puppylove Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I went to the gym today for forty minutes. I guess it went okay. I got super dizzy but I kept going. My question is should potsies keep their heart rates above, below, or the same as what it's supposed to be for their age when exercising? Today it stayed pretty consistently at 150, because I was on the recumbent bike. Thanks for any advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemons2lemonade Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Good for you! Maybe going a little easier on the bike would lower the heartrate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jangle Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 It depends on your underlying health and if you're prone to syncope or you have connective tissue disorders.For me my doctor cleared me to exercise, so I was exercising consistently at 200 bpm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayjay Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 My cardiologist told me to focus on symptoms, not my heart rate. It is expected that my heart rate will "bounce around". I know that my heart is healthy and she told me that as long as my heart rate comes back down when resting I should be fine. I do have to be careful to not pass out during exercising. If you feel ok you may want to consider taking your heart rate after you "cool down" from exercising. Watching your heart rate during exercise can be stressful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HyperPOTS8 Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Dr Levine's protocol determines your HR zones based on your age but also your TTT or ten minute stand test, so that if you have significant orthostatic tachycardia you should have a higher HR goal for exercise than the traditional age-based formulas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mytwogirlsrox Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 You can google target heart rate zone calculations that will tell you where your heart rate should be to achieve certain levels of fitness.150-160bpm is right in my target HR for endurance trainingI think 150bpm for 40 minutes is fantastic. When I first started I tried interval training so it wouldnt stress my poor heart too much, I would go 5 minutes at 140 then 5 minutes at 120 (just lowered the intensity, and speed). I was thinking along the lines of your heart being a muscle and when people work their arms/legs etc they do reps, and little breaks inbetween reps for rest and muscle recovery. So I tried that for the first month, till I built up stamina and strength. Now Im almost in month three and Im running 3.5 miles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
futurehope Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Puppylove,I would not feel comfortable answering your question because I don't have enough information about you. Obviously, I am not your physician or cardiologist.First off, is this the first time you've done any exercising? How long has it been since you've been deconditioned?Again, there are way too many unknowns about you for an online poster like me to suggest anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppylove Posted June 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Thanks everyone! I have a doctors appointment in a month and I'm going to ask about it. For now though I know my heart is healthy because they already did all the tests on it. My heart rate was 193 when it was highest on the TTT. I'm 15, and I have been walking a little for the past six months, but I think I'm deconditioned. My heart rate sitting or standing is 70-80 bpm now that I'm on Florinef. I'm still having GI issues, blood pooling, brain fog etc. While I was exercising I got too dizzy and I probably should have stopped. I was nauseous after, but they both went away after I sat down and hydrated when I got home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellgirl Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Sounds like you did great! Keep it up unless your doctor tells you differently, because I started on the bike first, and was dizzy and now I'm on the elliptical for 2.5-3 miles, and I'm a lot better after building up to normal heart rate for my age. Every now and then I get some tachycardia still, and some days I just can't go, but I at least go 2 times a week, and walk my dog short distances, too. Just listen to your body. If you get too nauseated or dizzy, just stop, but exercise is good for you, and as long as your doctor is alright with it, it improves blood return, and anything to get those legs working and better muscle tone will decrease the pooling in your extremities! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophelialit Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 This is popping up at a very opportune time as I just joined a new gym after being something of a lumpy couch potato for the last year or so....my husband and I mountain bike pretty frequently, but the DC Metro area climate prevents that from being a year-round option (for instance, today the heat index was 105..blargh!). The gym I joined has several pools and tons of ellipticals, bikes, treadmills, etc. as well the as the typical weight machines, and I love all of the class options as well (kickboxing does wonders for stress!).I find that I sometimes hesitate to push myself too much in public for fear of having some kind of episode, so I watch my HR monitor like a hawk, and that, unfortunately, results in an even less intense workout. I'm trying to increase gradually until I'm at the "Show No Mercy--Take No Prisoners" level, but we'll see how it goes....my HR is typically right where it should be for carido workouts (about 155), so I'm hoping I'll become more confident as time passes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jangle Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 You can google target heart rate zone calculations that will tell you where your heart rate should be to achieve certain levels of fitness.150-160bpm is right in my target HR for endurance trainingI think 150bpm for 40 minutes is fantastic. When I first started I tried interval training so it wouldnt stress my poor heart too much, I would go 5 minutes at 140 then 5 minutes at 120 (just lowered the intensity, and speed). I was thinking along the lines of your heart being a muscle and when people work their arms/legs etc they do reps, and little breaks inbetween reps for rest and muscle recovery. So I tried that for the first month, till I built up stamina and strength. Now Im almost in month three and Im running 3.5 milesYes, I also struggled with interval training at the beginning, so I stopped until I built up more endurance. Every person is different but I would recommend just exercising at a consistent pace when you're starting off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puppylove Posted June 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Thanks! I'm going to keep going. Ophelialit- I live 20 minutes from DC! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ophelialit Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Well, hey there, neighbor! Then you know all too well how the weather around here can wreak havoc on well-intentioned exercise plans...if it's not boiling hot, it's snowing, icing, storming, earthquaking or hurricaning (yes, we had ALL of those last year!). We're also about 20 miles from DC on the MD side. Now that I think of it, I remember you mentioning that you're a patient of Dr. Abdallah's in Reston--I have my first appt. with him in 2 weeks!Keep up the good work with the gym, and I'll try to do the same! (Hey, wouldn't it be weird if we belonged to the same gym??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peregrine Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 My doctor also said to focus on symptoms - though of course that varies by person. These days with beta blockers my heart rate doesn't go much above 140 even for fairly strenuous stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jangle Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Just got back from gym. Ran four miles. First time I've been running in quite a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icesktr189 Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 I just did my stationary bike last night, and my hr gets in the 190s and i feel like death for hour after...should i keep going? I would call up Dr. Goodman, but heis out of town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
POTLUCK Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 It depends on your underlying health and if you're prone to syncope or you have connective tissue disorders.For me my doctor cleared me to exercise, so I was exercising consistently at 200 bpm.I wondered about the heart rate question Jangle as I recall you posted this article on exercisehttp://hyper.ahajournals.org/content/45/3/391.full suggesting this formulatraining heart rate=resting heart rate+(heart rate max −resting heart rate) ×0.6±5 bpm. Calculated maximum heart rate can be roughly calculated for a non-POTS person as 220-age. However, my maximum heart rate when I did a stress echo treadmill was much higher than this calculated number off meds. Also my propranolol slows my heart rate now. So I figure I can not use a formula very well. I am just unsure if I should go for more distance or speed in trying to build up.I am finding it is helping though. So far about 6 1/2 miles per week ( done split 3-4 days ) and trying to increase distance by 10% per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peregrine Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Interesting - following that formula gives me a training heart rate of about 150bpm, which is actually where I cut off and stop exercising (chosen intuitively). Neat! My doc said to focus on symptoms rather than heart rate, but I'd hesitate to tell anyone else to do that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllAboutPeace Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 I just did my stationary bike last night, and my hr gets in the 190s and i feel like death for hour after...should i keep going? I would call up Dr. Goodman, but heis out of town.Dani That is very high hr and feeling like death afterward can't be a good thing...I end up on the floor for an hour -unable to even lift my head up (soo dizzy and feeling horrible) after 12-15 minutes on the recumbant bike. After trying a few times with the same result, I decided it just wasn't worth it for me (I felt like my body was screaming "I'm not ready for this"). I know we have to push ourselves, but this definitely felt counterproductive for me, at that stage. I can do 4-5 minutes on the recumbant bike 5 times/day without symptoms and when I'm in that routine, I've noticed improvements with brain fog, energy level, etc. It has required a big shift in my thinking (and of course huge disappointment ) because I realized that I just can't push through, like I could before I had Pots. I'll be happy to shift my thinking back though, anytime my body is ready to co-operate Whatever you do...trust your gut feelings and be careful! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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