Tachycardia sometimes for more than an hour after a simple 10 minute walk.

[ndav63]

I have this on going problem of my heart rate remaining high, sometimes beating at 135 bpm, over an hour after I’ve sat down and resting at home. I have just been started on Bioprolol by my Cardiologist but still don’t understand the cause of this. Has anyone else got or had this problem and do you know what causes it?

[ILowe]

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. In the days when I was not taking heart rate.rhythm medicines, I would sometimes get that. Correct me if I am wrong. Before you started taking bisoprolol. You are basically saying that your heart rate stays at 135 for an hour or more after exercise. In other words, it gets stuck in exercise mode.

There are several types of tachycardia, and more than one way of classifying them. When I looked, as a patient, I was not happy with any of them. I was basically experiencing three types (my classification):

1/the sudden onset sudden stop type

2/ other variants

3/ the rate will not go down after exercise.

I think I know why it is happening with type 3. The clue came when I learned that the sympathetic (fight/flight) and the parasympathetic(rest) system are NOT opposite. It simply is not true what I had been taught at school that when one goes up the other goes down. What is actually happening is that when one system increases the other must also increase, in parallel, to balance out. Thus when one decreases the other must also decrease.

So, when your HR gets 'stuck' at 135 it means that the sympathetic system has still not piped down. In my younger days I would just ride it out, sleep it off. Later, with experience of unstoppable tachycardia I could not take the risk. So I would take some bisoprolol, which is quick acting, within an hour. I would take it as PIP, ie as needed. I would not take bisoprolol regularly.

But, now, having been put on daily bisoprolol + flecainide, as prophylaxis against tachycardia (all types) and AF, I must say I have rarely experienced getting stuck. If I did, I would take a one off supplement of bisoprolol.

I hope that helps.

[ndav63 in reply to ILowe]

Yes! Thank you, it kind of helps but just still wondering why it happens now and didn’t before. It’s horrible when it happens as my heart thumps so fast and hard, it makes the whole of my upper body move.

[ILowe in reply to ndav63]

Good question! Sometimes you can find a reason, perhaps psychological, perhaps physical, perhaps your body is telling you something. I suggest you keep a small diary, so that you can build up a picture. It is so easy to forget important details.

Meantime, learn coping strategies. There are people who have been stressed out just looking for reasons. Ask a few questions on this forum. Confidence you can cope in itself will decrease the problem.

Cover the obvious bases: dehydration, too much sugar. My physiotherapist when recovering from heart surgery taught me to have five minutes of slowly slowing down after exercise instead of suddenly stopping.

I know how frightening a thumping heart can be. It has happened to me several times that it lasted more than a week. If the cardiologist says the heart is basically sound, then this is not dangerous.

[ndav63 in reply to ILowe]

Thank you