Pulse rate constantly fluctuating, resting around 100-125bpm

[Cublad0121]

So for a few weeks I've been having weird sensations in my Heart and Lung area, Kind of like a gassy, vibrating feeling and just thought this was one of the 20+ symptoms of anxiety that I've been getting....

I got brought a Fitbit by my parents last week for my birthday and noticed that my heart rate was really off....

It doesn't stay at a steady pace and jumps anywhere between 85-125bpm when I'm sat down and resting, it can jump between 1-10 beats ever second which is really scary

I showed my friend who is a Nurse and she said that's not normal, so I booked into see my GP the next day

The next day I was sitting at my desk at work and noted down my HR every 5 mins for the 8 hours I was there to show my gp. The difference was mad it was jumping about like crazy, he saw this and has requested for me to have a 24 HR test and sent me on my way

I've then started to notice when I'm walking around it can reach up to 140-150bpm and still the pulse rate fluctuates at a rapid rate

So it got worse this weekend when I stayed in away in a hotel


FRIDAY-
I checked in as normal, went up to my room was laying on the bed and it was doing its normal 100-125bpm jumping around I thought nothing of it, So I left the hotel to get some food... When I got back to my hotel the queue for the lift was too big so I began to walk up the stairs, I walked up 5 stairs tops and noticed my HR climb to 175bpm, This is where the panic kicked in so I walked out the lobby for some air and it was staying at around 150bpm... This is where I phoned an ambulance they came to get me half an hour later and saw that my pulse was way to high so they took me to the ER, I had an ECG at the hospital and because it was overcrowded I waited 6 hours without being seen so I left... Went back to my hotel room and it happened again Looked at my fit bit heart rate was 170-175BPM, Left for some air and called my parents, I managed to calm down then I tried it again using the lift both times so I wasn't exerting myself and yet again it did the same thing. I left the room again took my fit bit off and went up surprisingly because I wasn't checking my HR I felt ok. When I tried to sleep that night I had some burning kind of pain in the left side of my chest on and off and still could feel the fluttering / vibration in both sides of my chest.

Saturday-
Woke up after having about 3 hours sleep and got ready to go about my day, Was out and about walking all day clocked around 25,000 steps on the fit bit didn't look at the HR as I thought my anxiety was making it worse every time I looked, I had increasing chest pressure and the flutters both sides of my chest continued, I'd even had some pain in my right arm. I was at a festival in the town and just finished my dj set, Halfway through I started to feel a little flush and disoriented (I was sober at the time too) I pushed through finished my set and left the club area. I then started to walk to the medics tent as I was worried and half way there i looked at my hr again on the fit bit and it was 150 creeping up to 160bpm. They got me in the medics tent hooked me up to an ecg and pulse machine and they couldn't understand what was going on as it was so high then fluctuating so much... I explained what I'd been experiencing for the past week or so and they said I didn't look ill and my blood sugars etc were fine so they didn't take me to hospital and that I should wait for my 24 hour ECG.
At this point I left the festival early to go home and rest this is when the Pain in my chest got alot worse in the taxi home I thought I was having an actual heart attack not a panic attack it was horrific.
I got home explained to my parents whats been happening, then took a lorazepam to try to get some sleep.

Sunday-
Woke up with a bounding pulse in my head, chest pains and felt really un easy, Time to go the ER and wait this time not like Friday night....
Got there had my ECG and explained to a nurse what had been going on, had to wait about half an hour this time to be seen by a doctor who gave me some GERD medication to help with the pain and fluttering sensations I've been having and said that anxiety could be causing alot of this but to wait for my 24hr ecg.
The GERD medication hasn't done anything btw haha...

Symptoms throughout the past 2 weeks
- Fluctuating Pulse rate between 85-125 when resting
- Fluctuating Pulse rate when walking 140-160
- Panic attacks
- Chest pain, pressure, burning
- Lung vibrations (Gassy Feeling)
- Bloating
- dehydration
- Bounding pulse (Can really feel it in my head and other body parts that are touching something like the pillow or my desk at work)
- Neck, Back, Arm pain
- DR/DP

Anyone else experienced this I'm terrified that something really serious is going down

[Fishmanpa]

That's an incredibly detailed account of every niggle. To spend an entire day at work watching your fitbit isn't working TBH. Frankly, it sounds like this little gem of technology has taken over your life and is causing you incredible stress :( Why don't you ditch it for a while and see how you feel? Obviously, your doctor wasn't that concerned or he wouldn't have let you leave the office. The monitor is just CYA medicine. The symptoms you're describing at all anxiety symptoms and you are posting on an anxiety forum so....

Positive thoughts

[Cublad0121]

Yeah I ditched the Fitbit as of yesterday, I just used it that day at work to track my heart rate throughout the day to show my Doctor on the night

It's going on ebay later haha

I'll judge everything better once I've had my 24hr EKG

[ankietyjoe]

Did you check your pulse rate without the fitbit? Fitbit's are notorious for doubling the actual rate, depending on your skin type and other variables.

How often do you have 3 hours sleep? That alone will force you body to run on adrenaline all day, and I'm assuming you're a fan of energy drinks etc?

Anxiety can keep your heart rate well over 120bpm for hours, especially combined with lack of sleep and (probable) crap diet? I'm assuming your diet is poor because of the GERD, or that you're at least under or overeating at odd times being a DJ.

My guess is that this is lifestyle driven problems rather than any kind of heart issue.

[Cublad0121]

Hiya Joe

It was Just the Friday I had the 3 hours sleep

I don't drink any energy or sugar filled drinks

My GP and the Medics/Nurse tested the Fitbit along with there machines and they were pretty much bang on

I've not been diagnosed with GERD the doctor at the hospital just gave me some Gastro tablets because I told her I was having like tearing and burning pains in my chest

I've been having this internal vibrations and a bounding pulse for weeks before I got my fitbit so I don't know how long my heart rate has been fluctuating for

I keep getting these weird bubbling sensations in the right side of my head too so I'm just abit scared that its a circulatory problem, although I had a brain MRI around 3 weeks ago and that came back clear

[ankietyjoe]

The thing about the Fitbits is that they will 'often' show a double reading, it's very common (plenty of reports on Google). My phone HR monitor does it all the time too, so even if it matches a lot of the time, a lot of the time it won't. So you could be walking up the stairs, see an incorrect reading of 150-160bpm, and that could spike an anxiety reaction. As you've already pointed out you've ditched it now anyway, but there's no valid reason for even using them.

The other symptoms you describe are very common with anxiety so I wouldn't worry about those anyway.

So that leaves the GERD, you mention your parents a lot so let's assume you're young. In which case GERD is more unusual than in older farts like me, so what's your diet like? GERD alone can cause a lot of vagus nerve stimulation which can play havoc with your heart rate.

Looking back at your other posts, you say your anxiety started from a nightmare earlier on in the year. It's common for anxiety to start all of a sudden, but were you stressed at that point? Stress doesn't have to be apparent, it can be caused by chronic lack of sleep, too much work etc etc. I'm also one of those guys that believes anti depressants can cause as many problems as they solve, something you've experienced a bit I see?

[Cublad0121]

My diet isn't the best I must admit, I'm working on that now along with quitting smoking

I'm 25

All my symptoms got worse when I had that bad time with Citalopram, the only thing I take now is 1mg of Lorazepam for sleep due to my bounding pulse not letting me get to sleep

I'm sleeping alot more now and I've been put on a cpap machine which has been helping loads too

but I still have a vast amount of physical symptoms and the heart and lung ones seem to be getting worse, (Burning Pains, Pulse issues, Vibrations and tremors)

I Just keep thinking my hearts just gonna give up the ghost soon

thank you for responding as well Joe appreciate it

[ankietyjoe]

My diet isn't the best I must admit, I'm working on that now along with quitting smoking

I'm 25

All my symptoms got worse when I had that bad time with Citalopram, the only thing I take now is 1mg of Lorazepam for sleep due to my bounding pulse not letting me get to sleep

I'm sleeping alot more now and I've been put on a cpap machine which has been helping loads too

but I still have a vast amount of physical symptoms and the heart and lung ones seem to be getting worse, (Burning Pains, Pulse issues, Vibrations and tremors)

I Just keep thinking my hearts just gonna give up the ghost soon

thank you for responding as well Joe appreciate it

Ok so diet and smoking alone are stressors, diet especially can cause all sorts of issues. Out of interest, do you smoke weed too?

Also, why are you on a CPAP machine? Are you overweight?

Quite honestly, it sounds to me like you're just massively run down.

I wouldn't worry about your heart right now tbh. It can run fast for months with no ill effect. The only thing you should worry about is an underlying heart condition, but it's also highly, highly unlikely at your age, and you'd probably be feeling a lot worse than you are now.

[Cublad0121]

I got diagnosed with SA a couple of months ago hence the cpap, Slightly overweight but I got put in for the test because of the nocturnal panic attacks

I quit smoking weed last October, Don't touch any other drugs and drink probably once or twice a month

My overall anxiety is alot better than the start of the year, I don't have as many ocd thoughts anymore

I've just been thinking about all these sensations I've been feeling alot which is probably fueling them, my only problem is I don't get any breaks or windows from them unless I'm asleep they seem to be a 24/7 kind of thing

I'm still on the waiting list for cbt and my body doesn't like SSRI's so they are out the window, the doctor did give me some amitriptyline the other day to use instead of the lorazpem for sleep 10mg doseage tried it for a couple of nights but it seemed to bring on the panic attacks again

[ankietyjoe]

I used to smoke weed 25 years ago, and then tried it again 10 years ago. It's a LOT stronger these days and is a big trigger for mental health problems so it's good that you've stopped. Poor diet and smoking are really quite bad for you as well, and all these things can add up to become a problem that's greater than the sum of it's parts (make sense?).

The trick with anxiety isn't actually the eradication of symptoms, but rather the acceptance of them. If you're constantly trying to avoid symptoms then you're really just fuelling the fire, effectively creating a feedback loop of fear/response. One of the downsides of going to a GP is that they are trained to treat symptoms, often not dealing with the root cause.

So the sensations, I would suggest starting the practice of sitting with them. This is what you will be learning in CBT, so why not start now? You can also sort your diet and smoking out too. Both hard, but both within your control.

The recovery from an anxiety/panic disorder is more holistic than targeted. It's most often caused by a culmination of multiple factors, not just one thing.