Heart problems?!

[Nat20]

Hi, so I am really worried because I think I have some serious problems with my heart and I am so scared I am just going to die. I mean it's my heart, I need it to stay alive. So, it all started when I was doing a fundraiser run and at about 4k I felt really sick and dizzy and had to stop. Straight away I started feeling really panicky because I was feeling so unwell. So the ambulance took me to the first aid area and monitored my heart and temperature. The thing was that my heart rate was really high and for some reason it wouldn't go down. So they took me to the hospital to make some more checks. Just being in the ambulance made me scared all over again and my heart rate just kept shooting up! So they did a lot of tests and ECG and blood tests and they said there's nothing wrong. My heart rhythm is fine it's just beating quite fast, so they let me go.
HOWEVER, since then whenever I do any exercise or even long walks or walking up the stairs my heart rate goes up. I can feel it in my chest pounding and I start panicking which just keeps fuelling it. I went to doctors to get this investigated and the hospital sent back the results and said it's fine. However, my GP looked at the results and he says that from what he learnt it's not the norm. So, he wrote back to the hospital to double check and whether I need to see a specialist to monitor my heart on a running machine and then over 24h. I still have to wait for a bit but I am so scared. I'm so scared I don't even walk to university any more, I will ask for a lift even if it means getting in an hour earlier or get a taxi. I walk everywhere slower and I just keep measuring my pulse non stop.

I just feel like I can't do anything and it's stopping me from little things like walking down to the shop! I'm scared my heart is just going to stop and I'm going to die.

Does anyone else have this or ever experienced this?
Any help would be great :) x

[gwhite73]

Are you physically fit in general? At times over my life I've been fairly fit, very unfit and average fitness. I tend to find that the more unfit / overweight I am, the faster my heart will beat when even doing moderate exertion (like walking up stairs), and the longer it will take to return to normal after resting.

When I was very unfit and 2 stone overweight, I seemed to be more aware of my heart beat, and my resting pulse seemed to be higher.

Now I am slightly fitter than I was back then and have also lost weight, and now my resting heart rate is much better and it seems to return to normal much more quickly after resting again.

Anxiety will also make the heart beat faster.

I'm not sure of your circumstances, i.e. whether you're fit or unfit, but I think moderate exercise to improve your fitness will also improve your heart. Running 4k if you're not very fit isn't a good idea.

Again here I'm just assuming, you may be super fit, but definitely getting a lift each day to uni instead of walking is not going to help improve your general fitness or your cardiac fitness.

I would say if your ECG is normal, you're fine, and coupled with your anxiety this is where it is coming from. I'd say start exercising again, nothing too strenous and take things gently initially, then your heart and general fitness can only improve :)

[Nat20]

Hi gwhite73 and thanks for your reply. No, I'm not very fit at the moment. I used to be when I was younger but for the past couple of years I haven't been doing any regular exercise which is probably bad for me. I haven't done a lot of training at all for the run as well! I am going to try with exercises like yoga etc and slightly increase. Thank you for your advice! x