people need more evidence gathered under controlled conditions from medical-grade equipment before getting alarmed.

The problem with that is arrhythmia can be hard to catch.

I once got all the way to hospital, and then my AF stopped just as we turned into the hospital entrance.

On another occasion the paramedics had me wired up to the ECG whilst I was sat on the settee, and I asked them to unhook me whilst I went for a pee before getting in the ambulance. When I came back down I said "wire me back up, I think it's just gone again", so they did, and it had. Whilst they were pondering whether to still take me to A&E, it restarted......

[Jdsk]

I must say I was surprised - indeed rather disturbed - that the doctor's response in the article made no mention of the possibility of equipment or user error in taking the readings. The discussion of the very real issue of intermittent variation in pulse rate was fair enough, but there should at least have been a caveat against accepting sets of readings in isolation.

I agree. And I would have included more on what to do next.

Jonathan

[David2504]

Well it’s now been over two months from my original post and I’ve done loads of cycling and running and am still alive, fit and healthy. I’m certain as I can be that momentary spikes in HR lasting a second or so without any physical symptoms are due to equipment glitches.

And, in the interim, I’ve had a visit to the hospital as a follow up to the bowel cancer screening programme (all clear btw), where two different nurses checked my pulse for regular rhythm before and after the rather interesting procedure I was subjected to. All good with a regular heart rhythm.

[Ray]

Excellent news! Keep pedalling!

[stuartinww]

I used to get similar spikes, with the same maximum heart rate, with my Polar HR monitor, but realised they were under power cables and at a couple of other particular locations with no obvious sign of high voltage cables. I didn't have any physical sense of a high heart rate and it came down to normal very rapidly. For various reasons I changed to Garmin HR monitors 7 years ago and, having used 3 different Garmins, I haven't had any problems with my heart rate since then! Obviously, don't ignore medical advice, but it might not be your heart that is the problem.

[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.

[David2504]

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?

[axel_knutt]

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.

Symptoms of AF vary wildly from person to person, and even for the same person, so having a stroke is a common way for the asymptomatic to get diagnosed with AF. Two years after I developed AF, and a year before I was diagnosed, I developed extreme pain in my calf after a minor fall from the bike in the middle of a long cycle tour. It didn't hurt much to use my leg, so I carried on, but even the slightest touch was excruciating. I knew I hadn't hit it or bruised it in the fall, so in retrospect, I wonder if the fall dislodged a clot which travelled to my leg.

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

The episodes I first saw on the HRM whilst cycling used to last a few seconds at first, but over a year or so they became longer and longer until they would just keep going until the end of the ride. They were asymptomatic, so I just put it down to a faulty HRM, and carried on without it. The episodes I had at home were anything but asymptomatic, at the start of an episode my heart would thrash around so violently it was easy to see my chest bouncing let alone feel it. They would last for 10,20, 30 hours. The longest is 99hr.

Do you ever get a run of palpitations after a large meal, or shortly after getting into bed? I had these for years before the dodgy HRM readings started. AF is strongly associated with the autonomic nervous system (the part of the nervous system that controls autonomous functions like HR temperature, blood pressure, sleep, digestion etc), and the reason that bedtime and digestion are common triggers for AF is that these are times when the ANS is very active. The first really big symptomatic episode I had started about 10 mins after getting into bed like usual, but kept going instead of lasting a few seconds. The second started whilst digesting a meal. Pulmonary vein isolation ablation often works as a treatment for AF because the pulmonary veins are the location where the ANS enters the heart.

[Nearholmer]

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.

Good luck with the recovery and return to full fitness.

This “spend the vast percentage of your time <90%HR” things seems to be quite important above a certain age (middle fifties??), and it’s a message that seems not to be broadcast by healthcare services. If you look a their advice for “older people”, it’s all pitched at getting people off the sofa and doing fairly minimal exercise, so they kinda miss out on advice for people who actually are active already, and it’s too easy to think that HIT-like stuff is fine, which it seems not to be above a certain age.

[RickH]

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.

Good luck with the recovery and return to full fitness.

This “spend the vast percentage of your time <90%HR” things seems to be quite important above a certain age (middle fifties??), and it’s a message that seems not to be broadcast by healthcare services. If you look a their advice for “older people”, it’s all pitched at getting people off the sofa and doing fairly minimal exercise, so they kinda miss out on advice for people who actually are active already, and it’s too easy to think that HIT-like stuff is fine, which it seems not to be above a certain age.

It is worth bearing in mind that the "220 minus your age" (or "207 - (0.7 x age)" I've seen recently* - although that gives the same result for a 63 year old) is rather a blunt instrument for determining MHR & not really designed for the fit (a bit like many rugby players would be classed as obese using BMI measurements). I'm 63 too & (with no know heart problems & no observed spiking) I regularly record heart rates above 163. Probably at least once a month I will record a max in the low 170s.

(*article by Professor Norman Lazarus in the June(!) 2022 issue of Cycling Plus)

[Nearholmer]

Yes, without doing a carefully controlled test, it’s always a bit uncertain what individual MHR is. Like you, I can get into low 170s, although I have to say that I don’t feel super-wonderful for a few minutes afterwards, so I try to stay below the “book value”, sleeping well and limiting coffee being the keys.

[axel_knutt]

The cardiology department at Broomfield Hospital use 220-age for calculating MHR, I've had two Bruce Tests there, one in 2009 and another in 2012, and on each occasion they took me up to 220-age. The erratic HRM readings started a few weeks after the 2009 test, which felt easy, and I was diagnosed with AF four months after the second test, which made me feel lousy. It's interesting to see how much difference 3 years had made to my blood pressure:

It's ironic, that in 2009 I was tempted to ask them if I could push my HR and see how much further it would go.

[David2504]

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.

My average heart rate for the ride including downhills was 129BPM. On more moderate hills, typical gradients 10% to 15% my max heart rate was in the lower 150s.