tachycardia probs

[venusi]

I'm on beta blockers Atenolol 50mg daily, I was fine for a couple of months with it, but when I eat, my heart races and it takes hours for the rate to calm down.

I took a beta blocker this evening at 10pm as i take themtwice daily (25mg x 2).  I then had a meal at about 1am (I work different hours, so my morning is more like an afternoon).  It is 3am and it is still racing.  

During the day my heart rate is fine on the betas, but at night it races and races and it just wont calm down.  

Is it my beta blockers tht are a problem or is it someting to do with what I am doing?

I also have started getting high bp again, I only noticed this because I was getting petechaie on my skin when my bp was high the last time, I've started getting it again.

They suspect I may have some kind of dysautonomia caused by nerve damage (some kind of post viral syndrome/post infection thing) they have not found the cause, I have had all blood tests you can think of and all my levels were normal.  I was initially told it was anxiety.  However, I have a lot of neuro symptoms and constant sinus tachyarrhythmia.  They're now looking at ME or Holmes-Adies Syndrome (as I also have unequal pupils).

I'm really scared of what is happening.  I am not good with certain medications - I was on propanolol before and it worked really well on me but I kept getting terrible PACS/PVCs on it so I was then moved onto Atenolol which stopped them but don't seem to keep my rate down all the time.

It can be doing about 90 sitting or resting, sometimes more when I've eaten, but if I stand up it races way up and I have to sit back down again.  If I stand up from sitting it can go up to about 120 ish and come back down to 90 if I sit back down again.  

My doctor is at a loss as far as figuring it out is concerned.  But can anyone recommend somethnig that will KEEP my heart rate at normal all the time?

Would a combination of the beta blockers and an SSRI do it?

[klanac]

I am adding another comment. Anyone with heart palps should try a product called Natural Calm plus calcium by Natural Vitality. You can get it from Swansons Health Products. Make a cup of hot water and stir in a tsp or two. It has all of the potassium,calcium, and magnesium in the right amounts that your heart needs to keep it in proper rhythm. You can even take it again in the morning. Then the amino acid Taurine is the most important and abundant free amino acid in your heart and contributes to your heart muscles contractibility and regulation of the rhythm.For anxiety  take 1-2 caps 2x a day. A small amount regulates heartbeat and prevents brain cell overactivity. You can sprinkle it in with the Natural calm drink. I also  take this and I very seldom get the heart palps unless I am really anxious. It should take about a week for your palps to improve.

[klanac]

Just a comment on the Beta Blockers. I too was having a lot of anxiety and whenever I go into the Dr. my blood pressure goes up so I was put on Atenolol. About a half hour after I would take it I would get horrible anxiety, like the adrenaline was just flowing through my body and my head felt weird. I kept taking it and I could hardly breathe or walk up and down the steps, my one leg started swelling. I always walked and now I couldn't even do that as I would get such bad heart palpitations  one after another. I checked on the leaflet that comes out with this drug and it said one of the side effects can be anxiety. I went off of it gradually by cutting the pills into smaller and smaller pieces over about a months time and luckily I get a newsletter that I had subscribed to from Dr. Marcus Laux. He recommended for blood pressure a natural product called Holistrol or now it it called HiQi. You can look it up on the internet. It is wonderful and my blood pressure went way down, plus I feel great and I can walk  and breathe again, my swelling went away on the leg. Try it

[urdacrazy1]

I'm so sorry to hear about ur loses. Yes it could be post traumatic. You'll have good days and bad days. The trick is to not dwell on the bad ones. As far as beta blockers, they are supposed to lessen the work load off the heart and slow down ur heart rate. Its given to people with social anxiety, like when they have a speech to give or whatever. It helps with racing heart, flushing (blushing), and like trembling. I guess it helps with the typical symptoms of the "jitters". Propanolol is what I actually take but I take a really low dose when I feel anxiety coming on (heart racing, etc.) and sometimes just knowing that its my system helps me to calm down. Just make sure u take as prescribed because it can cause ur blood pressure to drop. I dont get any side effects that I've noticed, so I like it.

Hope u feel better soon.  Let me know how everything goes.

[Luli12]

You are so right.  When I convinced myself that its anxiety and Im going to be FINE, it happens less or none at all.  And I have to keep telling myself that during the day, though everything seems to go wrong at night.  The heart racing is always at night and as soon as I wake up in the morning, which seems crazy to me. I've read enough to realize now that my severe anxiety is really post traumatic panic disorder which is caused by a traumatic experience, like loosing a loved one or seeing them die, and I went thru this twice in a year and a half(my mother and my brother).  And I believe it, being it was extremely horrible for me both times.  But....I have faith I'll get better everyday.  What are beta blockers? Any side effects to that? and what is it for exactly? curious.

[urdacrazy1]

I've been having the same thing.  Even the thought of doing something physical causes my heart to race. I've had tests done and everything comes back fine. My doctor is convinced its anxiety. And I really think it is too.  Because when anxiety is bad it gets worse. But when there are days that I can convince myself that its just anxiety it doesnt last as long and better yet, it doesnt happen. So if you can convince urself that its anxiety, it will get better. I too take beta blockers but I only take it when it gets bad. Beta blockers can also be taken on an as need basis. Its also used for social anxiety so I dont think they are the problem. And as far as getting the racing heart after u eat... yup, I get that too.  Just a curious question. Did u ever suffer from some kind of phobia of throwing up? When you were little or at any time in your life?

[TracyRN]

I have exactly the same thing happening with my heart rate.  When I am sitting, it is normal, between 70-90 but as soon as I stand up and move around it shoots up into the 120-140s and then when I sit down it immediately drops back to normal????  I am worried and scared but my cardiologist says that it is due to anxiety.  I dont understand this because it happens all day every day and has been doing this for about a month now.  If you have gotten any other information from your doctor could you please share it with me.  Thanks   : )