Hello. For the past 5 years ( post chest infection during chemo for breast cancer) my heart rate spikes to around 125 on simply ‘moving around the house’ and can take 15 minutes to return to 70 something.
Drs are baffled. All test come out ok.
Would a pacemaker be the answer I wonder.
Is it only the fast heart rate?Or do you also get palpitations or similar?
With the caveat that I’m not medically qualified. My understanding is that pacemakers are helpful for slow rates, not fast. You don’t say how old you are, but my experience is also that 125bpm wouldn’t generally be considered high or overly worrisome as long as it’s a regular rhythm.
Has anyone mentioned IST to you? Inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST) is a poorly understood but generally benign condition whereby the heart rate increases disproportionately to the activity being undertaken, or sometimes for no discernible reason at all. To get a diagnosis in the UK, you usually have to have an average daily hr above 100bpm, although elsewhere in the world, they do recognise that a patient with an average heart rate below this but consistent spikes also has it. My resting heart rate is 50-60bpm, but just talking bumps it 20 to 30 bpm. So does scratching my head. Getting up and walking across the room I hit 120+, and exceed my maximum safe heart rate by age when exercising to hit 180bpm. However, unlike what you’re reporting, the minute I stop moving, it drops back to resting within a minute or two, sometimes in less than 30 seconds. I’m 38, and do have a mild underlying arrhythmia that causes very high heart rate (200+) when it occurs, so take daily medication that supposedly reduces heart rate. I’ve been told by medics that to get above 180 exercising should be next to impossible, particularly as I’m fit and can hold a conversation when it’s happening. Cardiology aren’t interested because my average rate is below 100bpm, but that’s in part because I drop into the 30s and 40s when sleeping on top of a low resting heart rate, so I’m saving to be seen privately. The family cardiac history is absolutely horrendous.
The usual treatment for IST, or elevated heart rate generally, is beta blockers in the first instance. It might be worth asking about the possibility of trying a low dose of a beta if no one’s suggested that to you already?
I’m the same. My diagnosis of heart failure was attributed to the breast cancer treatment I received. My heart rate now regularly goes up into 130s and 140s for no apparent reason, certainly on no exertion. It also drops down to low 40s every day (& night) so my average daily heart rate tends to be in the 60s. Nobody in the cardiology unit seemed interested when I told them about this big variation of rates, in fact I have now been effectively discharged and told I’m on the optimum medication so won’t be seen again unless my condition worsens. I also have regular chest palpitations but they tend to be when my heart rate is low. Have you had any symptoms?I’m on Ramipril, Carvedilol and Spironolactone.
Hi Omi, I would check for POTS too. Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. It increases heart rate upon standing and can happen after an infection. My partner suffers with POTS after COVID - Hope you are well
Anxiety around heart 
Annoyingly high heart rate
Max heart rate when exercising 
Bisopropolol and heart rate below 50
Heart rate maybe too low?
