Exercise for your heart.. but I get dizzy :S

I have Complete Heart Block which is the reason for my pacemaker. Lately I keep trying to exercise and eat healthy, as well as cut sodium way out of my diet, but every time I even exercise a little bit I feel light headed and like I'm going to white out. I am also iron deficient, but seriously this is getting old really fast. How am I ever supposed to outlive this heart problem if my body doesn't seem to want to let me? Am I over exerting myself? I mostly just walk on the treadmill as fast as I can raising the hill levels gradually, and I do some crunches, nothing that's too much for my body. Does anyone else have this problem? It's really quite agitating and it's starting to scare me.

8 Comments

dizzy

by Tracey_E - 2013-04-20 10:04:12

All that said above, I will mention that I get dizzy fairly often working out. My dr is comfortable that nothing else is going on, my settings are as good as they're going to get, the dosage of my beta blocker is working. He says it's safe for me to go hard, and so I do even though sometimes I get dizzy.

I started easy, over several years worked up from 15 min on the treadmill to 45 min on the elliptical + weights to 2 yrs ago I took the plunge and started boot camp. When I get dizzy, I stop and breath deeply until my hr comes down a bit, then I keep going. Some days it doesn't happen at all. Some days (like yesterday, bleh) I have to scale back what I'm doing and just take it easy. I still go the full class but I don't push those days.

I don't think it's all my heart block. I think some of it is the atenolol, but the rest is lifestyle. I just seem to be more sensitive than others, most every time I have a bad day, I can trace it back to something other than my heart. If I've been eating sugar or not enough protein, I will be more dizzy. If I'm not hydrated well, I will be more dizzy. If I didn't get enough sleep, guess what? Dizzy, lol. If I skip breakfast, I won't even make it through the warm up. It's frustrating but I don't let it stop me. I figure I can't afford to be out of shape so I muddle on.

pacing

by Tracey_E - 2013-04-20 10:04:19

Have you always had trouble exercising or is it new? If you've gotten very out of shape, or never been in shape, you need to start slowly so it could just be overdoing it, or it could be settings, or if it's new it might be worth seeing your GP to make sure nothing else is going on.

How fast is your hr when you are lightheaded? Do you know what your upper limit is? If your hr is near your upper limit when it happens, it may simply need to be raised. If the atria is doing 200 but the pm is only pacing your ventricles to 150, you are going to feel awful and unable to exercise. Have you had a stress test? Get on the treadmill at the cardio's office while on the pm computer and let them see what is happening. If that's what is going on, it's a really easy fix. They often start us with an upper limit of 120-130, which is not enough for someone your age to exercise.

How iron deficient are you? Do you have cast iron pans? I used to be low on iron more often than not, then I dug out my grandma's old cast iron pans and started using them regularly. I don't know if it's coincidence or not, but no one in my family has had a low iron number since. Sure beats eating liver :oP

Healthy heart

by golden_snitch - 2013-04-21 04:04:18

Hi!

You are going to outlive this heart problem. Your heart is not weak, nor do you have problems with your coronary arteries. All you have is a congenital third degree heart block, which means all the pacemaker does is to pass the signal, that's coming from your atria, on to the ventricles. I don't want to downgrade this "electric" problem, but among all the heart diseases/conditions one can have, it's probably one of the easiest to solve.

There is no reason to cut back on exercising or to cut sodium (unless you have high blood pressure). Actually, low sodium intake can cause low blood pressure and that can cause dizzyness!

While I benefitted from cardiac rehab, I'd not say that you need it because of a heart block; I had it after heart surgery. Completely different story in your case, Angrysparrow, but for someone who "just" had a pacemaker put in, this is in my opinion really not necessary.

I guess you are just out of shape, and that what Tracey suggested could cause some problems: The upper rate limit being programmed too low. So, get that checked out. And get the iron deficiency treated. Don't know how bad it is, but if the hemoglobin is too low, then your iron "storage" (the ferritin) is almost depleted. Now, THAT can be a reason for taking it easy with exercising for a while, but not the heart block.

Really, I don't want to downplay your condition. All I'm trying is to kind of bring you back down to earth, to the fact that the congenital heart block alone is no reason to take it easy. Your heart muscle is strong, keep that in mind!

Best wishes

Inga (got my first pacemaker when I was 18, am 31 now)

snitch, &others

by LamentfulMiss - 2013-04-21 05:04:29

So you think that this problem can basically resort back to me just being iron deficient? I didn't take offense whatsoever to you telling me that third degree heart block is easily solved, in fact if anything you put my mind at ease. Lol damn I wish there was a reply button so I could reply to everyone and tell you all how much I appreciate your help! I've been extremely nauseous every single day lately, and I want to find out why, so I'm going to see a gastrointestinal doctor because i've always had intense digestive issues. And I don't just avoid salt to help my poor, adorable heart, I avoid it because salt makes you retain buttloads of water, and that's never good. I think I'm going to start yoga.. it seems to relax people, tone them up and make them more flexible. Until I am ready to take iron, of course when my stomach lining wont be affected by it, then I will feel a lot better working out, but I still want to avoid straining myself. I've been under an immense amount of stress so now I'm trying to avoid any whatsoever. I just got out of a relationship with someone who has a somewhat drug problem and it's been extremely hard. Of course, he is ignorant to the fact that I can't put up with his crap considering how severe my heart condition is with panic disorder. ANYWAY, thank you all for your help and I hope it is just iron, but I'm going to see my family doctor on Tuesday so I will tell her everything. I quit birth control too. No more poison for me! :)

salt

by Tracey_E - 2013-04-21 06:04:03

I was also diagnosed young, have never been overweight or had high bp or any of the other things that would cause a dr to tell me to stay away from salt. I've never been told to eat a heart healthy diet or watch my salt, but I do. I'm not fanatic about it and there is a salt shaker on my table, but I avoid processed foods. You can get more salt in a can of soup than the whole shaker. Low salt is not good either, but I figure avoiding the processed things and restaurants that load up on salt (sit-down chains mostly) is just common sense.

Clarification

by golden_snitch - 2013-04-21 11:04:37

I didn't mean that you ARE overweight, I was just trying to give an example of a typical patient for whom reducing sodium intake and exercising at a moderate level would be a good thing.

Iron deficiency/salt intake

by golden_snitch - 2013-04-21 11:04:48

Hi!
Well, when you're iron deficient - of course depending a bit on how bad your levels are -, then your blood can't carry enough oxygen to your muscles, organs etc. So, that of course creates problems, especially when exercising because that is when your body needs more oxygen to keep going. And don't underestimate the salt thing: You need salt to keep your blood pressure at a good level. And when you exercise and sweat, you already lose some sodium. Here's some good info on what can cause low blood pressure, and it is stated that using more salt can help: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/low-blood-pressure/DS00590/DSECTION=treatments-and-drugs
Low blood pressure alone, and especially in combination with an iron deficiency can create all kinds of symptoms, dizzyness among them.

When I read your first post, I was thinking that the way you behave is a typical heart patient: age 60+, overweight, coronary artery disease, probably myocardial infarction etc., and who has been told to make some lifestyle changes. BUT you don't have any of that, all you have is a heart block. So, healthy eating and yoga will always be good, but really, you are not the kind of person who has to reduce the sodium intake and who has to be careful not to overexert yourself. Especially when you have a lot of stress, exercising is important to help your body relax and fight all those stress hormones. Your heart is healthy and strong. Live!

Best wishes
Inga

PS .. more salt info

by IAN MC - 2013-04-23 11:04:37

Salt is also nature's way of getting your body to retain water which you need. Salt gets such bad press on here and, whilst yes processed foods contain far too much salt, I do worry sometimes that it gets such a bad reputation that we will be seeing people suffering from salt deficiency.

Too much salt is bad for you, too little salt is equally bad for you.

Too much of most things in life is bad for you !!

Salt is bad for some people with high blood pressure but not all, For some reason , some of us are genetically programmed to be hyper-sensitive to the effects of salt on BP, but lots of us aren't !

You know you're wired when...

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I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for pacemakers. I've had mine for 35+ years. I was fainting all of the time and had flat-lined also. I feel very blessed to live in this time of technology.