damaged my heart during excercise

[Alice1]

I biked to work (5.5 miles of hills) today and it was tough. On one hill, on an unexpected road where there were stretches where I felt like I had to keep going) and I had to stop multiple times and once I got to the top it took me about 4 or 5 minutes of just squating on top of a hill as o got my breath back, my heart stopped beating manically and I felt well enough to not pass out.

I rode the rest of the way to work (and used my gears for the next hill which made it ten times easier) but now even though I've rested and had water I still feel weak and my heart feels heavy and chest a bit weird.
My pulse seems steady and is about 90-110 after half an hour of sitting.
I think I can breath fine too, I just keep taking deep breaths and its a bit faster than normal.
But my head feels a bit funny and lightheaded/tired.

I'm just worried I stupidly pushed too hard and now have damaged my heart
My heart is apparently structurally fine and the ectopic beats I get normal, this checked my about 4 cardiologists over the years, but I am worried I have now damaged my heart today.

What can I do. Will I die? Have you felt the same. Did I make it worse by carrying on after I pushed too hard.

[TheMadOladCoger]

Hello, I myself cycle everywhere and sometimes like you have said it can take its toll. I am guessing from your post that biking to work is new for you, this may be why you are feeling the way you are.

People always say "it's just like riding a bike" but you can't just ride a bike it takes time, your body may feel weak due to the fact you have done a 5.5 mile ride when you are not used to it.

What I'm saying is you have not damaged your heart, after riding a bike everyday for 6 years I still have my moments when it hits me and I feel weak. I just sit down for a while drink plenty of water and eat something it always helps me when I feel as you do right now. Try not to focus on your chest and heart as you will never get rid of the feelings if you keep thinking about them

[Gary A]

No you won't die, you may have pushed yourself a bit too hard and are now suffering from a bit of fatigue or dehydration, but no, you haven't damaged your heart. Drink plenty of water over the next hour or so and just take it a little easier next time. Excersise is good for a healthy heart, you may feel a bit quesy and out of breath whilst doing it but it really is benefiting you.

[Frenchy]

Don't worry - you will not have done permanent damage to your heart just with exercise. You are probably correct, in that you may have pushed yourself very hard and now your body is in the process of letting you know that, but that's all. You are not going to die.

Here are the facts; Exercise is good for the heart.

When you exercise heavily this actually has the effect of boosting your metabolism and the speed at which your cardiovascular system will run for several hours (some studies suggest up to 17 hours!) afterwards, which is why you may experience an elevated pulse. The weakness and lightheadedness is really nothing more than normal physical fatigue, mixed with adrenaline - and some anxiety effects (which is not surprising, if you are feeling anxious enough to post on here and ask if you are going to die).

Your body will also probably looking around your system for some nice easily accessible sugars too which might also cause you to feel a bit fuzzy whilst it taps in to the glucose stash stored in your muscle tissues. But please don't worry. Your heart is an amazing thing and it is capable of performing at levels you can probably barely imagine - at levels far in excess of the levels you could push it to during an exercise session (even a particularly heavy one) if it needs to, without failing, without causing itself permanent phyical damage.

Firstly, calm your mind. Make sure you hydrate yourself fully (but sip some fluids, don't gulp down massive amounts of water in one) and ensure you go and eat something with some nice simple carbs... a fruit sala with some banana or a good hearty sandwich with brown bread. You will feel better in no time once you relax properly, and eat and drink something.

[MyNameIsTerry]

There is no chance of anything happening, Alice. The heart is quite a tough organ.

People push themselves in exercise to increase the functioning of their heart as well as their breathing capacity - thats the way to make gains in exercise, so the heart is more than capable of taking it.

Aside from what has been said about helping yourself to recover, I would add that as an anxiety sufferer (and especialliy HA) you are far more likely to notice things which are out of the ordinary to you, or even things that are natural physical responses that you think you haven't felt before. This is why exercise can be quite a challenge when you start as it can bring on symptoms that could be seen as the lead up to a panic attack.

For your heart to be a problem after strenuous exercise would mean you would need to have something wrong with it that your GP would have tld you to avoid such exercise due to. Someone with that kind of concern would likely have had a problem needing medical intervention there & then, but you did not which shows you are ok.

[Alice1]

Thank you guys. This really helped. I do feel a bit better now. But just very tired