sinus tachy

[angeldelight401]

hi, i'm a 20 year old female and i've just been diagnosed with sinus tachycardia. i'm tired and weak all of the time, have trouble doing small tasks like walking up a few stairs without getting out of breath, severe anxiety and chest and jaw pain. Am i too young to go on any medication like beta blockers? i also have a strong history of heart disease in my immediate family,

[is_something_wrong]

Inappt. sinus tachycardia is usually followed by low blood pressure (which makes beta blocker treatment difficult). How high is your blood pressure?

There is a fair chance you don't have IST (and in that case, you're lucky). However, you really should try to find the cause. There are some tests your doctor could do.

In the meantime, remember, no coffee / caffeine, no nicotine, (of course) no illegal drugs. Try to relax as much as possible and see if that helps. And see your doctor when you get a chance.

Good luck =)

[angeldelight401]

yeah i agree with you. im just sooo tired all of the time. I've had 12 hours sleep a night this past week and im still sleeping throughout the day?! my blood pressure is quite high also, as i've had it checked recently. I'm going to ask my gp when i get back to uni if i'm able to start medication and start excercising again. thankyou

[is_something_wrong]

No, sinus tachycardia and CAD have nothing to do with each other. With CAD at such a low age in your family, you should live as healthy as you can (low blood pressure, low cholesterol, no smoking, regular exercise). For that reason, it's really important you get this under control and get able to exercise again.

If you have a constant heart rate of 120 and your doctor is unable to find a cause, he should consider inappt. sinus tachycardia. This is something a cardiologist or electrophysiologist should handle. It's not especially dangerous, but it's something you should get treated, as it can really affect your life quality, with exercise intolerance, dizziness and palpitations.

How is your blood pressure by the way? Normal, high or low?

[angeldelight401]

hi, thankyou for all of your advice
i've been checked for my thyroid levels and thats fine, however i haven't had a 24 hour tape yet. I was born with tachycardia, however i've only really started to feel the effects in the past year or so, and they seem to be getting worse. Could i have inherited it from my father? he has coronary artery disease and so did his dad, and he had a quadruple bypass at 39.
I don't feel like its anxiety that particulary brings on the episodes, as soon as i wake up or throughout the day my heart just starts races for no reaosn. excercise particulary makes it worse, but thats the only noticeable stimulant. my resting heart rate is around 120 but when i do slight excercise this increases quite significantly. also, are there any side effects to the beta blockers?
thankyou
jessica

[angeldelight401]

hi, at

[sian333]

I would recommend beta blockers. I put off taking them for so long, but they were truly a great help. They didn't fix my problem, but they helped me get some much needed rest! For the record, I'm only 22 and started taking beta blockers when I was 21. There are some people who have had to start beta blockers in their early teens.

And I really agree with everything is_something_wrong said =]

I think beta blockers are certainly a better way to go than benzo's and so on. Beta blockers are VERY safe. If your doctor wants you to start beta blockers, I would say go for it. They're very safe.

How fast does your tachycardia get? Have you done a 24hr monitor (or 3 day monitor etc)
and you've have thyroid checked?

Keep us posted! We're here to help! =]

[is_something_wrong]

Hi,

Please be aware, sinus tachycardia is neither a diagnosis or a disease. It's a normal response to "something". To use a somewhat funny example, farting is not a disease or a diagnosis. But if it happens too often, the underlying cause (food allergies, upset stomach or similar) need to be adressed, because it's a bit bothersome.

The exhaustion and exercise intolerance is without doubt caused by a too high heart rate. It's good you have cleared out the rhythm (sinus), so you don't have an arrhythmia. Next step is to address the cause for your sinus tachycardia.

A couple of causes need to be ruled out. One of them is too high thyroids. You should ask your doctor if it's not already tested.

A very likely cause for your sinus tachycardia, is that you define every physical exertion as something "dangerous". Heart rate is somehow controlled by your blood pressure, and the body has a couple of mechanisms to increase blood pressure; narrowing blood vessels and increasing heart rate. Everyone can feel a little squeeze in their chest when we stand up to quickly. It's natural compression of the blood vessels, in order to prevent blood from running down in your stomach and legs (and making you faint).

To climb some stairs, you probably need a systolic blood pressure of, say, 140-150. If you are going to fight a lion, you would need max blood pressure, say 220 (the diastolic number, the lower number, is somewhat irrelevant here). The problem is, when you tell your body that walking up stairs is dangerous, it will think "I'll need a blood pressure of at least 180 here" and your heart rate will increase more than necessary.

No, you're not too young for beta blockers, and they are actually a good idea to use for some time, until you get the anxiety away (the best is of course to solve this without meds, but I think beta blockers are far better than anti-d's, benzo, etc). I asked my doctor for this, and he completely agreed. I use them for this exact cause, and they work great! No more panic attacks, and my heart works at lower rates, more efficient. A non-selective beta blocker, like Inderal / Pranolol is more effective to handle anxiety, as selective beta blockers only work on the heart. If you have asthma, however, non-selective beta blockers are very bad.

Best wishes to you =)

PS: If anxiety isn't the cause here, you should discuss with your doctor / cardiologist if you possibly have a (benign) condition where your blood vessels doesn't contract as much as they should, or the condition inappropriate sinus tachycardia. They are treated somewhat different, but they aren't particularily dangerous.