Racing heartbeat

[flyingfeline2]

Hello, anyone else suffer from a racing heartbeat that currently marked down in medical circles as `anxiety'. Nothing particularly come up on tests except an occasional ectopic heartbeat. Have tried betablockers but they slow me down and give me terrible muscle ache. Do Mindfulness, physical exercise, eat well. Any suggestions, tips etc?

[Gazza01]

Hi. It's a tricky one with palpitations and ectopic beats. It's impossible not to worry about them when they start and over the next 48 hours you are inwardly focusing. Some people rush around all day as sitting still makes you more aware of them. I get them sometimes and yes it is anxiety driven. You get out of sync beats it worries you which releases adrenaline. The adrenaline makes you feel anxious and a bit hyper. Which keeps the ectopic beats going and so on. Only when you get to the point of realising you won't die or have a heart attack, and get less scared ( which stops the adrenaline and so on) do they go away. Personally mine last about three to four days. Day one and two I'm worrying and getting caught up in it. I then start to do relaxation and exercise ( exercise burns off adrenaline) day three I notice it's not there all day long and is starting to go back to normal. Day four it calms down. But subconsciously I'm still aware of my heart beat , but trying not to be. It's a real mind game.

I'm a stress head and a worrier so will always get this stuff. Exercise really is the best way forward if you suffer from stress. Plus some relaxation too.

Good luck. And as my aging GP once said to me when I presented this to him. My dear chap, you just need to "chill out man!"

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Gazza01]

All sound. Similar to me. The betablocker just takes all my strength away. But at the mo, even on a half every other day, the palpitations wind themselves up after three or four days. Bit of a bore really 'cause there's no real cause. But I can feel the adrenaline rushing around my body all the time. I do exercise. I do do relaxation and breathing. Just have to try a bit harder. Thanks.

[Gazza01 in reply to flyingfeline2]

Get away from beta blockers. They are not a user friendly drug at all. Just fluctuating the dose on those by a tiny amount can give you all sorts of issues including breathing and panic. Get off them and find another way through. Coming off many people find after a month they start to get heart racing. I know several people including myself who had to use jewellery scales to come off beta blocker by a tiny bit at a time in order to get off without it playing havoc with heart lungs and anxiety. They are commonly known as the Devils drug.

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Gazza01]

Hard, isn't it! GPs prescribe them. I've been told by a dear pal who is a health journalist working with pathologists in Oz that they're safe as houses. But they do make my limbs feel so weak, hopeless for getting on with life. Worse bit really is the racing heartbeat on waking every morning and the kinda fluttering I get in my chest which is really just generalised anxiety based on nothing in particular!

[Gowers in reply to flyingfeline2]

My cardiologist said the racing heart on waking is adrenaline rush. I had to google it as not heard of it before

[Gowers in reply to Gowers]

Should have said early morning adrenaline rush

[Prada47 in reply to Gazza01]

Sorry Gazza you couldn't be more wrong about beta blockers they are life savers O K they may have side effects for some people but hundreds of thousands of people rely on them to keep a stable strong heart beat.

regards

[Gazza01 in reply to Prada47]

The person has no heart defects. Putting someone on beta blockers for what they consider stress is bloody criminal. That's like someone having a cold and giving them a razor blade to wipe thier nose with. Try coming off them and then you see what anxiety and a racing heart is. I hate them. I was left on them after valve replacement. All the dizzy feeling when you stand up. And unable to exercise fully. They would have left me like that forever had I not fought to get off them. I understand if there is no choice then fine. But not for panic and anxiety for gods sake. Awful.

[Fazerboy]

Hi,

I've got SVT so my heart used to race at times. It would suddenly jump from say 80 bpm to 160 or so. One trigger was adrenaline, as in if I got a surprise or a shock etc my adrenaline would spike and then my hr would jump. Anyway it got more and more frequent and I'm waiting for an ablation. In the meantime though I'm on betablockers. I'm on Bisoprolol 1.25 mg a day. No problems at all. They stop my hr from racing. It generally stays now from about 40 up to 100 (I have a very low resting hr).

Anyway the main point being that I have no problems being on a betablocker (I haven't tried stopping yet though but I'm on a very low dose).

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Fazerboy]

Yes, I'm on the same which I've cut to a half, every other day. Maybe the weakness in my limbs and heaviness is just personal to me then! I had polymyalgia a few years ago and maybe that left a weakness. Also I'm 76 so that may have something to do with it though I keep as fit as I can with walking and swimming.

[Fazerboy in reply to flyingfeline2]

Are you on half a 1.25mg tablet every other day then? If so I'm surprised that it has any affect at all. I tried one 1.25 mg tablet every other day for a few days but my hr would go up after about 36 hours so I definitely need one a day. I've actually had a couple of days where the first one hasn't kept my hr low so I've taken a second one at about 10.00 am. I'm 63 and reasonably fit. I used to cycle a lot but that is more difficult on betablockers because they won't let my heart beat fast enough to give my muscles the oxygen that they need.

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Fazerboy]

Exactly. I find my limbs so heavy and leg muscles especially, very weak. Maybe I'm not taking enough!!!

[Fazerboy in reply to flyingfeline2]

No. taking betablockers slows your heart rate so when your muscles need oxygen your heart usually beats faster to get the oxygen in the blood to the muscles. The betablockers don't allow your hr to go up so you feel more tired than usual.

My point really was that if you can manage on such a low dose, what are you taking them for? I take them to stop my heart from racing too high. I'm not sure why you need them. I'm not being critical, just asking.

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Fazerboy]

Precisely to stop my heart from racing so much. I cut back because I was getting such muscle ache and body heaviness. On the one hand it slows my racing heartbeat but body slowed so much and such ache I can't stand it!

[flyingfeline2 in reply to flyingfeline2]

Thanks for asking!

[Fazerboy in reply to flyingfeline2]

I'm not medically trained in any way but it sounds as if you need to go back to your GP or Cardiologist, maybe you need to try a different betablocker.

One thought, is the tiredness definitely linked to the betablocker or is it something to "blame"?

Is the plan that you stay on betablockers permanently. I ask because I'm waiting for an ablation. I'm hoping when I've had that then I can come off the betablockers (fingers crossed).

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Fazerboy]

thanks. have been back to GP who says basically no more suggestions. Have tried other betablockers. Could try small anti-anxiety pill. Am now trying some anti-anxiety classes although I do Mindfulness, know about relaxation, breathing etc etc. So not quite sure what else they can tell me. I used to love t'ai chi until my balance went a bit askew. Thanks for all your various comments. Very useful hearing what other people have been experiencing and trying out! Thanks.

[Fazerboy in reply to flyingfeline2]

Sounds odd that the GP says "no more suggestions". When you say your heart races, do you know what your pulse rate is when it is racing? If it isn't too high it might be that you don't need betablockers but just need to relax more etc. Difficult I know because if you are tense thinking it may race then this will tend to start it racing. I end up really out of breath when my heart rate goes up to say 160 (it jumps straight to 160, I'm not talking about getting to 160 when exercising hard). I have a garmin hr monitor and strap that I use for cycling so I can measure my hr quite accurately. For info, I have a fitbit but that doesn't record high hr properly. It is ok on standard steady hr but anything like svt etc and it doesn't pick it up whereas my garmin does.

[flyingfeline2 in reply to Fazerboy]

Very interesting. No, don't have fitbit or the hr monitor. Extra adrenalin seems to be the thing coursing round my body for reasons unknown. I've just been for a craniosacral treatment. Very, very remarkable. I have one more to go. It released a lot of emotional backlog. So we'll see if in the longterm it has an effect. Thanks for your thoughts. Really useful. Wishing you well.

[Fazerboy in reply to flyingfeline2]

Thanks. I hope you get things sorted.

[Gazza01 in reply to Fazerboy]

You need to get some 000.0 jewellery scales and come off little by little over several months, not weeks. in order for your heart rate not to go back up. There is plenty on here about coming off. Taking one here and there or splitting tablets by eye won't do it. Trust me I've been there along with many others.

[Fazerboy in reply to Gazza01]

Noted.

In my case though my hr goes up because I have SVT (AVNRT). This means the elec circuit short circuits. The betablocker stops this. When my ablation stops this short circuit loop I shouldn’t need the betablocker at all.

I’ll keep your comment in mind though.

[Prada47 in reply to Gazza01]

Please stop posting incorrect advice and fake information, you should come off beta blockers on Drs advice only and ONLY Drs advice. and by the way I have been on beta blockers for at least the last 5 years and gone up from 2,5 to 5 to 7.5 and then 10 mg maximum recommended dose as indicated by NICE. I have also been reduced down from 10mg to 7.5mg with no effect. I would be interested in what medical qualification you have to offer advice on what is after all a very widely prescribed medicine across the World.

[Gowers in reply to flyingfeline2]

I felt exactly the same on Bisoporal