My heart is bipolar ... aah!

[gothic_beauty]

Hey everyone!

I've been struggling with episodes of racing heart and palpitations for awhile now, so it feels so odd to ask a question like this one. Lately, instead of going too fast, my heart's been going too slow. I've noticed it for the past month or so, usually in the evening when I'm relaxing in bed or during the day when I'm sitting still, often when I'm hungry. It will often beat at 55-60 beats per minute. That doesn't freak me out too much; I just figure that I'm in a very calm state of mind, which should be a good thing for someone who has suffered from a rapid heartbeat at other times. However, for the past few nights my heart has been beating even slower. Tonight it is down to 45 beats per minute!! I am sitting here in terror that it will continue to decelerate until it stops altogether. I've read that a low heart rate can cause dizziness and fatigue, but I feel OK. I'm just scared ... unfortunately, my fear isn't increasing my heart rate!

Has anyone else experienced a heart rate this low? I feel like I must constantly monitor my pulse . I don't know why my heart insists upon such extreme behaviour! Why can't it just be normal??

[xizzor]

Fear can cause a low heartrate as well.
I have had this in the past, and I was symptomatic.

Diziness, slow pounding heart.
I had to sit down.

Each time I thought i was going to have this, i had it.
I stopped having it when i stopped worrying about it.

[gothic_beauty]

I'm so glad to hear that other people's heart rates get as low as mine and that they're still alive to talk about it! I think that sometimes I just like to worry. I've also talked to my cardiologist about this problem and he said it's probably because my blood pressure is low or maybe my blood sugar, so that could be a reason. But as long as I don't have symptoms, I guess I should accept the fact that I'll live as well. Itdood, thanks for reassuring me that my heart's not going to stop by continuing to go slower ... and I'll try to think as you do and be confident that a low heart rate is a sign of a strong heart. I guess the heart rate fluctuates alot, and is not meant to be constantly monitored and obsessed over: easier said than done!

[itdood]

Mine dips to mid 40s at night when I'm about to go to bed sometimes.  It's cyclical.  For a few weeks it won't do this, then for a few weeks it will.

I've never gotten upset about it because like you I don't get any symptoms.  We should consider ourselves very fortunate that our hearts are efficient enough to keep up with our body's demands even at 45 bpm.    It actually made me feel really confident.  The one thing that really helped me was this one time when I was in the mid 40s, I heard a big thump upstairs and my son let out a terrible scream.  I jumped from my chair and was upstairs in an instant, I don't my feet touched the ground.  :-).  My HR went up like it should, and I had no problems.  this is a good thing.  My son was OK too :-)

Since obviously your heart is healthy, the notion that it could just keep going slower until it stops is really silly.  There's a lot of backup systems nature put in our hearts to keep this from happenings.  Google "escape beats" and you'll see what I mean.  Yea anythings possible, like a meteor dropping on my head but I don't worry about that either.  :-)

Try to avoid over monitoring yourself too.  That may be part of the overall anxiety that's causing all the other issues.

[is_something_wrong]

Yes, it's really annoying.

I also have an extreme "range" in heart rate. At night, my heart rate is in the high 30s / low 40s. I also have some runs of tachycardia and PACs.

The annoying part is that treating the rapid heart rate with beta blockers (that work fine) will make my heart rate too low at evening/night, which also will create extra/skipped beats.

I asked my cardiologist, he said it's a normal/common finding in young people. As long as you're not fainting or feeling extremely dizzy, it's probably OK.