Exercising caused slow heart rate, dizziness, purple fingers, etc

[genod]

My wife slept in until mid morning yesterday while I went to work.* She got out of bed and went straight to the exercise bike and started spinning.* No breakfast at all.* We always exercise in the late afternoon. She is very athletic and has the slowed heart rate common with athletes.*

After 40 minutes of spinning (working up a good sweat), she did some light weights and started developing symptoms of shortness of breath, dizziness and disorientation, a very slow heart rate (under 60/min she claims), and ringing in her ears.* She made it to the bed to lay down and eventually felt better.* However, as she was laying on the bed, she noticed how pale she was and her finger tips were purple.*

I wished she had called 911 but she claimed to not know where he cell phone was.* I was not aware of this until she confessed the story to me last night.* There is a history of heart probs in her family.* I am very concerned!* But how much of this was from doing a morning workout, literally straight out of bed?* *I forbade her to workout at home alone.* I think I am going to make an appointment with the family doctor.

[Dr. Joshua]

You are right in making an appointment with the family doctor. It could be she simply overexerted herself straight out of bed. If she is very athletic, her body can also be quite sensitive to straying from the usual routines of breakfast, drink, energy balance etc. So it's not necessarily anything more serious than that. However, since she has a family history of heart problems, it is a wise move to have her visit the family doctor.

[Angleena-Smith]

A slow heart rate is sometimes normal and can be a sign of being very fit. Healthy young adults and athletes often have heart rates of less than 60 beats a minute. In other people, bradycardia is a sign of a problem with the heart’s electrical system. It means that the heart's natural pacemaker is not working right or that the electrical pathways of the heart are disrupted. In severe forms of bradycardia, the heart beats so slowly that it does not pump enough blood to meet the body's needs. This can be life-threatening.

[freedomyears]

I think your wife's heartbeat is normal because a normal heart beat for adults is about 60–100 bpm. However it may be significant for the drop down, just because your pulse is normal it doesn't mean there's nothing wrong with your heart, maybe it's not pumping adequately. So maybe it's the good idea to consult your family doctor.

[Hand-Some]

Inappropriate sinus tachycardia is an ill-defined clinical syndrome characterized by an increased resting heart rate accompanied by an exaggerated response to exercise or stress. It is not associated with underlying structural heart disease. The mechanism may involve a primary abnormality of the sinus node demonstrating enhanced automaticity or, alternatively, a primary autonomic disturbance with increase sympathetic activity and enhanced sinus node beta-adrenergic sensitivity. The diagnosis of inappropriate sinus tachycardia is one of exclusion. It is most common in young females, with a disproportionate number employed in the health care field. Autonomic and electrophysiologic testing may be required in selected individuals to clarify the mechanism and rule out sinus node reentry or right atrial tachycardia. Therapy of inappropriate sinus tachycardia is empiric. Pharmacologic approaches include beta blockers or verapamil. Radiofrequency catheter ablation of the superior portion of the sinus node shows promise as a useful alternative in patients with refractory symptoms.