heart rate over 100 and chest pain

[Tippylew]

Hi I am a 28 year old   female with two children and have always been healthy. About 10 months ago I started with being tired all the time no matter how much I slept I was still tired. I had a few dizzy spells so made a doctors appointment. My appointment went well other then a high heart rate...I think it was 112. She did blood work and everything was normal. This past Friday I started with chest pain neck pain back pain and pain in my arm all on the left side. I has not went away it may have eased a little but it is still there so yesterday I went to the ER when I got there my heart rate was over 100 again. They did more blood work,an EKG,chest X ray and a pelvic exam. Everything was normal. They think its stress and gave me an RX for Ativan. I am a little scared that there is something else going on and don't know where else to go with this. Any help would be great. Thank you and God Bless.

[StephieK82]

By now you have probably already seen your doctor, and I hope things went well. However, I just wanted to add a personal experience. I too suffer from anxiety to an extent and started having wierd "fluttering" or PVC's (skipped beats) It completely scared me so I made an appointment and saw my doctor who of course told me it was anxiety and not to worry about it. I was put on zoloft which made my anxiety and symptoms 10x worse. So I went off the zoloft. I also went off caffeine completely and noticed a SIGNIFICANT decrease in my symptoms. I would suggest going off caffeine all together- hard at first but you get used to it, I promise. I didnt' buy the anxiety diagnosis, and took it upon myself to set up an appointment with a cardiologist.  I had EKG's done and a stress test which were both normal and am currently waiting on my Echo results and am wearing a 2 week holter monitor. I think deep down I know that it's all anxiety related but I have to see it to believe it. Im only 27, and also have 2 young children and the thought of not being there for them kills me. If you are like me, then don't hesitate to seek a second opinion. It's your life and if the only way your going to feel confident is to get tests done then do it. If it ends up that it is anxiety you can treat that and get back to living. I hope this finds you feeling well and keep your chin up.

[Tippylew]

Hi Jerry. Thanks for the response. Yes the Ativan is for anxiety and it eased it up a little but right now I still have a dull pain in my chest. My BP  was 150 over 80 and my heart rate was 117 at the ER. I am just scared. I am not saying I need to go make out my will or anything but there is some problem here and I don't think it is stress. I just wish some one could tell me what is going on. I have two beautiful children and I want to be around for them.I do see my reg Doc today to talk about my ER results. It just seems everyone I talk to wants to pin it on stress or depression and I know that is not the problem here.

[Jerry_NJ]

You made the correct decision to go to ER.  I'm sure they would have detected if you had undergone a heart attack, and they didn't conclude that.

Did the Ativan help?  I don't know what that is, assume for anxiety.

A resting HR a bit over 100 isn't a big concern, but it does meet one of the criteria  for what is labeled Tachycardia, i.e., needs to be treated.  Keep an check on your rest HR, if you can't feel you pulse buy a stethoscope (Walmart has good inexpensive units) or buy an athletic heart strap and monitor.  But, a finger in the right place an a watch with a second hand works for most people. Anyway, be sure you are at rest and if the HR is under 100 I'd say high, but don't worry about it.  If over 110 then my concern would go up with the rate.  110, I'd ignor for a day or two, 130 I'd call my doctor to discuss medication to lower the HR, normally a beta blocker.  How is your blood pressure? A beta blocker will also lower your blood pressure so if it is normally low, the beta blocker could cause some dizziness, at least until you adapt to it. That is my experience with BB, I take high dose Metoprolol and did have some too low BP, but that went away after a few months.  My high HR is due to AFib, and the BB keeps my resting HR in the 80s, upper 80s.