Heart rate control

[Thors]

Hello everyone.

I had an incident during exercise a couple of weeks ago where my pulse startet rising after i had finished my run. It rised from 150 to 175 before I removed my heart rate monitor band in panic. After a while it started to increase and I went to the hospital where they took several tests, EKG, blood, x-ray and I was there for observation for about 6 hours. Nothing abnormal was found and the dr said it was SVT, which doesent make sense to me, but anyway. After this I have been very panicky and especially when I decide to put on my heart rate monitor.

I guess wearing my Heart Rate monitor triggers the anxiety and when wearing it my heart rate elevates and today it maxed at 150 before i calmed down and got it down to 110, then I laid down in bed and it stays in the 90s before it gradually goes down to 80. I decided to test myself and by only thinking about what I am afraid of (dying suddenly of heart failure) it increased from 80 to almost 120 just lying i bed. Its reassuring to know that my heart rate gets high because of anxiety, but is this really normal? Just by thinking, no panic, no changed breathing. I am not able to this without the HR monitor.

Have anybody else had similar experiences?

Btw, this is not what I would call an anxiety/panic attack because the only symptom is elevated heart rate and of course these negative thoughs.

[alankay]

Do you feel a sense of intense fright, impending doom, fear, etc, before and along with the high pulse? If not the doc may just be right. Alankay

[Thors]

Do you feel a sense of intense fright, impending doom, fear, etc, before and along with the high pulse? If not the doc may just be right. Alankay

I am very focused on the heart rate. But not full blown fear. The key for me is that my heart rate does not reach these heights without the heart rate monitor. And after what i`ve read SVT starts and stops abruptly. My heart rate fluctuates and I can pretty much set it off intentionally.

[str8trippin]

It definitely shows how much anxiety can affect you. The second my arm goes into a blood pressure cuff at the doctor's office, I feel anxious because I'm anticipating them telling me it's high, and so of course, consequently, my blood pressure ends up being elevated. It's what is so frustrating about experiencing this kind of anxiety, especially about your health. You said it yourself, all you have to do is think of some health related thing that scares you and your heart rate increases in a hot second. This happens to me all the time, not necessarily with my heart rate, but my feelings of anxiety in general. If I think about whatever symptom I'm experiencing, it increases ten fold. Right now, it's been my head...pressure building and feeling like my head is heavy, tension headache-esque, a little dizziness, inability to focus, I squint a lot and clench my teeth, etc. etc. etc....the more I think about it, the more I notice it and the more it bothers me...and the more I start to worry about what could be causing it. I started to read an article a second ago about Pierce Brosnan's daughter dying of ovarian cancer and could immediately feel the nerves and negative thoughts creeping up on me. It's a horrible cycle. Nothing out of the ordinary was found in any of your tests...have you thought about not using the heart rate monitor? It seems like your anxiety spikes just from the simple act of using it.

[missholly]

Hi I'm new to this forum this is my first post in fact! I am just like this. I only have to feel my heart beating just a tad fast sometimes and it sets me off. Before I know it I've worked myself up so much it's racing and chest pains appear and then i worry I'm gonna have a heart attack! The same with blood pressure as I was once told it was too high and once two low I can now scare myself by thinking about it.
I've found sometimes that if I close my eyes and take deep breaths and count in my head at the rate I would like my heart beat to feel I can calm myself down.