Tachycardia for several hours with no PA?

[ankietyjoe]

Well I had a delightful experience this week.

I was trying to get back to doing some work after a long bout of illness. I have to admit I was still feeling weak and run down, but confident I could start off slowly.

Half my work is at home as a sound designer and (oddly) I also try to do some tiling and decorating work as well.

On Wednesday I started a new job. The most strenuous thing I was doing was climbing three steps of a ladder whilst painting a wall. After a couple of hours I felt spent, my legs had gone to jelly and felt like they were full of lactic acid. At the same time I noticed my heard rate was 120bpm or so. I had a little chill, but realised it was probably just a reaction to the exercise so I packed up slowly and went home. My heart rate remained high all the way home and even after some deep breathing.

A couple of hours later I already had an apt booked with the GP about a cough that's been going on for weeks, and as the cough presents with chest pain she almost demanded I went straight to A&E as my heart rate was still high.

Cut a long story short, a couple of hours later I was in A&E (again). They eventually kept me in overnight in the AMU (Acute Medical Ward) as tachycardia+chest pain = alarm bells.

All the ECG's, chest Xrays, blood tests, BP etc came back fine. BP was slightly high (but then it would be) but it took my HR about 12 hours to come back down to normal.

At no point did I have an actual PA to explain this, but stress levels are monumental right now.

The only explanation is that my body is at such a high constant alert state that the work tipped me over the edge somehow.

I've felt drained and shaky for the last few days now and have become somewhat obsessed with my HR. It's about 75-95 at rest now, but I just have to let that go and wait to feel normal again.

Anybody else experience an attack like this before? :wacko:

[TooMuchToLiveFor]

I have had sinus tachycardia throughout most of my journey with anxiety. With or without panic attacks. I actually often tend to notice the heart racing more when I am not in an actual attack.

Everything that you have listed- from the jelly legs to days of exhaustion and shakiness for days afterwards- are identical to episodes I have experienced. Since your tests have all come back clear I am feeling fairly certain that it is safe to say- when your nervous system has calmed, this will all clear.

[ankietyjoe]

I have had sinus tachycardia throughout most of my journey with anxiety. With or without panic attacks. I actually often tend to notice the heart racing more when I am not in an actual attack.

Everything that you have listed- from the jelly legs to days of exhaustion and shakiness for days afterwards- are identical to episodes I have experienced. Since your tests have all come back clear I am feeling fairly certain that it is safe to say- when your nervous system has calmed, this will all clear.

Sorry to hear you've experienced it too.

I've not actually noticed the tachycardia lasting that long before, although being told by a GP to 'get the A&E please' probably enhanced my observation of it.

What I have noticed is that at certain times exercise can bring on this feeling, or rather exercise sometimes makes me feel terrible, which in turn brings on the shakiness and exhaustion afterwards. What I usually feel is a burning lactic acid style anxiety actually within my muscles that takes quite a while to dissipate.

I'm wondering if stress causes a buildup of something in the body that exercise releases.

[LunaLiuna]

I can relate to some of the things you listed but unfortunately I have no advice, I just go as far as I can and then have a break, I'm sure there's better ways around it though.

I'd be interested to see what people say regarding the release of something stress/anxiety related during exercise, I've noticed repeatedly during jogging that I will sometimes get this vibratory tingle type feeling that seems to come from my muscles, it lasts a couple of seconds but comes back sporadically.

I'm glad to see they found nothing wrong at the A&E.

[ankietyjoe]

I'd be interested to see what people say regarding the release of something stress/anxiety related during exercise, I've noticed repeatedly during jogging that I will sometimes get this vibratory tingle type feeling that seems to come from my muscles, it lasts a couple of seconds but comes back sporadically.



It's weird, when I first had anxiety is was a pretty simple equation. I exercise, my heart rate goes up and I panic a bit.

These days it seems far more complex. I exercise, I can rationalise the increased heart rate and not worry about it, but then sometimes I seem to hit some sort of 'critical mass' where all my muscles seem to fill up very quickly with lactic acid, I become massively fatigued immediately and then I have tachycardia for hours. What follows this is usually several days of a weird tension/trembling and almost anxiety from within my muscles so that every time I use them it's like I have anxiety being injected into them. It's physical as well (or so I assume) as I'm not panicking about it.

I really do need to get to the bottom of this.

[LunaLiuna]

This seems to be where my problem differs to yours, as my state does not seem as prolonged.

But I do experience what you've wrote about.

Interestingly I've just done a quick search on Google I searched "Cortisol and Stress" and apparently high amounts of exercise can in fact release more Cortisol in response to physical stress! so it's possible that what we are both experiencing is excess stress from both physical and mental problems.

Try searching what I did if you'd like a little more information, it's confusing as exercise seems to be extremely beneficial for anxiety, but not for stress.

[ohwell123]

hi hope I can help with this im in the same boat but its easier said than done

I suffer with ptsd and I have convinced myself that something is wrong with my heart sadly the fact I have OCD doesn't help

so as soon as I go for a run if anything it makes my anxiety worse lol

perhaps you are also working your mind overtime?

[ankietyjoe]

This seems to be where my problem differs to yours, as my state does not seem as prolonged.

But I do experience what you've wrote about.

Interestingly I've just done a quick search on Google I searched "Cortisol and Stress" and apparently high amounts of exercise can in fact release more Cortisol in response to physical stress! so it's possible that what we are both experiencing is excess stress from both physical and mental problems.

Try searching what I did if you'd like a little more information, it's confusing as exercise seems to be extremely beneficial for anxiety, but not for stress.

Bingo

Do a search for cortisol and exercise intolerance, which is also linked to adrenal fatigue.

I haven't got to grips with the exact mechanism yet as it's a complex interaction of hormones, but from what I can gather too much exercise (and it doesn't need to be that much at all) can trigger the cortisol/adrenalin glands in a big way. Most sites I read seemed to suggest that walking and yoga are as strenuous as you should get. Running and resistance training are a no no for several months.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction :bighug1:


hi hope I can help with this im in the same boat but its easier said than done

I suffer with ptsd and I have convinced myself that something is wrong with my heart sadly the fact I have OCD doesn't help

so as soon as I go for a run if anything it makes my anxiety worse lol

perhaps you are also working your mind overtime?

Hey

It's not so much a reaction to the heartrate for me as I mostly beat the reaction to anxiety last year. I can moderately exercise and hear/feel my heartrate up at 110-120bpm and be ok with it. Also if I do ever have an anxiety reaction that spikes my heartrate I can control it and calm myself down. This was fundamentally different in that my heartrate went up to 120-130bpm with no anxiety on my part and stayed there all day, and overnight.

I hope you find the answer to your own troubles though, and if it helps I studied mindfulness and meditation (Vipassana) and it has been a massive help for me, all but eliminating the worst that anxiety can throw at me.