High heart rate again, but for some 16 hours now, can't sleep

[natswright]

Literally, if I move, my heart races. Feeling anxious, fatigued.

Never lasted this long, struggle to get any sleep

Is this normal for covid recovery, or do I need medical help

[natswright]

Keeps jumping to 130 when I sit up and move. Could I have Pots?

[Patk1]

Try to reax,deep slow breathing.anxiety will increase heart rate

[natswright in reply to Patk1]

Managed more sleep, but I'm also going to the toilet for a wee lots, every few hours, which is odd

[sassy59]

Definitely seek medical help natswright. Good idea to get checked I feel. Let us know how you get on. Xxxx😘

[natswright in reply to sassy59]

It's 6am, doctors opens in 2.5 hours. Feel constantly anxious, flight or fight adrenaline. Even when heart rate low. Managed a few hours sleep. Don't want to call ambulance as don't want to be back in hospital.

I suspect this is some prelonged panic attack, or POTS maybe?

[knitter in reply to natswright]

111 for advice? I can understand that you are worried about a hospital admission , but try 111. Just to speak to someone .

Best wishes .

[natswright in reply to knitter]

The wait is over an hour. Thankfully I feel a little better now, my friend, who is a retired nurse is coming over soon. They specialised in anxiety!!

I think I know what triggered the attacks, and have managed to sit up and keep heart rate low. Playing an audio book too.

I was worried about...

1 would my heart slow down

2 lack of sleep causing fatigue, but then I managed in hospital, where I didn't sleep much

3 a delivery that's coming today

4 my parents are visiting and I'm worried about my mams dementia

5 getting up for toilet will increase heart rate.

6. Above all, panic attacks are scary, but should not harm me.

I feel sharing a list helps! Sure I can catch up on sleep.

Will hopefully speak to GP about panic disorder, although they are not keen to prescribe meds

Just wanted to acknowledge the worries I have, panic has passed, heart rate down to 85 to 90

[knitter in reply to natswright]

I am glad panic is passed .Everything seems worse at night , I look forward to the dawn .

I wake early every day, worse since the clocks went back, and then anxiety can kick in .

I listen to you tube gentle music , Weightless by Marconi Union …,,with the feather photo……I find the best . It’s been found to reduce anxiety . Other slow music….60 beats to the minute is good.

Gentle nose breathing , meditation too, using gentle breath.But I learnt meditation with a tutor at first , sometimes it can be worrying for some.

Even worrying thoughts can increase breath rate and heart rate.

I can sympathise ,difficulties can pile up. My mother had dementia , hard to deal with .

I also have a delivery due sometime today …..panicked more than usual in the shower in case I missed it.

The BLF website has some good tips on dealing with breathlessness and anxiety . There is another Helpline and website called No panic on line .

Best wishes.

[natswright in reply to knitter]

Thanks, issue I get is my sinus get congested at night! So nose breathing can be tough. Its the blood thinners and ironically the anxiety lol. Getting nasal spray to help

[Tykelady in reply to natswright]

Panic is an additional curse to this illness. It's a vicious circle and I discussed this with my respiratory nurse last week. I had taken my blue inhaler and immediately felt worse. Was surprised to hear that salbutamol can actually increase anxiety which it had with me. She told me to practice breathing exercises daily but at the time that's the last thing you think about. I worry about calling an ambulance in case it's a false alarm. Good luck.

[strongmouse in reply to natswright]

Great that you can recognise what is contributing to your anxiety and seek help from others. Definitely speak to a medical person, but I am sure your nursing friend will be able to reassure you and suggest what you can do to help yourself and whether you need to speak to a doctor or not.

It is pretty grotty feeling bunged up. Covid seems to like the nose for some reason! (I had it back in July). I find it helpful to check my oxygen levels with an oximeter. They don't cost a lot online and work by placing them on a finger. When I am feeling that I am barely breathing, seeing the oximeter showing figures in the high 90s is very reassuring!

Hope you are feeling better today. xx

[Patk1]

May be worth speaking to nurse on helpline hereRead up on " controlled breathing" - its really useful to slow down breathing + calm anxiety xxx

[natswright in reply to Patk1]

I find distraction works better for me, listening to an audio book, although I do my breathing exercises.

It dawned on me that it was a "faulty" fight or flight response, when I could feel the adrenalin, but heart rate was only about 85

Its morning now, daylight and I feel a lot better, despite little sleep

[natswright]

I've also been looking up folks in my position, and I may have PTSD, causing random fight or flight anxiety attacks as my body incorrectly senses danger.

I need to learn to deal with this, for instance, I can move when the attacks happen now, I can distract myself with an audio book.

Lots of support today, so will look to ways of dealing with this

[MusicalBreath]

Please hook into the long Covid support groups I linked you to. Wishing you a restful day.

[Alberta56]

You do need to speak to someone. This is too much for anyone to deal with alone. It's tough to admit one can't manage alone, but don't worry about that. Eventually you'll be the one who can dish out advice. I wouldn't worry too much either about lack of sleep. People can manage without much if they have to. (Eg. in the war, or when they have an essay to write (( me at uni )) or my brother doing a 'ghoster' as they called it- an all night shift to test an aero engine,) xxx

[natswright]

Thanks, still feeling ok, and have been for a few hours now, daylight helps, friends coming helps as does my parents in the afternoon

[Troilus]

Hi Nats.Reading your post took me back some. I used to lie in bed feeling extremely anxious and not know why. I think I might have felt even more anxious because I didn’t know why I was anxious! I would go through anything that I might be feeling anxious about to see if the anxiety got worse. I remember going through the list and thinking, no it’s not that, maybe it’s………and so on.

You are right that the flight or fight/rest and digest system (autonomous nervous system) plays a part in chronic fatigue, so I assume it is the same with long covid. As does orthostatic intolerance. ( Experiencing oddities when standing)

I took part in a study run by Julia Newton which confirmed this, but provided no answers - very typical of studies into cfs/me. 😁

I think that the label “long covid” is perhaps unhelpful. In normal times periods of chronic fatigue after an illness was labelled pvfs- post viral fatigue syndrome- probably still is in non covid infection. Much less scary. I had a few outings with pvfs before I eventually keeled over with cfs/me. Much less scary. PVFS - I’ve been ill, need a bit of time to get over it. A much better label, but just my opinion.

PVFS typically lasted about 6 weeks for me before I got up and running. Anything less than 3 months is typically labelled as PVFS. Hopefully you will fall into this category.

As far as not sleeping goes, have you tried a relaxation app?

You know the kind of thing - put your hand on your stomach, breath deeply, feel your stomach go in and out, concentrate on your breathing while you relax the muscles in your neck, we are going to work down your body now, relaxing the muscles as we go …….imagine you are lying on a beach etc

I thought it was a waste of time until I found I had fallen asleep in my OT’s consulting room. Might work for you.

Sorry about the long post much of it irrelevant I’m sure, but I hope there are a few useful bits.

[peege]

This may help....

Please keep and pass on . P

[natswright in reply to peege]

Thanks for this! Have learned several ways to coap today.

[Damon1864 Volunteer]

Please seek medical to advice at least that way it will help put your mind at rest. Please let us know how you are getting on, have a good day and take care 😊 Bernadette and Jack 🐕 xxxxxx

[natswright in reply to Damon1864]

Updated my GP, but won't hear straight back. Been better today. Seems it's mostly anxiety, my friend came round, they are a retired nurse! Specialising in anxiety and depression.

[Blue58]

Hi my relative suffers from long covid. Not much help from the medical field I'm afraid but she has found a long covid support group on Facebook with members from all over the world which has helped her tremendously. May be worth looking at. She tells me that being able to connect with others in that way is the only thing that has helped her with anxiety.

[Whitechinchilla]

Hi NatI hope you are feeling much better today.

Because of all the issues you have had to deal with emanating from COVID I didn’t want to ‘introduce’ another strand on palpitations to your post.

So I have sent you a private message with a few tips and maybe one will help you.

Best wishes, take one day at a time and look after yourself as you would your best friend if she was in your position.

Jill

[natswright]

Thanks, i'm feeling better today after 8 hours sleep!!