Suspected Pericarditis?
Hi everyone, I recently joined this sub as I have always suspected that I have some form of chronic pericarditis (experienced since maybe 14 years old?). Just a quick intro about me, I (33M) have always felt some level of uncomfortable when lying down on the left side of my body and even when lying down in supine position for a while, I would get some form of dull ache on my left chest. I have looked up my symptoms and have suspected it's pericarditis but young me thought it's nothing serious so I didn't go to see a doctor. I have been a life long cyclist but have recently ramped up my cycling activities since March 2025. It was only until in recent months where I started to become breathless and unable to keep up with my local cycling group while climbing up a hill and began to keep getting dropped. I chalked this up to my weight gain (~4kg) as I went for a month long holiday and gorged alot of food (I still brought my bike and cycle almost daily (often 60-80km), although it's all flat with no hills in the country I cycle in). To shed the excess weight, I began doing intervals training on an indoor trainer ( I do it frequently during winter last year) but even doing that made me feel so tired and breathless and for the first time, I did not complete the 1 hour training plan.
Also recently, I started to get some form of dull ache on my left upper back just below the shoulder blade after lying down supine for awhile. I would get alot of relief by getting someone to use their elbow to press it. I also frequent alot of clinical trials (none have been related to the heart so far) and the last 2 trials I went to where they did an ECG, the doctors noted that I had a high PR interval of 210-230 and asked if I have ever gotten any form of chest pain or light headedness. I explained that I did not have any symptoms and did not bring up the chest pains I had since I was a teenager(I thought it was something benign and if it was some serious cardiac issues, I would have known by now). The doctor mentioned it's common for athletes to have unusually high PR intervals and if I did not present any symptoms that he mentioned, it should be fine. Towards the end of the clinical trial, I was curious and went to look at my ECG triplicate results and found that ECG detected my results as acute pericarditis. Just wanted to share if anyone had similar experience as me or if any doctors here can provide further insights on my ECG? I have attached my ECG results too.
Also to give further details, my watch shows that I have a resting heart rate of 58-60 and I recorded a maximum heart rate of 220bpm
I am planning to see a doctor this week and have stopped all forms of strenuous exercise for the past 2 weeks.