Heart rate too high when walking

I had my pacemaker surgery last week for Sick Sinus Syndrome and Chronotropical Intolerance. I’m 44. I love to run, so I was interested to see what the rate would be when I went for a walk (I’m not allowed to run yet). I started out slowly and felt my heart beating rapidly. I checked the heart rate zones after the walk and the average was 145 with a maximum of 175. I wasn’t walking fast and didn’t get a sweat up. I usually get these results from a general run with hills. Isn’t it supposed to make my heart rate work in the right zones when exercising?

2 Comments

Melanie

by IAN MC - 2018-01-15 05:44:41

Welcome to the club . Your last sentence is correct ... yes, it IS supposed to make your heart rate work in the right zones when you exercise . In fact it WILL after you have had some minor adjustments made to the settings

I see from your bio that you have a Medtronic PM . This has an inbuilt activity sensor which converts your movement into extra heart-beats. It will have various programmable settings  :-

LOW : Responds to minor activity 

MEDIUM  / LOW : Limited response to minimal exertion

MEDIUM  / HIGH : Responds to moderate body movements

HIGH : Responds only to vigorous body movements and exertion

It sounds as though your activity settings are too sensitive. It is an easy fix to have them altered .  There are other adjustments which can change the rate at which your heart rate increases and the rate at which it falls when you stop exercising.

You need to be aware that the same settings may not last you for life. Sick Sinus Syndrome can change over time when your sinus node may become more lazy. Again an adjustment to the settings will be the answer.

Best of luck

Ian

 

 

settings

by Tracey_E - 2018-01-15 09:33:48

Ditto what Ian said with one additional thought. Don't get too caught up in the charts and zones, we don't necessarily fit into them anymore. If you feel good, then your rate is good. I don't even track, I go strictly by how I feel. If I can talk but not sing, if I'm working hard and sweating, then it's all good. Some days that's 135, other days it's 165. 

Normal may feel fast for a while. We get used to the slower rate then when we have a normal rate again if feels too fast. It's also normal to take a few tries to get the settings adjusted correctly. No two of us are alike so they're not one size fits all. Don't be shy about telling them it's not right.

You know you're wired when...

Born to be Wired is your theme song.

Member Quotes

Think positive and go out and take on the world.