For the past year and a half I’ve had issues with my heart suddenly going fast and staying that way until I sit down. I saw a cardiologist last year and been to the doctor several times about it, but as yet no cause has been found. I’ve been told to not exert myself too much until I see the cardiologist again which should be in December hopefully.
The things that are getting to me the most are feeling so exhausted all the time despite sleeping well. I’m a fairly active person but recently I’ve been really dizzy and weak after minimal exercise. In the mornings after I get up my heart rate is around 130-150, unless I sit down. A few weeks ago I had a busy weekend and the day after I felt so dizzy and weak, and when I did an ecg on my watch it came up with atrial fibrillation, although I checked with a doctor who save it wasn’t, but it had picked up a different abnormal rhythm. I have another ecg tomorrow at the gp and waiting for another monitor but I’m just so fed up feeling like this.
Last time I saw the cardiologist I did have abnormal rhythm but he said it wasn’t a big deal. I was also told it was maybe anxiety (although I can absolutely say I know the difference! I get sudden 140 bpm while cooking breakfast, which I’m certainly not anxious about !)
Not looking for any advice other than wanting to vent about it!
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I'll try not to give you advice but I do empathise with you! You do need to get this checked out properly.
I have a Kardia mobile which usually gives me the answer to my heart irregularities. I've had all that you describe and more. I recommend this piece of kit.
My grandson's fiance,who fainted twice in a gym exercising, was found to have POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), a defect in the autonomic nervous system that fails to stop your blood volume from dropping to the legs when you go from sitting to standing. The hallmark is a rise in heart rate of at least 30 beats per minute. Your GP would be aware of this possibility if you report your symptoms to him/her and will refer you to cardiology for testing.
Yes I’ve heard of POTS and a few people have suggested it to me. I’ve been referred to cardiology and waiting for an appointment to discuss. Hope your grandson’s fiancé is doing better with it now.
I don’t blame you for venting as it must be very concerning for you. I wouldn’t be happy with those numbers either so keep pushing to find out why. Only you know how you feel and can listen to your body, so don’t be fobbed off with its no big deal- it is to you. The trouble with heart rhythms is that they can be difficult to detect unless they happen whilst having an ecg. It was only sheer luck that l got diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. Best of luck.
I had an absolute panic this morning, I went for a routine ecg to send with my referral to cardiology, and the nurse who did it said there were quite a few abnormalities so I had to see a doctor. Ok I thought, that has happened before. I had a look at the ecg and the machine had said, possible left atrial enlargement and possible left ventricle hypertrophy. I’ve never had anything like that before so I started to worry. The doctor looked over it, said it was fine and the receptionist then said I could go home but come back immediately if I feel unwell at any point. And sent me on my way. How on earth would that make anyone feel? No explanation or anything.
I burst into tears when I got home but have since spoken to a doctor who said ecg machines aren’t always right. If the duty doctor took two minutes to explain that to me I wouldn’t be driving home thinking the worst!
OMG Poor you. What disgusting treatment? You did well not to lose it. I would have hit the roof. I have high anxiety so I would have needed a very good explanation. Like you I would have burst into tears, it makes me so angry with this lack of thought for the patient. I would not worry and wait until you see a proper professional who is a specialist in cardiology. I find my GP and the nurses absolutely useless when it comes to heart matters. The cardiologist is your best bet, so try and forget all this incompetence. I wouldn't bother with the GP. If I am ever worried I go to AE or phone 111. Have been loads of times as worrying makes everything worse. You will be ok. Take care.
Thank you! I ended up calling the cardiologist’s secretary for help - as I knew they had got the ecg sent to them directly, and she was so helpful and lovely, even though I was just about in tears. She passed on the message to the cardiologist who reviewed my ecg pretty much straight away and I got a call back from the secretary half an hour later to reassure me not to worry and they were disappointed with how the gp had treated me too. Still feeling a bit on edge but much better and relieved at having an answer, and so quickly too. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of this and get it under control. Thanks again for your support, really appreciate everyone taking the time to reply.
When you have your ECG at the surgery can you engineer a fast heart rate, say by having it taken while standing up? (The nurse or doctor will almost certainly object to this idea!)
If you are concerned about possible AF then when you next have a fast HR take your pulse at the wrist. If it is regular then it's unlikely to be AF, but if it is irregular it is likely (but not certain) to be AF.
A watch ECG is not the best way to diagnose AF as it is subject to many extraneous factors that can affect the readings.
I had the ecg this morning and that was such a good tip, the nurse was friendly so she did that for me and she was shocked at how much it raised, and my pr interval shortened too. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Your gp can ask for a holter monitor test you wear it for a few days (in your case a week would be good). The data collected by the holter is then analysed and a report produced. The report shows all occurrences of irregular heart rhythm and will show if you had atrial fibrillation for instance as well as periods of tachycardiaWhen you are wearing it you can input to the app on your mobile when you feel ill this gets correlated with the data collected by the monitor
It should enable the doctor to see if there is a real oroblem
I've just been referred for a holter by my GP for sudden rises in heart rate which last a few seconds to minutes. When I contacted the department i was told there's a 26 week wait for it.
What you say in your post about cooking breakfast gets your HR up to 140 is a match to me…making a cheese sauce on the stove sends my HR up and breathing like I have just done a four min.mile! I have had Long Covid for 4 1/2 years with rising BP/HR, put on 5 hypertensive drugs, but eventually fainting, and had a tilt test table test (TTT) and found to have form of dysautonomia, not POTS as blue moon mentioned above , but postural hypotension when BP dropped after 8 mins to 61/40. I had myself thought I had self diagnosed POTS with NASA lean test at home, but needed the sophistication of the TTT to spot the sudden BP change, that was driving the high HR. Look up websites: POTS Uk, Standing Up to Pots and Stopfainting.com…the latter isn’t just about fainting, is by a London cardio and is the most up to date. Pots Uk has a map of clinics that test for PoTS/ PH etc, but is rather out of date as of 4 nearest me only one was working…and she has just retired this last week. I had ecgs, echocardiogram, 24 hour BP monitor, chest X-rays, respiratory tests, test for sleep apnoea and nothing found until the TTT.
Hi, wow you've had long covid for a long time. It's been 6 months for me, so tired of feeling like this. Has yours remained the same or gradually shown any improvement?
Hi, sorry to hear you're having to deal with all those symptoms. Did you have covid before it all started?I've had trouble with BP going low and heart rate randomly going high ever since I had covid. I've been diagnosed with long covid now, which affects the autonomic nervous system. It also causes post exertional fatigue, so I get very tired after minimal exertion and fatigue can start hours after doing things and last for hours or days, like chronic fatigue syndrome. Also get overly sensitive to noise and lots of things make me dizzy or give me headaches.
All the standard tests come back ok though, because the problem is with the autonomic nervous system sending wrong messages to the heart/nerves/brain etc. Covid can also cause POTS, which can cause high heart rate while just standing up. Cardiologist said I didn't meet criteria for POTS, but I was already on beta blockers so since that's the treatment for POTS, there wasn't anything else that would help me with the fast HR. I can't increase my dose because my HR also goes very low, down to 40.
I hope you get all the tests you need and find out what's causing the problems.
I bet your Cardiologist would think it a big deal if they had a heart rate at 130-150bpm when doing nothing at all. Haven't you been prescribed any medication yet? I also have a Kardia Mobile device that has proved to be very useful because it can capture your symptoms as they are happening and you can print out the reports. This device was recommended to me by my Cardiologist while I was waiting to get a 3 day ECG Tape. I hope it gets sorted very soon. Look after yourself and take it easy in the meantime.
If you are hitting 140/150 bpm bypass GP and get ambulance or go to A and E.Short term meds may help but often a simple cardiov ersion will kick you back in rhythm.Ablation may be needed which would have to be scheduled in by Cardiologist.Any medical practioner letting you walk around withlout meds at those levels should be struck off.
You need to see a cardiologist or electrophysiologist. They should do a full cardiac workup including an Echocardiogram, which will reveal any LAA or LVH among many other measurements. Medication can be prescribed to get your heartrate down, reduce chance of stroke and keep you in NSR.
If you have to go to A&E and try and see staff cardiologist.
Thank you! Yeah it is an electrophysiologist I am waiting to see. I had an echocardiogram a year ago which was normal so hoping nothing much has changed since then, although I don’t know how long it takes to develop issues when you have a fast heart rate every day. I have propranolol to take when it stays really high but I think I will go back to take it more regularly, I had been told that I can just take it as and when needed
That's good your Echo was normal last year. A high heartrate for long periods of time can allow LAA and LVH to develop, but if it's treated it can reverse as well. Best to you and in the meantime I would keep your heartrate down with the propranolol under your Dr's advisement.
Well I'm glad you came here to vent, my ecg readings get disregarded too. Maybe alone its not bad, but you have life changing symptoms so assert that.
5 years it took me to get answers its been so hard. I have cardiac displacement, v3 and v4 lvh, sometimes to high sometimes to low.
I was a victim of cover up culture so I can really relate to the venting on here.
Hopefully December comes quick. Sorry to hear of your worry. Make sure you persistent with them. I was advised of a medication called Ivabradine to stabilise my heart. Maybe ask about those type of treatments. Keep pushing and take care
Wow 5 years! My problem is that I don’t want to make a fuss over nothing so I have ignored a few symptoms over the past year hoping it would just go away. I will persevere and hopefully get some answers at some point. Were you just dismissed over and over again?
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