Cardiophobia/high resting heart rate
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi
Wondered if anyone has/had experienced the same as me? I'm 46 female and around 7 months ago I started to have really bad anxiety. Like a physical pain in the pit of my stomach. This also has made my heart rate increase. I get a lot of palpitations and ectopic beats. I've had 2 holter monitors, 2 Echocardiograms, loads of ECG/EKGs, a chest xray and I've seen a cardiologist multiple times. All tests have been normal.
My main concern is that my heart is beating too fast all the time. My resting rate is usually in the 80s/90s. It does come down in the evening to low 70s when I can finally relax. When I have a panic attack my heart can go up to 140, sometimes higher. I'm not worried that I'm having a heart attack in the present moment as I know I've been assured that my heart is healthy for now. What concerns me is the high resting heart rate. Could this cause stroke/heart damage/heart attack in the future? My husband tells me to relax and it's the anxiety causing it, but I just can't stop worrying about what this is doing to my heart in the long term. I've been on beta blockers before (bisoprolol) but they made me feel horrible and I don't want to start them again. My DR has prescribed Propanolol but I'm worried to take it. Tried escitalopram which made my anxiety a million times worse so dr said to stop. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
1 like, 3 replies
jan34534 bombodie
Edited
I have been through the same thing as you. I have generalized anxiety and I’ve had it for over 30 years. My resting heart rate has always been in the 80s and 90s and my heart is perfectly healthy. A slightly higher resting heart rate is not going to do damage to your heart . you’re testing is normal. I also worried about it for a long time but then I realized that by worrying about it, I wasn’t going to get my heart rate any lower by worrying so what was the point.
I started to really focus on learning how to completely relax and in that way my resting heart rate started to go down into the 60s and 70s. I started listening to relaxing meditations for anxiety on YouTube, and I did this one to two times a day especially when laying down to sleep.
a really great way to get the heart rate lower is by learning proper breathing for anxiety. Proper breathing is key to lowering the heart rate and staying in the present moment. You can find these great breathing techniques on YouTube.
I also stopped focusing on what my heart rate was. I just let it be because I knew it wasn’t going to do me any harm.
I started really taking care of myself by getting in some exercise which naturally relaxed me and lowered my heart rate.
Staying Busy was absolutely necessary for me because then instead of focusing on myself I focused on what I was doing. Also a counselor helped me with my anxiety. Now I don’t Focus at all on my heart rate. These are just some suggestions for you. I hope you’re able to relax and know that you’re going to be OK!
bombodie jan34534
Posted
Hi Jan - Thank you so much for your reply. Honestly such great advice. You are so right about focussing on it and it making it worse. I can literally feel fine and I check my heart rate and it's in the 80s and I panic. This obviously makes it go higher. I haven't done any meditation but I will start tonight. Can you recommend any particular breathing videos on youtube? There seems to be a lot of different ones. I've also just started counselling so hoping that helps.
Your reply makes so much sense and has really given me hope that I can overcome this. Thank you so much I truly appreciate it xxx
jan34534 bombodie
Posted
you are very welcome! And yes, you can definitely do it! Be patient with yourself as you are learning how. I am going to send you a private message shortly.