Worried about dangerous tachycardia-fast HB

[star68]

Hello everyone,

I have a history of general anxiety, panic attacks but I have controlled the symptoms thanks to my psychologist she is brilliant and made me understand why I had all the horrible symptoms, and how to manage them and up until recently have done quite well.

Recently I have been having a build up of serious stress recently. My elderly mother hasn't been well and I worry a lots about her.
A couple of nights ago I went to bed I wasn't as stressed up by then, read my book and fell sleep. About an hour or so later I woke up bit disorientated like in another bedroom, sat on my bed, stood up to go to toilet and my heart started racing out of nowhere, then I fell short of breath and I started panicking called my husband, he was sleeping like a log then my daughter came to see me touched my chest and said my heart was beating very hard, she got me the blood pressure machine and the heart rate was 115 bpm, and I think it was higher when it started, perhaps 140 bpm for about 2 minutes until I measured with the machine. BP was 140/90. Gradually the bpm came down so did the blood pressure. It took about 30 minutes for my heart to be normal again.
I went to A&E in the morning, my ECG, BP and bpm were normal but they said it's best to go when I have the actual palpitation, but I live 30 minutes away from the hospital s it's kind of difficult by the time I get there the palpitation has calm down, although I told them next time I will definitely go straight away. My ECG and bpm were normal.

I am worried that it could be a dangerous palpitation, now my anxiety has came back because it's very hard to diagnose it unless you go to the hospital when it happens.

Could you share your histories about palpitations? TIA for reading my long thread.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

I get a high heart rate all the time, seemingly for no reason.
Alcohol: boom! Too much food: boom! And definitely anxiety attack: boom!
A lot of us wake up with an anxiety attack, that obviously you can't fend off because you're asleep when it comes on. I've woken up the last few nights from a vivid dream (not even a nightmare) and felt sweaty and my heart was racing. But it goes down again after a while.
I wouldn't bother with A&E if it always goes down on it's own. It's most likely just due to anxiety.

[Fishmanpa]

Sounds like a combination of a rather intense personal situation causing increased anxiety along with some White Coat Syndrome.

I wouldn't sweat it since it came back to normal.

Positive thoughts

[star68]

Thank you both for your replies, but can anxiety bring a heart rate past 100 bpm? When your heart rate goes up, how high does it go?

[Fishmanpa]

can anxiety bring a heart rate past 100 bpm

Climbing a flight of stairs, walking, sex etc. can bring your heart rate past 100bpm as can anxiety/adrenalin rush.

Positive thoughts

[Sparkling_Fairy]

When I have it from alcohol/too much food it's usually around 105.
But when I have it from anxiety, I don't even measure it. It's much higher than that anyway.

[NoraB]

Thank you both for your replies, but can anxiety bring a heart rate past 100 bpm? When your heart rate goes up, how high does it go?

Yes it can!

Mine went up to 140 odd in Feb when I was in A&E having a doozie of a panic attack.

[hanshan]

Among susceptible people, anxiety can bring on a heart rate well over 100 bpm. But also, similar heart rates can occur for no discernible reason.

If you have been diagnosed as having episodes of rapid heartbeat, but with no underlying physical illness, you should be relieved.

At the same time, you should understand that you have a propensity for it to re-occur. You need to have in place a plan of action to deal with it, when it inevitably happens.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Thank you both for your replies, but can anxiety bring a heart rate past 100 bpm? When your heart rate goes up, how high does it go?

When I was exercising on a cross country machine when I used to keep fit, I always went above 100. Always.

If you looked up your ideal cardio range for exercise, it will be above 100.

Your heart can handle that. They have been since man started doing anything other than sitting in his cave.

[Sparkling_Fairy]

When I was exercising on a cross country machine when I used to keep fit, I always went above 100. Always.

If you looked up your ideal cardio range for exercise, it will be above 100.

Your heart can handle that. They have been since man started doing anything other than sitting in his cave.

And just think: when people run a marathon, their heart rate is well above 100 for 4 or 5 hours at a time. All good.