low heart rate

[luv'nAustin]

Hey everyone, On Friday I had surgery (hysterectomy) and made quite a stir when they started to check my vitals. My resting heart rate was between 43 and 50 for the entire stay. People would come into the room asking if I was the woman that exercised and had the low heart rate. It was pretty funny. Do you all know your resting heart rates? I had no idea what mine was until this last week.

Can't believe that I have to avoid exercise for six weeks.:( I will see my doc tomorrow and ask her about walking. I worry about gaining weight and turning into a slug. Any suggestions?

[SadieKate]

I haven't taken my resting heart rate in the morning in a long time but it used to be in the low 40s. Right now just sitting here typing it's bouncing between 52 and 60.

It's early afternoon and I've was out and about this morning to a dental appt, a grocery trip and a Peppermint Mocha stop. Desk job otherwise.

Genetics also contributes to heart rate.

[yellow]

It's early afternoon and I've was out and about this morning to a dental appt, a grocery trip and a Peppermint Mocha stop. Desk job otherwise.
THAT would put me up into the 100s for sure.

I'm a freak. My resting-laying-in-bed heart rate is 66-68. Right now it's about 80. I haven't had any coffee today (nursing a head cold). Last time I actually did a max test (a few years ago now), my max was 206. FREAK! Sometimes I think I should give it all up, take up chain smoking and bon bon eating, get TV, and live the high life. :eek: Then my resting heart rate would prolly be "normal" for someone my age.

Oh, and luv'n, congrats on your fame with the medical staff. Go slow...you'll be back riding before you know it.

[SadieKate]

This thread is giving me the idea of wearing my HRM while I watch the Olympics tonight. I am such a sap. The top two Chinese pairs skaters made me cry. [Results removed.]

I can just see the graph, nothing but peaks and valleys.

Luv'n - use this time to cheer on others, re-group and rest. Gather and store that energy and you'll be fine.

[Veronica]

Thanks for spilling the beans about the skating. I haven't watched it yet.

V.

[SadieKate]

Sorry, it was last night. Didn't think I was.

[Veronica]

That's okay. My weird schedule keeps me from staying up late. So I'm tivoing everything I want to see and watching the day after.

V.

[Crankin]

I'm another freak.... my resting HR in the AM is usually around 58-63. I would think it would be lower with 25 years of aerobic exercise! It stays around 66-72 during the day if I am sedentary, but goes up to 80-90 pretty quickly when I start moving around. It also goes down quickly when I sit. I stopped wearing my hr monitor while riding because I know my hr is always high for the first 30 minutes I ride. Then it settles in at around 75-80 % unless I am climbing. This bothered me until I realized it's just my pattern. It's always the same. But I still get the "lowHR" comments from my physicians, or mostly the nurses who think a hr in the 60's is low.

[SadieKate]

Actually, it (the pairs skating final) wasn't even last night. It was yesterday morning. I love how the networks pick and choose what gets a time delay and what doesn't.

Any way, so what is your resting heart, Miss Number Cruncher?

[DirtDiva]

THAT would put me up into the 100s for sure.

I'm a freak. My resting-laying-in-bed heart rate is 66-68. Right now it's about 80. I haven't had any coffee today (nursing a head cold). Last time I actually did a max test (a few years ago now), my max was 206. FREAK! Sometimes I think I should give it all up, take up chain smoking and bon bon eating, get TV, and live the high life. :eek: Then my resting heart rate would prolly be "normal" for someone my age.

Oh, and luv'n, congrats on your fame with the medical staff. Go slow...you'll be back riding before you know it.
Nice to know I'm not the only one - my heart rate is around 80 when I'm sitting on the couch watching telly. I'm not sure I want to know what it gets up to when I put in an I-wanna-puke type of effort. :eek:

[rocknrollgirl]

Hi,
I have a low heart rate and REALLY low blood pressure. I had a hysterectomy a few years back, in the hospital my BP was 82/40. Ha!!!

Now listen...carefully. You have to go very, very slowly, especially if you had a regular surgery and have an abdominal incision. I can give you tons of advice for the hyster bound exercising girls...pm me if you want to chat.

[bcipam]

I was just thinking only 6 weeks off a workout??? I had collarbone surgery Nov 4. and doctor made me do nothing for 12 weeks and even now I have to take it easy. I learned my lesson (this is a second surgery as the first 2 years didn't take) I rushed my return and now I have to pay for it. Take it easy let your body heal especially from something so serious.

[Veronica]

Actually, it (the pairs skating final) wasn't even last night. It was yesterday morning. I love how the networks pick and choose what gets a time delay and what doesn't.

Any way, so what is your resting heart, Miss Number Cruncher?

Mine? I'm freakishly low and high.

Resting is 40, max is 202. I love my heart! My heart rate drops so fast now. On my recovery ride last week, I had my HRM set to beep if I went over 160 and below 110. It would beep as I crested a hill because I was over and halfway down it would beep again because I was under. I really love my heart!

V.
.

[pkq]

I've seen 32, 38, and 42. I don't trust that 32. That seems morgue-ishly low.

I was back on the bike in 6 weeks following my hysterectomy.

[Running Mommy]

I don't know what my resting HR is, but I know my BP is really good. Actually my doctor is concerned that it's a bit low. And they always look at me like I'm a freak too because when I get on the scale I'm considered obese because of my height. But I'm built like a stump, and while i do have about 25-30 lbs to lose I'd hardly call myself obese. My doctor looked at the circumference of my ankles, elbows, and wrists and said I have the bone structure of a 6'2" man! :eek:
And I'm 5'1"!!!!!! What can I say, I come from good German stock! :p
I like to say that I've embraced my inner stumpiness.... :D

[snapdragen]

Not stumpiness Running Mommy, sturdiness!:D

See Veronica, you're not the only "sturdy" girl here!:D :p

[Veronica]

Sturdiness is good. I wish more models were sturdy.

V.

[Geonz]

Mine was wandering between 48 and 52 last Monday at choir practice (sitting there waiting for the tenors to do their thing)... and then I *ate* something at the break. It was up in the sixties the rest of practice. So all that digesting must have accelerated it - I know I ahd a little more engerny.
When I give blood my bp is usually 104/64 ish... but this morning when I had my physical -- new year's resolution met, ladies, it's been over 10 years since I've darkened a doctor's office door -- it was 130/70! I wasn't nervous, tho' I had ridden the bike over.
Weight was 155... gotta get to work on that...

[Lise]

I don't know my resting HR because I can never remember to lie in bed and take it. My sitting around HR is about 80. By gum, tomorrow's the morning! I'm sleeping with a watch with a second hand next to me!

I agree that 32 sounds morgue-ishly low. OK, I just like the word "morgue-ish" :p . But it does sound like they'd be holding a mirror over your mouth to see if you were breathing.

Hospital staff always enjoy something odd yet not awful, like a low HR.

I agree about taking your time to heal--do you have an abdominal incision? If so, remember they did a lot of cutting, and a lot of muscle healing needs to occur. Good news is that athletes often heal very well, because their muscles are so well nourished and well oxygenated.

Best wishes, Lise

[doc]

Here's wishing you a quick recovery.

My hospital claim to fame is low BP. My BP dropped to 80/20 (I swear) when I was giving birth (vaginally - not in the operating room for a c section) to my second child. The anesthesiologist kept coming in asking "do you feel OK? Do you feel dizzy?" I felt fine. After 20 minutes of this he came back and said "I'm sorry I can't stand it. I'm going to give you medicine to raise your blood pressure even though you feel fine"
My normal BP is 90/50. But that's thanks to my mother who is the same.

[fixedgeargirl]

Hi Luvn'! I'm in Austin, too! And the low heartrate/bp club (HR 44, BP 104/60). Mine caused some alarm the time I had heat exhaustion and the EMT looked concerned as she read the dial. I explained that it was always low :o .

I've had a c-section, and I imagine the surgery is *somewhat* similar. Listen to your body as you return to activity and don't cause yourself a setback. I was riding my fixed gear on the road after 5 weeks. I wore an elastic support band over the bikini incision for support, but I also had some seriously loose abdominal muscles after gaining 48 lbs. :eek: , nearly all of it belly.

ETA: I just looked at your marker on frappr. Is it actually on your address (mine is about 2 miles from mine)? I ride by there often (I live in the Zilker neighborhood)! So cool!

[CR400]

Don't worry all I'm a freak in the hr department too. I rest at between 55-60, walk around at 80-90, with a max of 210, and can hold hr over 200 for 5 to 10min. without to much problem. Heck, my LT is somewhere around 194.

Thanks, Running Mommy, that makes me feel better about myself too, a strong German woman trying to beat the 110lbs wonder up a hill, I loose everytime. But how about a sprint tiny?

[CorsairMac]

DOn't know what my "resting" heart rate is but it's usually down around the 50s when I got to give blood and I always have to tell them I work out. Waaaaay back when when I had a HRM, my resting was something like 36? 38?. So I'm guessing it probably still is.

[alpinerabbit]

I had 55 that night I woke up with the extrasystoles, and then 61 when the doctor took the electrocardiogram (which showed nothing, as expected)

[Melody]

I'm way over on the other spectrum... at least without my meds.

When I'm not on my (heart) medication, my resting will be between 110 and 140. On meds, I'll fluctuate anywhere between 60 and 90. The same goes for my blood pressure. As my doctor says it, I have "malignant hypertension". :( It's one of the reasons I bike now, to try to keep that under control.

So, on medication, my blood pressure is typically 90-140/60-110. When I'm not, I'm playing russian roulette with my life. When I had a stroke when I was 27, my BP was recorded to be 253/163.

Oh, and it's _very very_ hard for me to get my pulse rate over 135... Probably due to the meds.

Mel who's still amazed she's even still on this planet.

[luv'nAustin]

Thanks for the replies, nice to know that I have lots of company out there with slow, but steady resting heart rates!

I appreciate your support and agree that six weeks of rest is not the end of the world. It will take some work on my part, but I will catch up to my friends that are still in training. I attend a pretty cool bootcamp in the tri off season and I miss everyone.

Fixedgeargirl, maybe we can meet up for a ride later this spring. You must do the 360/Southwest Pkwy/Bee Cave Road route. Do you do the Dam loop too? I haven't done that since early summer. In fact, I have hardly done any riding this winter, my normal group disbanded for the moment, but will regroup once tri training starts again in March.

Thanks again everyone!

[fixedgeargirl]

Hi luvn'! I ride out on 360 but like to get off the highway (Toro Canyon, Redbud, etc.) I've never actually done the Dam Loop. :cool: . Let's ride when you're healed up :) !

[ACG]

BP is normally 100/65, heart rate is 49.

When I gave birth, vaginally, was not working out but my low BP kept setting off the alarms. I get asked if I faint or have dizzy spells all the time by medical personnel. When I was checke for another problem, the low heart rate made them run all kinds of tests. The found nothing by me, a psycho bike woman.

You are not alone, just in good shape!

[fultzie]

my resting hr is dead-on 70 bpm, and max is somewhere around 210. glad to know there are other "freaks"! i always get weird reactions among athlete friends (because you know we all sit around and compare specs like that :p)

i used to be on asthma meds, which are notorious for jumping your hr, but i've been off them for a year now and the hr hasn't really changed.

bp is low too... does that make sense? (lower bp-> thinner blood-> have to pump more/faster to get the same amount of oxygen through?) though when you're scared/angry don't both usually go up? i can never remember the connection there...

[RoadRaven]

Hmmm... I know my resting heart rate was around 56... not sure what my resting or max is at the mo - haven't used partner HRM for months and months... have asked for one for my birthday...

[betagirl]

Mine is around 55 when I'm riding. When I'm off the bike in the winter, it goes up to around 70. I donated blood and it was 72 and I thought "jeez I'm out of shape!" :D