Heart Rate Worries - way too fast?

[Anxytips]

Hey guys, I posted on the Health anxiety forum too about this but this part relates to the heart. I am getting extremely concerned about my heart rate. Last week my heart rate shot up to 144bpm about 2 mins after standing up. I had experienced dull chest ache with it too but nothing severe and comes and goes. Lightheaded feeling since I happened last week too. Anyway I have been constantly checking my pulse since and literally felt it stop yesterday! For about 3 seconds then it kicked in again. It's like my body "reboots". Had the same again and my heart rate was 128bpm today. Can feel slight pressure in chest and like muscle spasms on left side of head/left hand.

I have had 3 ECG's in past 3 months and nothing ever major has ever shown up. Surely this cannot be normal??

[xBettyBoopx]

I would have suggested that you go to the doc just as a precautionary measure but then you have had 3 ecg's in 3 months so if there was something wrong with your heart, it would have showed up.

I know high heart rate is scary, I get it on and off a lot!:weep:

I just don't know why sometimes it can go fast for no reason but I know that listening in to it can just make it worse. We ordinarily don't notice our heart rate until it goes up (or maybe down) and we wouldn't think anything of a high heart rate if we're doing some sort of exercise but coming out of the blue can be scary.

It can be to do with what you eat or don't eat! A slight temperature when not well can make it go up too, there are so many reasons. I can tell you that mine has gone 200bpm+ having a major panic attack on several occasions and sometimes so quickly that I can't even measure the beats! :lac: It can also go up just on standing from sitting or just walking into the kitchen!!:weep:

Try to be reassured by the fact that the tests proved negative.

XBettyX

[Anxytips]

200+ is mental! When it happened I called NHS 111 but they said if I don't have any other severe pain then just see local GP. Thing is the local GP is the one that has diagnosed me with anxiety and I just know I will be in there 5 mins, get told it's just anxiety, and I'll be back to square one. I am seeing a specialist about something else but not until Tuesday next week. I think I will see what goes on tomorrow and if it gets any worse I will go to the local walk in centre and ask for a ECG.

What on earth did you do when yours was 200+ and what on earth did the Dr's say about it?

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Yeah, I'm also interested to know what happened with the 200+ 'cause I freak out when it goes 120!
All I can say is that when my anxiety was at it's highest, my resting heart rate after a few hours of lying in bed was 90. So during the day without even doing anything it would persistently be over 100. Anxiety man! It ****s your body up.

I would suggest to try the Valsalva Manoeuvre, where you pinch your nose and close your mouth and try to breath out hard for roughly 10 seconds. It's supposed to instantly slow down your heart rate.
I tried it twice in the fast few days when my heart rate was either high from horrible indigestion, or high from alcohol. And on both occassions my heart rate instantly went down to below 100.

[Anxytips]

I'm on it! Thanks for that. I'm sat here now and I can feel like my heart is missing a beat and then I get like a rush of warmth adrenaline in my chest for a second. Also getting pinching pain in my neck/left arm/left hand. Doing my head in because the pain is like a 2 out of 10 when it pinches. It's just annoying more than anything.

Like I said before, my last ECG was done about 5 weeks ago plus a blood test and all was OK.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

Yeah, the rush of warmth is pure anxiety! I get that usually in my head. It's a rush of adrenaline because you get instant fear over missing a beat.
Missing a beat is not dangerous, in fact everyone gets them but not everyone cares about them. But as much as I know it's not dangerous, my body seems to always think it is because I also instantly get that rush of heat in my head from pure fear. It usually subsides.
As for aches and pains, they're abundant all over the body with anxiety. Fear not. If it was your heart, your pain would be a 10/10.

[Anxytips]

I get that ISB, I really do. Never thought of it like that - I like the use of the challenging questions. Obviously no way do I want to be told I have something life threatening. Advice taken.

Thanks for all responses. Reading through the forum/this sub section it seems we all have had the racing hearts/missed beats etc so I think it is time to sort this out and challenge the silly thoughts in my head! We're beating this!