high heartrate?

[kim62]

I just had my 3rd,,, and successful VT ablation the beginning of December. I also have a dual chamber ICD(by which I absolutely love...LOL...NOT) anyways.. I have been off all anti-arrythmic drugs for a month now. Doc put me on Aldactone because I have a slight problem retaining normal potassium levels... and to help with hypertension. All was well until a couple weeks ago when I got sick and my PCP put me on Biaxin(antibiotic) and Predisone for 7 days... Heartrate  see-sawed up and down and would hover between 89-120 all day long...  I have been off the Biaxin & prednisone for a week now... and the heartrate is still up there. at rest I run between 95 and 109 contantly. I haven't seen anything below 90 in over 2 weeks. Anyone have some advice to throw at me?
get this.. I can walk up my stairs.. and back down....fast... and still stay around 100...
The Aldactone is the ONLY drug I take.

[Wisconsin2007]

Hey, that's great news!  Congrats on getting yourself a more settled heart.

[kim62]

Hey,  Just wanted to let you know that the heartrate is backdown to normal... finally!
I'm not taking the Cardizem either. It seems that I was still in the healing process from my ablation and when I got sick , it just disrupted everything... and then by adding the antibiotics and steriods... just added fuel to it.  A lesson to be learned!

[kim62]

The pacing isn't too bad...kind of scares you a bit only because you know that if it doesn't convert you, you're gonna get hit with the "Big" one... which is quite a shocking experience!(lol) I have learned to deal with it. Sometimes I feel thankful that it is there to protect me.
My HR has seemed to come down a bit today, hopefully it stays that way!

[Jerry_NJ]

It is hard to be patient (or a patient) when it comes to the heart.  As for some things we "can't live with them or without them", the heart is all in the first category.

Good luck and let us know about improvement too...I (so far) have no need for a pacemaker, so I have not direct experience with what it means to have them kick-in, suppose you feel it, but not so severe as a defibrillator "kick".  

[kim62]

Doc put me back on Cardizem(low dose) last night, because this is quite unusual for me to run this high. Normal for me is in the low 70's with my ICD still pacing me around 25% of the time out of bradycardia(set at 60bpm). They seem to think this may be a temporary issue since I was on the steriods & antibiotics recently and this problem started a couple days after I started the meds. My ICD kicks in to pace me down at 167bpm... so I really don't have much room to second guess if this is normal. Hopefully, it will settle down and I can stop sweating it!

[Jerry_NJ]

My root problem is AFib, and this thread made me put on my sport HR monitor this morning.  Even with 50 mg of Toprol at 8 am, now 9:30 am, my HR jumps between 80 and 100 while I sit here and type.

Not sure what value there is in me sharing that, but I can say my cardiologist and my past EP doesn't seem to think it is a problem if the symptoms don't bother me, and mostly they don't.

[kim62]

Thanks for the reply...Before I was taken off my last Anti-arrythmic drug, my heartrate was very low. ..to the point where my ICD would have to keep pacing me up above 60bpm. Per my ICD interrogations, I was being paced about 25% of the time.(at one time it was 65%) As for climbing the stairs, I can be at around 100 bpm before climbing the stairs and afterwards... either still be the same or just slightly higher. It is just strange as to why my resting rate is so high. Yesterday morning my heartrate was 113 right after I woke up and stayed within +/- 10  all day long. I did contact my cardiologist yesterday regarding this and they are trying to figure out which approach to take, considering my history.

[Jerry_NJ]

I would seek medical advice for a rest HR of 120.

On the other hand and up/down (one flight I assume) of stairs and a HR of 100 sounds good.

My HR runs between 70-90 and that's with a Beta Blocker, Toprol ... my high HR is driven by AFib.  So, I also take an anticoagulant.