Is my heart okay? What do I do? ):
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi, my name's Katelyn. I've had health (mostly heart) anxiety since i was 16, I'm now 21. Quick background: I have a cardiologist. He has cleared me saying I have nothing but some extra beats here and there (everybody has them, some just feel them). I've had a stress test, echocardiogram, numerous ECGs, blood work, chest xrays, lots of holter montiors (24hr, 48hr, 72hr and one 7 day), and also a tilt table test (I'm diagnosed with neurocardiogenic syncope). Since January I've had a couple "episodes" of my heart rate being really high in the morning (150s). I'll wake up, feel for my pulse (worry its too weak) then boom my heart rate skyrockets to 150s. These aren't panic attacks, I get a LITTLE nervous and my heart rate soars. it usually doesn't last more than a couple minutes (like 5 after i wake my mom up and start talking to her and breathing). I'm absolutely terrified.
Does anyone else experience this? Is there something my doctors, hospital visits, urgent care visits etc., are missing? Im scared I'll go into cardiac arrest.. please somebody help ):
0 likes, 5 replies
jan34534 katelynrybak
Edited
you will not go into cardiac arrest. Anxiety can cause your exact symptoms even with a high heart rate. You can actually make it worse by overthinking all of this. The adrenaline that is put out causes the rapid heart rate and it is not dangerous. Eventually it wears off. I have had the same thing happened to me more times than I can count. I also think I am not feeling nervous but suddenly my heart rate will soar. You don’t have to feel very anxious for your heart rate to be high. It is an underlying anxiety causing it though. But you could feel perfectly normal and still have a rapid heartbeat or missed heartbeats.
in order for you to feel better, you absolutely must get in control of your breathing to bring the heart rate down. When you start feeling like that again, search YouTube for something called stop panic attacks now. Then scroll down to one called don’t panic. It’s in black bold letters. You don’t have to feel panicky to benefit from this. This shows you how to get yourself in control and it reduces the heart rate every time! She guides you through it.
there are quite a few mindfulness breathing exercises on YouTube.
you have had quite a few tests so if something was wrong it would definitely have shown up. It’s all anxiety! I’ve been going through this for years on and off. But you’re going to be fine. Listen to some great meditations for anxiety when laying down to sleep. I do this every night. Take care and don’t overthink this.
MILAO katelynrybak
Edited
I have the exact same, I wake up every morning to a racing heart, shaky, trembly and upset tummy. My HR also goes really high with minimal activity. I am 24. Like you I have had a lot of tests carried out. Still going through some tests for a specific type of POTs but I think most of it boils down to our body having far too much adrenaline. Plus when you are young your heart rate is naturally more variable and can shoot up from a low heart rate to high within seconds. I also have PVCs and PACs every single day. I am unhealthily obsessed with my heart and obsessing makes it all so much worse. I too check my pulse throughout the day which just makes things worse! I understand how you feel.
A couple of years ago (before my anxiety days) I climbed a Volcano in Bali, for 4 hours straight my heart would have been going at MAXIMUM capacity because i was unfit and it was so hard physically to climb it. It would have been going over 180 for over 4 hours straight. Whenever I worry about the fast heart I try to remember that day and I realise that the heart is built to withstand stress and it can go that fast for a long time with no issues or lasting issues. It is so hard but try not to worry so much especially if you have the all clear.
kyle99 katelynrybak
Edited
I can relate to that, strongly. Since I was 15 I have always woken up with not so much a fast pulse (between 90 and 120 which I guess is a little fast) but instead, such a strong pounding feeling. I can feel my whole body pulsing like someone is squeezing me and it's so uncomfortable. I woke up today with a heart rate of 130 and it settled down in around 20 minutes, but I felt so groggy for around an hour until I took my Propranolol and it settled my physical feelings down a lot. I can also hear the blood circulating through my ears, as a whoosh sound each time my heart beats.
I have one of those Fitbits, and during the night my heart has been quite low (around 50 beats) and as soon as I wake up it essentially doubles in speed, I think some people are just more sensitive to the processes of waking up and this could include the heart having to gear up, I partially blame my lack of sleep as for years during school I would survive on little more than 3 hours of sleep every night, and this does put strain on the heart in the long run.
In all, I think you are in perfect health and if you weren't these professionals surely would have detected something. I think some people are just sensitive to waking up, or maybe you are having disrupted sleep just before waking up. You should discuss this on your next visit and perhaps they could share some tips on how to combat it, I personally have none and just having to battle through the feeling, even when it feels like my heart is bursting.
I hope you get the help and support you need,
Kyle
MILAO kyle99
Edited
This is identical to me! I wake up with that "groggy" out of it type uneasy feeling with the heart issues. My sleeping HR is 50BPM unless I wake in the night with a panic attack then it shoots to 160BPM for 10 mins. Every morning it will be around 120 for a good 30 minutes unless I begin to panic about it and then it goes to 150 and can stay high for over an hour! To be honest it only really happens during illness or intense periods of stress. Cortisol levels naturally rise in everyone a few hours before they wake but in anxiety prone people the cortisol levels are too high and hence the extra fast heart etc. No matter how much I tell myself this I still hate it so much every single day & it still freaks me out lol! It is so hard sometimes and not a good way to begin your day! I usually find by 8PM my Parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and I feel somewhat "calm" for the first time all day, what craziness anxiety does to us!
kyle99 MILAO
Posted
Im the exact same! 8pm my anxiety lifts quite significantly, and I am able to enjoy doing things for the first time in the day without this extreme guilt and despair. I am also extremely groggy in the mornings and I have to fight the urge to go back to sleep in hopes to avoid the awful anxiety feelings I wake up to.
It's like a very stomach heavy feeling too, where there is a pit and it just pulses outward, making every thought I get feed into it. Throughout last night I had a heart rate constantly at 80bpm whilst I was sleeping and it shot up to 130 when I woke up, and doing any task honestly made me feel like I was going to collapse, I was lying on the sofa for an hour literally unable to move.
I think improving my sleep would be beneficial, as I think this developed over the years it might take a while to fix. I hope you feel better with your heart and my sister told me to try yoga before bed for the palpitations, I will let you know how it is
Regards,
Kyle