Health anxiety? Increased HR all the time?

[Betterhealth]

Hello everyone, my name is John. I first saw this website today and I wanted to thank you for all the useful information.

Just to give a little bit of background for myself. I am 26 years old, 5' 9'' and 135 pounds. I do not drink but I do smoke some cigarettes.I rarely exercise and since all my anxiety problems started I haven' t been eating that well.

Some medical background: in the past year I has : probably around 20 ekgs maybe more, xrays of chest, ct of the chest, stress test, echo, holter monitor, blood work that included cardio crp and other tests. My blood pressure is normally 110/70 and all the above tests came out fine ofc.

For the past week I have been experiencing a lot of heart rate increase. I was at home after a stressful day and after eating I went to relax. While sitting in bed I could feel my heart rate going up and as soon as I got up my heart rate went up to at least 150. I got scared and took my blood pressure and it was at 165/85. I drove myself to the er, had an ekg and was released home... that happened twice more in the next four days with bp reaching 175/90 with 140 pulses before going to the er again... I went to my cardiologist with the ekg writing the second time "sinus tachycardia with pacs" . My doctor told me that we can do an event monitor for a month and another stress test but does not think it is anything. After all those things i can notice my heart racing almost all the time. When I get up,stand,sit down, even sometimes when I rest... it varies a lot, probably the worst around 160 or so, for no more than an hour or so.

Does anyone else have an increased heart rate with health anxiety? I mean, I understand being high sometimes, but almost all day?

Thanks you,
John

[Freaked]

A very increased heartrate when standing or sitting upright is the main symptom of a condition I have, called postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome. Maybe look it up and see if anything seems familiar to you. It's (so the docs say) non-fatal.

But it could be anxiety; that can definitely cause an all day increased HR.

[Betterhealth]

I thought about POTS before, the only thing with that is that I do not really get dizzy or close to fainting and from what I have seen about it, you must have low blood pressure when it happens. My blood pressure when I am like that is mostly high and I can even get an increased heart rate of 110+ when just sitting on a chair.

This thing is ruining my life, I cannot do any of the things that I used to enjoy doing anymore, and I am so scared every time. The doctor wanted me on lexapro and also a beta blocker, but after reading the side effects, I am too scared to get any of those.

Thank you for your answer.

[Freaked]

No, you don't have to have low BP. Most people with POTS don't. Your heartrate compensates for your BP most of the time, and for many people it only drops suddenly if you push yourself way too hard. If I was you I would ask about a tilt table test, with your symptoms. If your HR increases more than 30bpm when you stand (and stays that high), then normally goes back to normal very quickly when you lie down, then you meet the diagnostic criteria for POTS.

[Betterhealth]

Thank you for your responce.

I might be wrong, but I do not see me meeting any of the criteria except the raised HR. My HR though might even raise when I am lying in bed sometimes, or even when from lying in bed I stand sitting in bed. And its not only when I am standing and it goes away. For example I am at work today and I am not sure if it is because I am thinking about it, but it has been high almost all the time.

There is a possibility though to look into. I hope that if that is what it is, it is not dangerous. I never had that for 26 years, so I am not sure how I would have developed it all of a sudden...

[Freaked]

HR is the only diagnostic criterion for POTS. It's rarely the only symptom, but it is usually by far the most debilitating. Yeah, having high HR changing positions or sometimes just randomly is normal too. I had that at the start, and occasionally still. I can't even sit in a chair with my feet on the ground for very long. And suddenly is how POTS happens for a lot of people, normally post-virally, but sometimes for no discernible reason. POTS on its own is not supposed to be dangerous; it's mostly just a supreme scary pain in the ass.

I'm not saying you definitely have POTS; only a specialist and a tilt table test can tell. But if you do and don't pursue a diagnosis, you're in for a bad time with 'unexplained' symptoms, and you may be put on psychiatric medications or have investigations you don't need.