Arrhythmia - should I be worried?

[woofers]

Hi,
I've had arrhythmia -- irregular heartbeats -- since after I got a bad case of dengue in grade school. I'm now 28.

It's never bothered me, but should I be concerned about it in the future? Also I do a lot of cardiovascular exercise (about 1-2 hours of running or fast cycling every other day), but it doesn't seem to get rid of the skipped/extra beats.

[The Phoenix]

First thing to do is to determine what kind of arrythmia you have and whether it is a primary or secondary condition. The most common type (PVC's- premature ventricular contactions) is the very benign and hardly affects one's activities and doesn't need treatment as long as it is limited to less than 6 such beats per minute. Have a cardiologist evaluate you first and establish a baseline especially since you are into endurance sports.

I don't think any amount of exercise will get rid or cure an arrythmia. There is nothing wrong with your heart muscle function. The problem is that your natural pacemaker is out of synch, which is a problem of electrical current discharge. Exercise though can help compensate for diminished cardiac output as a result of an irregularly beating heart and hence still meet the demands of the body.Cardiologists in the house, kindly correct me on this if I am wrong.

Should you be worried? At the moment, NO. It appears your arrythmia is insignificantly affecting your lifestyle and activities as you are symptom-free. Just remember to at least undergo an annual physical everytime, considering you have a known condition. An established arrythmia can potentially deteriorate (especially as you hit middle age onwards). The deterioration does not occur abruptly and there is usually sufficient time to detect these gradual changes and institute treatment options available.