Heart rate extremely high due to anxiety

[Ann_25]

Am I the only one who has an extremely high heart rate due to anxiety? My heart rate got up to 160 on my heart monitor but they say my heart is healthy... that’s no normal. Any advice? Anyone have the same symptom?

[Calm_mama]

It's normal under the circumstances (you have a whoosh of high anxiety which causes high heart rate amongst other things), you add more fear because it's natural to do so when you don't understand how anxiety works, you become obsessed with the number and what it means so you add more fear- more fear makes the heart rate go up/sustains it at a high rate.

Been there!

Let's look at it another way:

My heart rate goes up to190 when I go running. That's good for the heart. I used to run long distance and my heart rate would stay high for hours. Like 4-5 hours. The heart is a big muscle that needs exercise. You can think of this as free exercise for your heart.

If the doc told you that it's all anxiety, start working on accepting that. The cycle I just described above is very, very common

Do your best to stop checking your heart rate. I know it's hard but it will help you. Do your best to not give in when anxiety kicks and screams at you to check. Checking makes anxiety even more awake/on the alert.

Do you have a therapist? A therapist can help so much with this...

[Ann_25 in reply to Calm_mama]

Thank u so much for your response! I’ve been told that several times that it is just my anxiety. It’s just really hard to except especially when I feel like my heart is about to jump out my body. I do have a counselor but am hoping to find a new and better fit. I was also prescribed Zoloft but am very nervous taking medication so I haven’t started it yet

[Calm_mama in reply to Ann_25]

Listen to this multiple times

youtube.com/watch?v=REOdAWC...(Not working as expected?)

[Knowone]

I completely understand... when My heart rate goes up, the FEAR of anxiety flaring up is associated with it. Its all in our heads... the longer we feed into our fears from within our anxiety the easier it is for it to get out of hand. I haven't had my heart racing for a while now, but that's because I reached out for help, and the Zoloft, helps a lot with the heart rate climbing leading to hyperventilating hang in there it's all part of the anxiety, are you currently taking any meds? what are you on if so?

[Knowone in reply to Knowone]

I just read your above reply, START taking Zoloft immediately starting tomorrow. Trust me... and a lot of people on here will agree. It does help, it also may not work right away give it a week to run its course, focus on the task at hand, and don't worry about your heart rate or it ill always go up with your anxiety...

[Ann_25 in reply to Knowone]

Thank u so much! The heart rate just makes me so nervous And I’m just very nervous taking medicine I use to take Cymbalta which was terrible. I had such bad side effects. Do u know how hard it is to stop Zoloft when and if the time comes?

[Knowone in reply to Ann_25]

this is only my 3rd day, and today I wasn't all that great even though the first two where so peaceful and calm. dependency and withdraws begin to take form at around 4 months from what my doctor told me, and research online says the same thing.. try it out for a couple weeks, It'll help, You wont alwas require medication.. My increasing heart rate really scared me at first too I thought I was dying I thought I had pancreatic cancer, I thought my colon was messed up and I was associating weird GI issues and my heart rate with my anxiety so now I kind of understand why I was scared, I admitted my self to a hospital because of the immense fear.

[Ann_25 in reply to Knowone]

I have felt the same thing. My heart rate is always the first thing to flare up when I’m having anxiety it’s getting so annoying. I also have ptsd from past trauma so I’m literally scared by the littlest things. I just read about Zoloft and saw people saying a lot about brain fog or increasing anxiety in the beginning and honestly I don’t think I could take that rn yk?