HIGH HEART RATE

[redbuck]

I am presently taking Diovan/HCT 160/12.5mg in the morning and 240 mg Diltiazem in evening. Yesterday evening I experienced a sudden increase in my heart rate that lasted for approximately three hours. The rate got as high as 152bpm and stayed consistently between 120-140bpm most of the three hour period. My blood pressue at the onset was high, 152/104, but then on subsequent checks it was in the 120/85 range. I have been having PVC's for about the past two or three years and they have been increasing in number progressing from 1400 in a 24 hr period to over 3400 in the last test earlier this year.  The feeling in my chest was one of my heart "turning flips".

My question is, what are the problems of the increased heart rate? And what rate is considered "too" high for too long, and when should I head to an emergency room?

Any help appreciated.

[ItsMeBeck]

I don't know about the high heart rate exactly, my suggestion with that would be to try and get it on a monitor to see exactly what type of tachycardia it was.. Some tachycardia's can be dangerous and others can be completly harmless, it just kind of depends on where it's originating in your heart.. (I have IST and my heart rate is routinely in the 120 and 130s, but it's completly harmless.)

My biggest concern would be with the amount of PVCs you're having. I'm a 28 year old female. I've had PVCs my entire life, for as long as I can remember I've known that my heart didn't beat normally. In the past few years I've had doctors pick up on them during routine exams and when they realized they were PVCs they would just dismiss them. It wasn't until last Dec ('07) that a doctor really took notice to them. She sent me to a cardiologist and I did a 24 hour holter monitor. It showed that was having between 12 and 15 thousand PVCs a day. They then sent me to see an EP doc.. He said PVCs are usually considered harmless BUT they feel when you reach around 15 thousand in 24 hours it can and will start to damage your heart. (It's called PVC induced cardiomyopathy.) In my case my left ventricle had started to enlarge which they feel was caused by the amount of PVCs I was having. They had me in to do an ablation a week later. The first ablation wasn't successful but I had a second one a month later and am now virtually PVC free. (The last monitor I had done showed 5 in 24 hours.) I'm very confused as to why your doctors aren't concerned with the fact that you're having 3400 in 24 hours! That seems INSANLEY high to me!! I would definitely ask your doctor about this, as well as the tachycardia. Good luck!!