Heart attack / blocked arteries reassurance

[Rosanna]

Aren't beta blockers for peeps with high blood pressure? I guess that since anxiety does increase blood pressure / heart rate it makes sense, but wouldn't it impact something else?

I read (online, of course) that beta blockers can handicap your ability to exercise and have sexual intercourse due to what it does with your heart. Is that correct or is this misinformation?
zae

Yes they can be used for high blood pressure, I didn't have that, so they've lowered it a bit but not enough to worry about.

To be honest they are both good and bad. They were brilliant in the beginning as I really needed something to calm me and my system down and they work. They stopped the heart racing. They also stopped the ectopics a bit but not fully (this is typical).

However I wasn't warned about not being able to exercise and about weight gain. So unfortunately I have a bit of that going on at the moment. I would warn anyone thinking of taking them to weigh up the pros and cons. They are an absolutely wonderful drug if someone really needs them, but they come with these other effects, not in the beginning, but over time......and it's gradual so you may not notice it (especially if not forewarned).

If I had the time again, I'd have taken a month's course of them then gradually weaned off and kept some for 'one off' episodes (some people just have them for a bad day and not all the time) only.

I am now trying to wean off them and was doing really well until the last 8 weeks when I had all this flare up of symptoms (but not because of weaning off, it's going to be something else, like hormones, stomach problems and anxiety)

Take care

I should say, you can still exercise, it just depends on how the dosage affects you. Some people say they can't do a thing. Me, I can exercise at a low dose but it isn't the same.

[zaedas99]

Thank you for your feedback.

I don't think i need beta blockers, at least not yet, but i def have to cop better with my symptoms, whether they are physical or not.

Honestly, my libido as already taken a dip with celexa, and while i have recovered after a while, it isn't the same. I just don't want more secondary effects.

I'll update everyone once i get more news from the doc tomorrow .

[zaedas99]

Hey everyone! Good news i'm still alive.

I got to see the doc and everything is OK according to her. Only anxiety. She examined me and says that i'm 100% fine but just to be sure she had do a full blood test. I'm awaiting the results but i'm pretty sure there'll be nothing surprising there...

My blood pressure was 160 / 91 but that's my fault. I keep panicking when i get my blood pressure taken haha.

Anyway, thanks everyone for the kind words

Have a good one

[Aaahhfreakout]

It's likely just a short run of harmless premature beats from a single irritated point on your heart, probably from the effects of anxiety.

However, no one knows anything until it's been recorded, most likely by a portable ECG monitor. If it's frequent enough, it shouldn't take much time to record an episode, give you a diagnosis and allow you to move past it.

I'll add that one of the most important lessons I learned from studying my own anxiety very closely using a portable ECG is that you can be anxious without feeling anxious. Your body can suffer physical effects from repeated negative thoughts alone. It's a little like we're all taking a hundred tiny sips of caffeinated coffee (a hundred negative thoughts) instead of a big cup (a panic attack) and thinking the hundred sips don't count. They do.

[snowghost57]

Whats wrong with an elevated heart rate when you get up and start moving?

I watched your video and I own the book, The Power of Now by Eckert Tolle. He is an amazing man! All we have is now, not tomorrow. The next thought occurs in the now. I recommend it to anyone.

---------- Post added at 21:27 ---------- Previous post was at 21:22 ----------

With anxiety, i'm always left to wonder what is causing it, and since it's inside and i can't see it, it's easy (at least, for me) to go into the "what if" territory.

You want to know what is causing your anxiety? It's your fear, and I have no idea how my font turned blue! I go into the "what if" territory, but you can't. Look at my post regarding Stinking Thinking, it might help. Hugs!

[zaedas99]

I know everyone on this forum will not believe me, but i seriously think that something is wrong with me.

After doing some exercise today i felt seriously bad, again with those hot flushes. Now after exercising my heart rate is 120 bpm even after 10 mins. This is weird and is worrying me...

Can't wait to get that blood work done and see what is going on...

My throat also hurt. Is it truly my anxiety?

Thanks all... I'm a bit scared :|

---------- Post added at 02:18 ---------- Previous post was at 02:14 ----------

Now its down 100... Idk, its really weird... What could cause this? I had no faint or anything, just felt... out of place....

Sorry if i sound annoying and like a broken tape, it's really hard to live with this..

---------- Post added at 02:30 ---------- Previous post was at 02:18 ----------

90 bpm after 20-30 ish mins, normal?

[Aaahhfreakout]

Cardiac arrhythmias usually start and end suddenly or are continuous. Your heart rate would suddenly change to a much higher, lower or irregular rhythm and either stay that way until you have medical treatment or it'd suddenly change back to normal on its own.

Anxiety would result in a gradual return to normal over a period of minutes or hours, such as 120 beats-per-minute at ten minutes, 110 BPM at twenty minutes, 100 BPM at thirty minutes, and so on. What you are describing is almost certainly anxiety. Many of us have had anxiety for a very long time, we know only too well how it works.

By the way, your heart rate can increase from the anxiety of measuring your pulse and concern over what you might find. In my case, I'd take my pulse and find it was 100... but when I checked what a portable ECG had recorded, I'd find it was 85 until the act of taking my pulse increased it by 15 beats per minute.

So I suspect your actual pulse rate was also likely a bit lower than you recorded and increased during the short period you measured it.

Other than the mystery of what the little runs of irregular beats are, everything else fits classic anxiety perfectly. And the little runs of irregular beats could also easily be anxiety-caused.

[zaedas99]

Hey guess what,

My heart is beating at the moment! Wooooo i'm gonna die.

Sorry, but i've found that a way to cop with my anxiety symptoms is to make fun of them. I've also (for the most part) stopped taking my pulse every second. I think it's for the better.

Anyway, right now i've had palpitations while exercising on my treadmill and my left arm felt heavy. I think that i'm still having anxiety there because last weekend i went all day outside playing airsoft (it is a sport) and ran the entire day under the sun. While it did race a lot (surely because i'm a bit unfit), look at me, i'm still here typing all this and i'm not dead. So clearly my heart is 100% fine.

Anyway i'm having my blood work tomorrow so we'll see. I wanted to thank everyone here on the forum that tried to reassure me, it is really appreciated . Anxiety is a seriously big beasts and it can strike at any moment. Its crazy!

Have a good one,

zaedas99