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Sudden Increase in Heart Rate, Sweating, Light headedness...

Just some basic information:  I am 20 years old, and I do not exercise regularly (which is about to change!)  I am 5'5" and around 140 pounds. According to my father, heart problems run through his side of the family.  According to my mother, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes runs through her side of the family.  

Twice this has happened to me:

While just bending down to pick something up, I suddenly felt my body temperature rise, started sweating profusely, and my heart rate seemed to hit the roof!  I could hear/feel my heart pounding ridiculously fast.  I felt light headed, too.  I sat down and put my head between my knees and just focused on breathing.  After no more than two minutes, it all went away.  I was just left very sweaty and tired feeling.  About 5 minutes later after telling my mother about it, she checked my heart rate and said it was normal (I don't remember what it was.)  By then I felt perfectly fine.

The exact same thing happened to me about 4 months ago, but I just brushed it off.  Does anyone know what could be wrong with me?  I plan on going to the health center as soon as possible to just get checked.  These strange episodes are really scaring me.  =[
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Avatar universal
I'm a 30 year old male with a congenital heart defect. I have had this happening since I was 25 after they repaired some of it with an open heart surgery. I can think of a lot of heart conditions that would cause these type of symptoms so seeing a cardiologist and telling them you don't know what it is and they need to find out is the best step. I had an aortic aneurysm that would let blood pool into clots right after my heart then they would go through my body in the bloodstream sometimes coming back to my heart or lungs and cause extreme pain and lightheadedness and all of those symptoms you were mentioning
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Avatar universal
Finally somebody that has gone through the same experience I have I feel you every once in awhile out of nowhere I get really light-headed shallow breath my heart rate climbs to maximum it feels like I get a tingling in my groin and like builds and builds and builds it until it Peaks and then I start pouring sweat I've been to the hospital a couple times and they can't find anything no sign of a heart attack no sign of a stroke it's nice to be able to find somebody that's going through the same thing I'm going to definitely look into the pots thank you for writing your problem.
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Avatar universal
Sounds like what I have.Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome. Diagnosed via tilt table test by a cardiologist or neurologist
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Avatar universal
I started searching for my symptoms and I stumbled up on this page. I am glad that I am not alone. I am a male, 45 years old, 5'4" tall. I experience exact same symptoms ( faster heart beat, sweating, difficult to focus, heavy ringing ). These symptoms happen especially when I am playing ( tennis ) and bend to pick up a ball from the ground. Once it starts then I have to discontinue my game for that day.  I had to deal with this for very many years and it went to the extent that I fear playing at all. This is nothing to do with heart but it is something to do with heart-burn/GERD. I found remedy.

All I do is to take Zantac ( irrespective of what I ate that day or morning ) before playing and it worked. I am told by my gastroenterologist, that I had minor redness on my upper esophagus and it is not very uncommon.  Now I take Zantac before running/playing, even though I didnt eat fatty, heavy meal. This is helping me to continue my physical activity and maintain my health. I am still working on finding permanent solution.
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Avatar universal
I feel the same exact way today and yesterday in the mall I was walking at a normal pace and it was for a while but I was fine all of a sudden I was paying for my new purse and I felt very dizzy my heart was racing extremely fast and I was sweating like I ran a marathon this happened in 3 minutes I was walking to a chair nearby and I nearly made it I sat down and my ears started to ring and I felt like an overheating car. My body was on fire and I could not breath. I don't know if it was anxiety even though I have no past history of it can someone please help me please I'm 19 years old I smoke and drink plenty water every day someone please give me answers.
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Avatar universal
This has happened to me a couple of times, and working in the medical profession, I quickly recognized it as a drop in blood pressure. if you experience onset with a postural change-meaning after standing up too quick, upon getting OUT of bed in the morning after several hours being supine, or even after bending down to tie your shoe laces, if your blood pressure is low, your body has to kick it into high gear to get the blood flowing back up to your head, thus the raise in heart rate. I'm pretty sure there's some time of autonomic response that kicks in which attributes to the feeling hot and pouring sweat.

Visual changes like seeing spots or tunneling vision and dizziness are due to the lack of oxygen to the brain from decreased blow flow.

If this happens to you, it my just be an isolated episode due to dehydration, lack of sleep, or in my case too much Benadryl.

When you experience these symptoms, lay down immediately and raise your legs up over your head. If you can't lay down because you're in public, then sit ASAP until your body regulates. Chugging a bunch of water will also help alieviate symptoms and keep it from happening again. I usually get in 2-3 full glasses in a row. When you're ready to move around again, take things slow. If supine, sit for a few minutes before you stand. If you're already sitting, stand still for a minute or two before you walk away from your seat to make sure it doesn't come back when you're walking only to cause you to pass out and fall.

If symptoms don't improve, please seek medical attention! It could be something else that requires emergent care. If it happens frequently, first take a look at your water intake as many people don't realize that they stay dehydrated!  That being said, don't shrug it off as it could be an underlying heart defect or malfunction that could lead to more serious issues.

I wouldn't be too concerned if you only had an esipode or two, however.
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Avatar universal
I'm a 61 y/o thin female, smoker. Today while shopping, I started having tunnel vision for a few seconds, then rapid heart beat followed by shortness of breath for about 5 minutes with upper chest pain for about 40 minutes. Anybody know what this is?
Pat
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Avatar universal
i also have the same thing it started in my 20s and in in my mid 40s i see two heart specialist and they still have not found out what is wrong i   had a cath like surgery and it came back normal heart wouldn't go into what i was feeling i now have to wear a heart monitor for a month i thought i was the only one in the world going threw this but my half sister and daughter is also hope they can figure this out i will let you know once we do  
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5437794 tn?1367959762
3 years ago I was feeling the EXACT same thing before I went to the doctor. He told me I was anemic and I had to be given a few iron shots and some supplements (I don't remember what they were). I also had an irregular menstrual cycle due to PCOS which is what caused the anemia in the first place. I had my period for about 3 weeks straight and I was already going on to the middle of my 4th week. It finally got so bad that I HAD to go to the doctor. I'm not afraid of needles or doctors or anything, I just hate going. I hope you feel better and get checked sooner than I did because iron shots are a pain in the ***...literally ;)
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1890678 tn?1321089570
This is like what has happened to me this morning!

After I woke up and got out of bed. Immediately, I experienced a racing heart and light-headedness. I couldn't do anything because I was also feeling very fatigued. After a few seconds, I started to sweat profoundly (both upper body and lower body, soaking my pyjamas) - I am never this sweaty even when I'm doing loads of exercise.

I had another episode of this a year earlier.

I would really appreciate if anyone can tell me the possible cause of this.
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Avatar universal
I get this sometimes, not even when I'm doing anything, I just had one and I'm sitting at my desk on my laptop. I'm suffering from anxiety at the moment, I have not seen a doctor yet, but was thinking about it, because it's really getting on my nerves. I am a smoker too, which I'm guessing has something to do with it.. Any adivse?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I have had this same problem since I was about 8 or 9 years old, it has not gone away, and it does not happen all the time. I have worn a monitor and they found nothing, as no episode happened during the wearing of the monitor. I have notice that now my body temperature rises to extremes during these episodes. Enough to steam a small room in the summer. The sweating also prompts an urgent need to use the bathroom, and a need to cool off, as in removing clothing, and getting down low on the floor were it is cool. I have not found any answer, I hope that there is someone out there who is interested enough to investigate. I know of two or three others that have the same problem but only in the later half of their life. I am 59 now, so this has gone on a long time. There is no pain, but there is weakness in the body. The last time was only a couple of weeks ago, and I believe that a drink of acohol may have started it. Which is a first, as I rarely drink.
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Avatar universal
I suppose I should have written POTS in my early post, sorry :)
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Avatar universal
This is what I was suggesting in my comment about orthostatic intolerence.  I have a 'suspected' diagnosis of POTS as I had a positive tilt table test for it.  

Visit the Dysautonomia (autonomic dysfunction) community on here and see if anything there is familiar.  They have great health pages regarding this condition.  Another excellent source of info on this can be found at dinet.com

All tests on the heart, including stress test, treadmill and echo will usually come back normal - as to will most bloods.

This condition is dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system and can be a condition on it's own or caused by something else.  There are also several other conditions that have similar symptoms.
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Avatar universal
postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome...... I would like everbody to look this up. It seems to match up pretty well with what were all experiencing
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Avatar universal
This same thing has happened to me several times since high school. I bend over or jump down from something and my heart rate suddenly sky rockets. I get hot, dizzy and short of breath. If I sit down for a few minutes and focus on breathing it tends to go way. But lilke others have said, It starts suddenly(the heart rate) and it stops suddenly. I can feel it. I am 24, Male and pretty active. Im in good shape. I have a history of heart disease and choleserol problems in my family so I went to the doctor to assure myself. I have done a cardiac stress test, worn a heart monitor, had a pulminary breathing test, and done all kinds of bloodwork and It all says im fine. I know something is up and I wish I could just get some sort of concrete answer. Anyone else have any luck with a diagnosis?
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Avatar universal
has anyone looked into orthostatic intolerence?  This maybe something worth looking into.
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Avatar universal
i also have the same problem. when i go out golfing and take a sudden swing my heart goes out of control and feels like it is going to burst. the heavy sweating also follows anlong with the diziness and sudden fatigue. it just happened today actually and i felt as if i was going to faint. this has been going on for a good decade now but have never gotten it checked.
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Avatar universal
LGK
Interesting to find 1 or 2 to have the exact problem as me. I've had this since i was very young ( maybe 10+ ). My family isn't rich so I've never could afford going to the doctors til this day. I'm 20 years old now and I experience this situation a lot. Sometimes when I bend down to grab something and get back up. I would my heart rate increasing, then begin light headed,( sometimes to point where I could pass out, but hasn't happen yet. )and trouble breathing. When I try to breathe, my throat feels like I'm breathing in cold air and it hurts. Doesn't matter what the temperature is it'll still feel cold. I've tried taking long breathes, holding in my breathe ( Haha! ), pounding my chest ( HAHA! ), bending back down and up. Then again, I've tried laying FLAT down on the floor or bed and relax then a few seconds later it disappear. I've had this at work once and I ran into my car and put my seat back. It didn't do anything good, I was in my car for nearly 30mins with this problem so I rushed home and laid on my bed for less than 15sec and it went away. If anything could help us in finding results to this problem. It'll be appreciated. Like I said, I've had this since I was young. So, for those of you who are experiencing it. It'll be okay! I JUST WANT MY ANSWERS!
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Avatar universal
I have had the same problems for the past few years now. I have sought medical attention a few times, with treatment including an emergent EKG, then a 24 hour heart monitor with numerous blood tests. All has always came back negative. I am on birth control for dysmenorrhea (problematic menstral cycles). However, I was placed on a beta blocker (which is a heart med) for migraine prevention and I have noticed a drop in my regular heart rate and a marked decrease in my episodes. By the way, I am only 25 years old now.
Helpful - 0
489725 tn?1280052553
what momto3 wrote above is good advise in the sence it is hard to say without a monitor which if u were worried if it was a arrhythmia an event monitor would show this up.if u have palps while u wear the monitor.if u do a random ekg and are not suffering palpatitions exactly at that time it will not show --other things will but not an exact arrhythmia,if u feel that this happens for no reason maybe you should ask your doc for an event monitor and when this happens u can record it and if needed progress to getting it treated and feeling better for yourself

hope u feel better
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Avatar universal
And by the way this happens to me pretty often. It happened just yesterday in fact, and it's been happening since I was 10 (9 years ago). I've been to the doctor and they did an ekg and said my heart was fine but my heartrate IS fine when this isn't happening. I feel like they completely missed what's happening to me.  I'm 19 now, female and not athletic but I like to stay somewhat active. I hope it's nothing serious.
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Avatar universal
This (probably) exact same thing happens to me! It's freaky. It usually starts when i'm bending over or picking something up. I get really light headed and my heart rate goes crazy and it pounds with alot of force. It also makes my chest hurt like when you are running outside in winter and you breathe in the really cold air and it burns your lungs. It feels horrible but i can get it to go away sometimes by either bending over again or taking a really deep breath and holding it and pushing really hard with my diaphragm. When it starts and stops it's immediate, it's not a gradual thing, and I can feel the instant it stops. It hurts more right as it stops but then it feels completely better. I wonder if this is what you're experiencing too?
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Avatar universal
Thanks to all who responded!  I haven't had another episode, and I have not yet a chance to get to a doctor.  I just moved back to college and I am currently getting settled in.  I WILL be going soon, though.  

And nikgirl28, yes I am female.  I was about two weeks and a half weeks away from my next period when the last episode happened.  I'll start paying more attention to that.

I was told by someone that it could have happened due to stress and anxiety.  I have recently realized that I stress and worry WAY too much.

To Do List:

Go to doctor.
Begin exercising.
Eat better.
RELAX MORE!  

Thanks everyone!
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