Heart/Breathing Worries. So Overwhelmed..

[laceysmommy1]

Hey everyone,

So, I have a son who's 7 months old now. A few weeks after I had him, I noticed my resting pulse rate was lower than normal.. around 50-60bpm. Throughout my pregnancy it was around 100bpm, and pre-pregnancy it was 70-80. I also had times when I'd feel short of breath with minimal exertion, and some random chest pain. I went to my doctor who told me he wasn't concerned about my heart rate, since he considers 50 to still be in the normal range, but told me to go to the hospital to get checked for a PE. Long story short, once there they did cardiac panel bloodwork, an xray, and a CT with contrast and nothing unusual was found. I convinced myself it was anxiety, and eventually I felt normal again. I stopped checking my pulse obsessively too, so I'm not sure if that ever became "normal" again.

A few days ago however, I started noticing the shortness of breath again. I freaked out, and that's when the chest pains started back up, and of course now I'm checking my pulse all the time and it's between 50-60bpm when I'm resting. I've booked an appt with my doctor again for next week, but I hate this. I hate this so, so much. I thought I was past it all, but maybe it's not all in my head? I think that scares me more. I'm so afraid of something called postpartum cardiomyopathy. I made the mistake of googling and now I'm sure I have this..

Sorry if this was all over the place, but I just need someone to talk me down if that's possible. I feel like I'm going to snap.

[eternalhope]

There is nothing like having heart fears - that feeling of any moment your heart will stop beating. At least with some of the other HA fears, we have a fighting chance, right? Definitely understand the feeling. It's debilitating.

The tests you had would have definitely showed some type of abnormality that would have warranted further testing. Seems that everything checked out fine, which is a GREAT thing. Anxiety can definitely cause shortness of breath and mild chest pain, so that could be the culprit.

As far as the pulse rate, my normal rate is anywhere from 45 - 55. If it goes anywhere above 65 ish, I get lightheaded and anxious. Figured that out by going through a nasty bout of heart fears, and went through a full cardiac work up...CT, Xray, treadmill and all. Everything checked out completely fine.

Just remember, your heart will only beat as many times as it takes to keep your body functioning as it should in the current environment (resting, exercise, stress, etc). That's what it was designed to do, but still causes all kinds of obsessive fears : )

Hope you feel better.