Heart Rate

[m123]

For the past 3 days, I have had a permanent heart rate on average of 103 beats per minute including palpations and skipped beats. I have been for an ECG and they say it is normal... how is it normal? I am not anxious about it at times and its still doing it. In bed, when I wake up... all day. Its really scaring me because I don't want my heart to give out :( I am only 25... Can anxiety be with me subconciously?? How can the doctor say that its fine? I have been told my blood pressure is high too! Are doctors just not caring anymore?? Please help :/

[Chiliphil1]

Yes, anxiety can certainly cause this.

Having anxiety does not mean just panic attacks, or feeling jittery. There is a lot more than that, so a consistently high heart beat? Sure, if your mind is anxious and your body is tense then yes your heart rate can stay high (even if you dont feel anxious)

The best thing you can do is to learn some breathing techniques to calm yourself and you should cut out all caffeine and sugar. These steps will help you, if it continues, you should talk to your doc about it, not the heartbeat but the anxiety. You may need to do a short course of an ad med, or maybe just some cbt.

If you have had an ecg, and the docs are telling you that you're ok, then you are you just have to convince yourself to trust them, I know thats hard it was a royal b*tch for me, but once I got my head around it and changed my habits, like candy and energy drinks things have been much better for me, and I am healthier than I have been in years and am in the best shape I can remember being in. Things do get better.

[m123]

Thank you for the reply. I started getting back in to this awful state on the 10th June. On that day I gave up everything bad for me... alcohol, smoking, energy drinks, caffeine and even became vegetarian. Its a nice feeling... but it has not helped with any form of anxiety/depression/panic attacks. I am stuck so deep in derealisation it is horrible. 24/7... Soon as I stop focusing, anxiety jumps back in. I find myself in a constant panic attack unless I am making myself think of other things. But it shouldn't be like that... In a way I am always anxious because I am always trying to take my mind off it. Its horrible. I just want to feel normal again.

[troy294]

I know what ya mean - I was always courting my pulse rate literally every 5 min it becme a habit , I have had numerous ECG in regards to it I even had a heart ultra sound so I know exactly where ya coming from with wanting to feel normal and after a big night being hung over I would be more anxious and automatically ya heart rate raised when hung over , mine would be about 120 and I would freak , I got told by a doctor , ya body automatically breaths for ya , automatically pumps ya heart when ya don't think about it ya still breath , yet as soon as u think about it ya breathing will slightly change its all about training the mind . But I'm the same way I focus on so much trying to tell anxiety go away I always feel anxious so it's a hard situation to get through . But have u asked to get ya thyroid tested ??? If u have a over active thyroid it can make ya heart rate constantly high .

[somedude]

Hey same here man. I started having really bad anxiety about my heart rate and soon after that its just been this derealisation feeling. Went to the doctors and had a lot of test done for my heart but they all came back OK. I can deal with the panic attacks but this derealisation is the worst.

I actually dont know if derealisation is even the word for it. I don't feel normal though.

[troy294]

I know hey it's had to explain , I personally just feel all weird in the head and legs feel like jelly , and then that's when it starts , I used to be out all the time with mates doing stuff , clubbing , golf etc now I don't do none of that I'm slowly getting better but I hate it , big shopping centers r a battle to walk through but small steps and everyone can do it

[Buttercup]

I used to be like that. My heart rate seemed to be constantly elevated and it got worse when I left the house. I am now on beta blockers which help regulate your heart rate and my pulse is down to about 70 bpm and in stressful situations it no longer goes up to a scary level.

[dazza]

I'm surprised at the constant rapid rate.

I'm even more surprised to hear it's still high when you've just woken up (are you sure about this? I mean... perhaps it's lower when you first wake but by the time you've started thinking about and checking it, it's gone up?)

How do you know it's always high anyway? are you checking ALL the time?

[troy294]

My heart rate was always high to but after numerous blood tests it turned out I had hyper thyroid ism ( over active thyroid ) that in turn raises heart rate and anxiety . Now my resting is down to about high 60's low 70's

[m123]

I have seemed to develop an obsession which checking my pulse... I say developed but I have been like this for years. Life has just gone pretty shit. Death is scary and yeah we gotta accept it. But I can't seem to stop fixating on it... Even feeling "normal" I don't feel "normal. If that makes sense. I hate it

[hopeNfaith88]

I have seemed to develop an obsession which checking my pulse... I say developed but I have been like this for years. Life has just gone pretty shit. Death is scary and yeah we gotta accept it. But I can't seem to stop fixating on it... Even feeling "normal" I don't feel "normal. If that makes sense. I hate it

Jesus, i can completely relate to you. I feel so bad for you because i know exactly what you are feeling. Its the shittiest thing to experience. I was in derealization/depersonalization purgatory (only way to describe it, holy shit i was so deep in it that i felt like i was fucked up on drugs 24/7 but in a bad trip that i wanted out of!) for about 3 months. Always dizzy, lights always looked too bright. Hell, i even stopped driving and leaving my house. I spent the first couple weeks of it just crying constantly. Then i became deeply depressed and suicidal. Began obsessed with feeling my pulse in my neck and checking my heartbeat. My heart was
Pounding all day for months. My limbs always tingled and i hylerventilated frequently. I never thought life as i knew it would return. I had to take a medical leave from collegw, and medical leave from work. Everything got put on hold while i laid at home curled up in a ball. Too scared to even walk to the bathroom to piss due to my dizziness. I also stopped sleeping i used to sleep 10-12 hours a night but i started sleeping for 4-5 hours of light sleep. Ughhh i shudder just thinking about it. It was hell on earth for me.

But always remember that This is something that WILL pass my friend. Please be strong and hang in there. When you have a good day, or even a good five minutes then keep a memory of it and use that to keep you going. And please message me when your days are bad. I was so sure that it would never pass and it was people on here that kept me going. Keep reading the boards and posting. My mom would see me crying so hard from just frustration. I didnt understand why i felt this way and why i couldnt be independent like i used to be. But then one day, it just got a little better. And it continued to get better because i made my life return to normal. Yes i was uncomfortable yes i had some trying times but you really need to "fake it til
You make it".

I suggest getting a full check up. Just to ease your mind. Also, what helped me is taking a mtivitamin everyday and i also began drinking natural calm, a magnesium supplement. I also started doing vestibular exercises to get rid of my dizziness caused by anxiety. Google them, they help :)

Also some advice, dont change your lifestyle too much! You are in a fragile state right now. Keep your life as close to normal as you can, to reduce shocking it and stressing it out more. I tried making drastic changes like quitting caffeine, etc as a desperate attempt to get rid of my anxiety. caffeine withdrawal causes brain fog and depersonalization for up to ten days. When i quit drinking coffee after already feeling like shit, i had to go back to drinking it because it made me feel so much worse. And my anxiety went away without having to quit caffeine anyway. I also leaned on a small dose of xanax for about 3 weeks as i forced myself to live normally. As i felt better i stopped taking it. But it helped me alot during the hard times. The depersonalization gives you irrational thoughts like "omg what is normal i dont even know anymore" but trust me you will know it when you feel better. I still get nervous and mildly anxious about things, but nothing like when i went through this. Its so much more bearable now. Im not on meds but i do see a therapist. I believe she has helped. It will get better i promise.

[troy294]

I just finished that stage , my neck was literally sore from counting /checking my pulse all day every day and people noticed . But I noticed the more I did it the worse it got