EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — After leaving Sunday’s game against the Broncos with an irregular heartbeat, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said Monday that he will wear a heart monitor for the next two weeks, take a blood thinner and another medication to keep his heart from spiking.
Harbaugh saw a cardiologist Monday, who he said did not recommend a medical procedure immediately but that he could have one in the future. In 1999 and 2012 Harbaugh had an ablation, which is a procedure that uses heat or cold to destroy heart tissue that is causing an irregular heartbeat.
Harbaugh said he is not considering stepping away from football.
“It would take my heart stopping for me not to be out there on the sideline,” Harbaugh said.
He said he will continue to follow doctors’ directives and that he learned more Wednesday about managing his heart moving forward.
“I’m pretty confident on this one that I know what it is and how to deal with it,” Harbaugh said. “But as always, we’ll address the doctors and they’ll tell me what to do.”
Harbaugh briefly left in the first quarter of the Chargers 23-16 win over the Broncos Sunday after a flare-up with atrial flutter, a type of arrhythmia that causes the heart to beat at an abnormally high rate.
Harbaugh went to the locker room, where paramedics treated him. He had an electrocardiogram scan, and eventually, they got his heart back to a normal rhythm. Harbaugh returned later in the first quarter and coached the remainder of the game. Defensive coordinator Jesse Minter was the interim head coach while Harbaugh was out.
Harbaugh said he has had a flare-up in a game before. In 2012, when he was coaching the San Francisco 49ers in a game against the Chicago Bears on Monday Night Football, he felt an irregular heartbeat but finished coaching the game and saw doctors afterward.
Harbaugh said the altitude in Denver didn’t affect his irregular heartbeat. He felt discomfort before the Chargers boarded their flight to Denver and even mentioned it to quarterback Justin Herbert.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’m really fired up for the game or this is my arrhythmia kicking back in,'” Harbaugh deadpanned.