Heart Beat Fast

[beehwalow]

It happened again. I wrote an entry on the 21st of December 2011 and mentioned that I experienced severe fast beating of the heart. My doctor dismissed it as one off event. It apparently happened again early in the morning at around 415am again. I was once again going to the toilet and felt the heavy thump thump thump. This time round I took it a point to measure my heart rate using a BP set. As the rate was too high, the bp set could not even register a reading. Did this three times. 15 minutes later the heart slowly returned to normal. When I captured the reading it was 143/87, 103 bpm before finally settling back to normal bp and heart rate.

I had salmon for dinner, took gripe water, had a quiver of the heart at 11pm (had it frequently), did housework in the late afternoon. 32y/f, have PVCS and MVP, gastritis with IM.

So what is happening?  Should I see a doctor again?

[tom_h]

Yes, as Michelle states, it's very important to write this events down.  Learn to locate your pulse in your wrist or neck, and count the beats manually and not rely on the machine.  You mention that your heart rate " slowly returned to normal".  This is not how SVT terminates.  It will drop out within one beat to near normal rates.  When it happens again, don't panic.  Stop..literally, and "listen" to your body.  How does it feel?  What are the sensations? Any pain involved? These observations are so important to a physician when you walk into his office with a normal looking heart and normal pulse complaining of a problem that doesn't seem to exist.  Best of luck....

[MichelleP_3811]

Please do your best to not allow this to depress you.  Keep a journal of what is going on.  After episodes of tachycardia my heart would be especially sensitive and I would feel all sorts of things going on.  It would always eventually settle down.  But if you are in a state where you are experiencing the tachycardia episodes at least once a month do go back to your doctor and ask for an event monitor.   If you have a type a tachycardia that can be fixed it will help  to get that done and give your heart a chance to heal.  You won't necessarily get rid of the pvcs but clearing up and svt you have will give your heart a break from the effects of a tachycardia episode and as such it should help your pvc situation.  I had an svt AVNRT that would cause my heart to beat over 230bpm.  Over the last 5 or so years I started to get frequent episodes until I finally had it diagnosed and treated with ablation.  Now about a year later my heart is finally settling down and my pvcs and pacs are not causing as much pain or discomfort as before.  If you can't get this diagnosed at this time then do your best to baby your heart, exercise but try to not over do it.  And seriously address any stomach issues like acid reflux.  That will cause the pvcs to act up more.  But please do hang in there.  As disruptive and everything that is going on is none of it is life threatening, just a disruption. But I have no doubt at some point you will be able to get your tachycardia resolved and that will surely help your situation.  So hang in there and if you ever need to talk please let us know.

[beehwalow]

no it is not getting better. In fact it is much worse. Though I have yet to reach a state of depression, I may end up with one soon.

[MichelleP_3811]

I wouldn't personally rely on a bp monitor to read my heart rate.  I have all sorts of reading issues with mine.  I believe they can be very sensitive.  I bought myself a heart monitor watch from a sporting goods store and that seemed to work much better at giving me a reading unless the reading went over 200.  My svt apparently would go to around 230. Has your heart been fully evaluated by your doctor and deemed to be structurally OK beyond the pvcs and mvp?  How long ago was it evaluated?  What sort of symptoms do you get when you have the episodes?  Are you getting any shortness of breath, dizziness, or chest pain?  It sounds like there is something going on, some sort of svt or sinus tachycardia likely caused by what you ate or drank or it could be some sort of run or pattern of pacs or pvcs but as you know no one can say for certain what it is, only a doctor can.  

From what I understand from a health perspective, if the episodes are not causing you any symptoms beyond the feeling of your heart beating fast then it is likely you have nothing to be too concerned over but I would revisit the doctor to get their input since none of us here can give you a clean bill of health and especially considering you have mvp, I am not sure how that affects what it is going on.  That said, do you have episodes at least once a month?  The main key to diagnosing exactly what is going on is to get it captured.  There are event monitors that can be worn for a month that give most people ample time to catch an episode but if your episodes are 6 months apart you may be trying to find a needle in a haystack.  So you could unfortunately be spending your time chasing your tail without any results.  That said, whenever our health is a concern it is always better to be safe than sorry in my opinion but the choice to pursue a doctor at this time is really up to you.  I will say your bp was a bit elevated?  Is it consistently that high or do you think you may have been stressing a bit?  Your bp was not in the danger level but if it is consistently at that reading you may want to take steps to manage it.  Take care.  I do hope you can get to the bottom of this.

[dolphin8808]

I would discuss this with your doctor but really a HR of 103bpm is not that high. If it is happening in short bursts and not getting higher then that, I would not think your doc will be too concerned about it but always mention it.  

Do you also have some anxiety issues? If so, that can cause that slight of an elevation in beats.