Sinus Tachycardia caused by anxiety?

[swingerofbirches]

I have had severe refractory anxiety for 12 years along with panic attacks and OCD. I had been more anxious with more high energy for a couple of months and told my doctor that I was concerned that when I took my pulse it would sometimes be as high as 120 during panic attacks.

I don't think my doctor is very intelligent, but I will tell you what he has told me anyway and let you all help me decide what to do. He told me right off the bat that panic attacks are breathing disorders and should not cause your heart rate to elevate (that was not something I had heard before).

I went into the office and a secretary--not a nurse--attached a Holter monitor with 3 leads to me. She said it was her first time doing it and that the office had just gotten the device. It took her an hour to figure out how to insert the batteries and turn it on. The device was already recording by the time she put it on. And she didn't put tape over the leads to keep them from falling off.

I had my heightened anxiety and some panic attacks while I wore it.

A week later, yesterday, the secretary called me and told me the doctor says I have sinus tachycardia which is causing my anxiety. I insisted on speaking with the doctor. He said my average heart rate was 91 bpm and the high was 167 bpm. I asked lots of questions like did it suddenly go up and down, how long was it up for, and he didn't know the answers to any of the questions. He knows I have bad panic disorder, but he was extremely rude to me as he was the last time I saw him. I asked him if it was possible that the anxiety caused the higher heart rate and he said it was impossible.

He told me to make an appt with a cardiologist, which I did, when I made the appt, the secretary at the cardiologist office said the doctor should have made the appt for me if he was so concerned. What gets me is that he lured me in as he advertises himself as a country doctor who makes house calls (which in actuality he does not, and he gets as many patients in a day as he can and has his secretary do things she is not trained to do).

I have panic disorder and now i am freaking out even more because I have to wait two weeks to see the cardiologist. I wish I could see the results themselves. I honeslty think I could interpret them better than my PCP. I know for a fact I could have put on the Holter monitor better just from having found the manual for it online I could see they did about everything wrong that is possible to mess up.

BTW, I am 26 year old white male with 12 year history of severe anxiety and panic. Also my low on the test was 66.

Is he right that it's  impossilble for anxiety to cause 91 bpm average and 167 high?

How worried should I be?

I asked him in a state of panic if he thought I would die before I see the cardiologist next week and he said there's a 1 in a thousand chance (he wasn't joking--he makes bizarre declarations all the time). I told him I didn't think that was very good odds, and he told me he wasn't going to sugar coat it. So, I said, are you saying people die of sinus tachycardia, and he said sinus tacychardia could turn into a heart attack if it was bad enough, which is also something i have not been able to confirm online!

Please help! I feel like I'll need to see someone before next Friday to put my mind at ease or get treatment.

[crystalhanzelka]

If your doctor does not know how to read and EKG you should find another one that does.  I had a panic attack one day so bad my heartrate went to 155.  I do know that those monitors would show an arrythmia.  Such as Afib or Vtach and so on.  I would ask for a second opinion.  Ask for a copy of the tape and take it to another doctor.  Just to make sure.  I always have a high HR too....it could be benign.  But it is your heart we are talking about so I think a 2nd opinion is due.  Maybe ask him to refer you to a cardiologist.