Special Snowflake Heart Rate Help

i know hr isnt everything. but my hr data is throwing up a red flag. and checking if anyone has advice.

35 years old
cat 1 mtb xc
4.2 w/kg
average consistent 8-12 hour weeks

i was recently diagnosed with bronchitis. off the bike for ten days. i took antibiotics and breathing treatments and prednisone. eased my way back in. i did 30 minutes at 40%. then lazy mountain. then townsend. but townsend was so hard. so i took three more days off.

yesterday i did pettit. my heart rate got up to 187!! average for the 70% interval was 181!! legs are not tired. i dont think i lost 70 watts from my ftp in two weeks. did i?

some other symptoms are occasional shortness of breath which i thought might be the bronchitis still. but not so sure now. also frequent nocturnal urination. insane amounts and times for the little bit that i drink at night. and i do think im sweating a lot also.

a trip down google points towards afib. i dont want to freak out and take a google diagnosis to a doctor. i really just want to get on my bike and get back at it. but im a little scared.

any advice/experience? i understand we arent doctors but i dont know where to start. i feel like normal primary care physicians dont understand us. you people get me.

It could just be a faulty reading on your HR monitor.

However, infections like that can affect the heart, so go back to your doc, tell them all the sympthoms, and ask to be checked over again.

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As a medical professional I never trust Dr Google lol. There can be many many things that could cause your symptoms, but definitely talk to your doc. A simple EKG or longer term HR monitor such as a halter monitor can give the doc an idea of whats going on if they think its cardiac related.

Go see your doctor. You’re a well conditioned athlete experiencing extreme heart rate changes at low intensity that are not explained by things you understand or have context to understand

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I had a similar experience. Had to take steroids for the breathing. I tried training while my lungs were not 100% and even did an ftp test which resulted in 10% loss after a couple of weeks of being sick. Of course during the test my HR reached almost 200bpm. But HR is all relative. For example at a power that I now consider z2 my HR is about 150bpm, whereas back then it got to 180 (threshold level HR). After the treatment and antibiotics my lungs got healthy but of course fitness has no mercy and it didn’t come back to where it was. 4 months later I’m again at the level I was before getting sick.

If the heart doctor says everything is good then there’s no option other than swallow the pride, re-test and start from scratch. Believe me.i feel your pain.