Asthma & heart rate

[Gymbearo]

I’m not having much luck with my asthma lately. Having just had the second course of steroids in 2 months, it would seem that this exacerbation had also affected my heart, leading to an irregular heartbeat. I seem to recall a similar thing happening to me about 5 years ago, when I had a chest infection but it sorted itself out once I was better. Does anyone else have issues with heart rate/pulse when their breathing is bad, or have any similar experience, please?

[ReedB]

Hi, I find steriods (pred) can affect my heart rate especially when I start to taper the dose. Using more inhalers does the same. Alongside the body compensating for not breathing well or fighting an infection it's no wonder heart rates can change. Goes without saying to get anything out of the ordinary checked. Hopefully it's just the exasperation causing you issues x

[Chip_y2kuk]

My heart rate is always high and was before treatment, its actually still "high" but not as high now I'm being treated

I do also remember possibly something about prednisolone causing high hear rate (I may be wrong on that one)

[Patk1]

Yes,frequently.mention to gp whn u see thm nxt.does it resolve on its own? X

[Padders]

Yep, my heart rate goes up when I'm on prednisolone. Really freaked me out the first time as the doctor didn't tell me that it might! They also cause horrible heartburn for me. It has always returned to 'normal' but is deffo worth mentioning. Hope you feel better soon 😊

[Tallman55 in reply to Padders]

HiI have always had gastro resistant prednisolone due to gastro issues. Has totally stopped any problems

Regards

[Poobah]

When you say irregular heartbeat, do you mean a faster heart rate or irregular as in a mix of heart rates with missed beats? It's not unusual to have a faster heart rate while on Prednisolone and increased Ventolin, but if the rate is a mix with missed beats then you should see your doctor as this is something that needs checking.

Hope you feel better soon.

[Lysistrata Administrator Community Ambassador]

I agree with Poobah to get it checked out if it's irregular or you're not sure.

I also want to add. reinforcing what ReedB has said, that it's *not just medication that can increase your heart rate*. Asthma itself can do it! I don't respond to pred, haven't had it for ages, and still have an increased heart rate even before taking Ventolin. Actually, Ventolin can calm it down, which often surprises healthcare professionals. I feel like they get a lot of reinforcement that medications can increase heart rate, but not that working harder to breathe can do it.

A couple of months ago I went to my GP pharmacist for a routine medication review - only reason I didn't do it on the phone was that I hate waiting around all afternoon glued to my phone, and the GP surgery is down the road. Zero concerns from me, just box ticking. She took my pulse and it was high (124ish), I said don't worry it will settle, which it didn't. I then had some epic coughing fits and my asthma kicked off a little which surprised me as I'd felt ok. Pharmacist called GP, GP wasn't happy with heart rate and told me my lungs were a bit quiet (my party trick, I don't usually wheeze). She wasn't happy and neither was the senior GP so they sent me to A&E for them to look into it.

I wandered in and said my GP sent me, I didn't think my asthma was hospital level. They treated for asthma including Ventolin and Atrovent nebs and magnesium IV - heart rate was high the whole time and the coughing fits didn't help but the magnesium stopped the coughing and finally brought it down a bit. We agreed I could go home if I was careful as my asthma was better even though heart rate was still a bit high - but this always happens with me and asthma and can take a bit of time to settle down after an attack. (This wasn't even close to my first rodeo with asthma and hospital -I think if I hadn't been familiar with how my asthma plays out or if the magnesium hadn't helped so much they would have kept me in). I can't necessarily *feel* it when it's asthma either, so it surprises me - I can only feel it when I have a lot of nebs.