I’m an 18 year old female, weighing about 110 lbs (7.86 st) at 5’5. My resting heart rate is really good. Around 65 bpm. I’ve recently been extremely concerned with my heart health, as brisk walking will shoot my heart rate up to 140, and running up to 203. I’ve been living a sedentary lifestyle recently, and I’m wondering if that’s a factor. I also suffer from panic disorder and hypochondria, where during an attack my heart will go up to 160 bpm.
About a year ago, I went to the cardiologist with concerns of shortness of breath and heart palpitations. I got two EKGs, both came back normal. She saw my anxiety, and gave me a 30 day holter monitor to ease my mind. This monitor had someone watching my EKG at all times, and it was normal. I ran 15 minutes everyday on it (it was start and stop, as I was too out of shape to consistently run). I also had a chest x-ray around that time. I recently have had an EKG and blood work done, maybe two weeks ago. Also normal. My blood pressure normally is about 115/65, and during an anxiety attack it can go up to 135/85. Should I be worried enough to get an echocardiogram?
I’m not sure what causes my extreme shortness of breath, high heart rate, and dizziness during exercise, but I think it may be exercise induced panic attacks; which is not talked about often. I just don’t want to take up doctors’ valuable time and limited resources. However, I do feel as though I should be better safe than sorry. I’ve heard multiple times in sports such as soccer, football, and basketball that players die of sudden cardiac arrest, or heart attack, and it freaks me out. I don’t want that to happen to me. Any advice?
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likachika
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You’ve just helped me, maybe I can share some info also..
I deal with anxiety/panic for almost 6 years already and, for me at least, heart related symptoms are the main cause for my alert situation on pre-attacks and during attacks as well.
Every year, as I’m little bit more active than you, run 3x a week, I schedule cardio exams just to follow up and everything backs normal. So trust me, it’s always our nervous system trying to mess with us.
You too had good results on cardio tests so, the only way to fell better is realize that everything is fine and this heartbeats will not harm you. After minutes of peak, everything backs to normal again!
Thank you for your input! I’m very similar, a fast heart rate and dizziness is the first thing I’m alert about. I seem to always pay attention to that as well, probably causing an increase in heart rate, haha!
That’s true as well, as long as I’m not panicking, my heart rate goes back to normal within 10 minutes. With a panic attack, my heart can stay over 100 for hours. It’s awful and I’m always convinced I’m going to die. But when the panic subsides, so does my heart rate.
One of the messages I received during cardio rehab classes (that's the post operative training programme for people who've had heart attacks, stents, by-pass operations, etc) is that you must take the time to thoroughly warm-up before exercising. That normally means ten to fifteen minutes during which you want to get your pulse up above about 80bpm and warm up all the muscle groups (including your heart) that will be involved in your work out.
One benefit is to fully dilate all the arteries before the serious exercise begins. if you don't do this you'll get erratic pulse and blood pressure readings, which may be what you're seeing.
Also, take the time to properly cool down, which will normally take five to ten minutes. If you don't your blood can pool below your waist and leave you liable to faint or feel dizzy.
Thank you for sharing your experience! I definitely did not know that. My heart rate goes above 80 bpm just standing, haha! But I will incorporate a good stretching routine and slow walking before I start my runs.
Check out the POTS UK website. Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome is when your heart rate is elevated when you are upright. If you think the symptoms fit, ask your cardiologist about doing a tilt table test to rule it out/diagnose. Inappropriate sinus tachycardia is similar. I have both but am on beta blockers which help enormously xXx
Thank you for your input! I was on a 30 day Holter Monitor, and never got diagnosed with Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia or POTS, both of which I assume could be diagnosed with an EKG over a 30 days span. Tachycardia is a resting heart rate of over 100 BPM, right? My resting when I haven’t moved for a duration of time is 65, but it can go up to the 80s if I move too much, and to the 90s or 100s when I stand. I have a high heart rate range (55-203), so I don’t know if that has anything to do with my symptoms.
There are some really good comments in this thread that I won't repeat. The only thing I can add is that your heart rate when exercising isn't that bad when you use the Karvonen method (runandbeyond.com/calculator.... Using your data (age 18 which is then taken from 200 to give your maximum HR) and your resting HR of 65, a HR of 140 for a brisk walk is fine. You could probably get this down (and the HR when you're running) with an exercise programme.
As a regular runner we use the formula of 220 - age (eg mine is 54) to give a maximum HR. Mine has only touched 170 after a long hill climb but it shows the formula works. I shouldn't push too much as I've had a quad bypass. Yours should be 220 - 18 to give you a 202 maximum HR. As your fitness improves you will find that your HR will tend to stay lower. I would suggest joining a couch to 5k running group as you will be among like minded people all trying to build their fitness if your doctor gives you the all clear.
I hope all goes well and you loose some of your anxieties.
I too was fit and active and then got shortness of breath. I went to my GP and she said "gastro, cardio or pneumo !" An endoscope showed I had a colon tumor described as pre-cancerous. The colon surgeon said check his heart before I operate. A CAT scan returned a calcium score of 1829. I then had a triple bypass and three months later had the tumour removed. Did you have other tradesmen checking for faults before or after the cardioman ?
Thank you for sharing your story. However, I’m 18 and colon cancer is extremely unlikely for someone my age. They typically start screening with endoscopes at 40. I’m not even half way there, haha!
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