Aortic Stenosis and Exercise

[bemore0712]

Hi everyone.

I'm Chris, 38 year old male from the East Midlands.

Around the start of 2016 I started to experience heart palpitations and went to the doctor. They referred me to a cardiologist and after numerous tests, diagnosed me with aortic stenosis (Bicuspid Valve) and put down the palpitations to Atrial Tachycardia. I also had slightly high blood pressure so I was given Bisoprolol 1.25mg to take daily. Since then I stopped smoking cigarettes and cannabis and changed my diet completely to a very healthy, low sodium one.

Previous to 2016, for 8 years I was a binman for my local authority on a task/finish basis which meant I would run around a minimum of 10 miles every day to get done as quickly as I could. This made me fantastically fit and I did not have an ounce of fat on me. My resting heart rate has always been around 55 BPM.

Last year I decided to start running at my local Parkrun with my partner (Parkrun for those who may not know if a free organised event where people run 5k). I did OK for a few weeks but then began to get symptoms of feeling weak, palpitations and a resting heart rate that was going down to around 40-43 BPM so I stopped running.

I went back to the doctors who referred me back to my cardiologist. My tests showed that I have mild to moderate aortic stenosis with very mild aortic regurgitation, ascending aorta is at the upper limits of normal, preserved left ventricular systolic function and paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. BP was 118/80 and my resting heart rate was 60 BPM with a normal sinus rhythm (Sinus bradycardia with normal intervals)

As I now work in an office, I walk to walk everyday (2.5 miles each way) and get a minimum of 13,000 steps per day and try to be active as much as possible at the weekends.

About 2 months ago, as I was feeling so good, I attempted to do Parkruns again and things were fine until my last one where the old symptoms that happened last time started to occur again, this time with very very mild pain in the left side of my chest. My resting HR was dipping down to 45-47 BPM.

It is really frustrating and upsetting. I love running and love the feeling that I get afterwards. I think the Beta Blockers I am on for the last few years have contributed to my increase in weight and I wanted the running to help counter this.

I don't know if the exercise is strengthening my heart again, which in turn makes it beat slower, which also has the Beta Blockers on top of this slowing it down even further.

When I asked the cardiologist about this he said to simply do what your body feels like it can handle. As I am on a the lowest dose of Bisoprolol you can get, I have felt tempted to stop taking them.

I don't know what to do. I would love to hear about how other people exercise and how they feel when doing so and if anyone else has had to make any adaptions and how successful they have been.

Finally, thanks for reading. It's just nice to get this out of my head and know I am not alone with my heart issues.