tachycardia related to adrenaline and cortisol

[tachy911]

Thanks for taking my question.
I'm a 28 year old male - 180 lbs - 172cm - non smoker

previous medical history

from age 18 to 25 i suffered from left kidney stone (oxalate calcium) at this period i do many lithotripsy for kidney stone (6-8 times).
last time at age 25 ,a part of stone get stuck in a ureter , my doctor suggest to do "ureteroscopic stone removal" treatment , now i don't suffer from kidney stone but i feel sometimes pain or weak when cold come and my previous result of kidney echography before 6 month show no more stone .note the last 3 years i begin to take "esidrex 25mg" "allopurinol 100mg" regularly .

present medical history

over 1 years ago, I was given blood checks including triglyceride, cholesterol ,thyroid hormone test and an echo cardiogram because I was having rapid heartbeats.
in this period i faced very constant stressful environment sometimes i felt deep headaches until this day i remember.

The result :
I have sinus tachycardia 130-150 beat
blood pressure go up to 15/10 when i stressed
LDL 150MG/DL - HDL 43MG/DL - triglyceride 200MG/DL i don't remember exact numbers but doctor say is little risky
TSH 1.7MIU/ML - T4 1.1 NG/100ML
kidney normal functioning
glucose 100 normal

the cardiologist I met with said my heart is fine and he said that some body's reaction in an aggressive way with stressful situation and some not
he said take 5mg of concor (morning) and 5mg atorvastatin (evening)

my Question and some strange symptoms or some issues that i don't understand

-during childhood and until the young age i felt im not motivated to much and this feeling get worse over time.
-during age 15 to 18 i remember when light stress happened to me, my heart beat go strong and rapid.
-during age 15 to 22 i remember when stress happened to me, my left kidney suddenly feel squeezed but now my heart role.
-until this age i feel stressful in many job and sometimes fear ,all the time i running away from new job challenges and not taking responsibility well.
-i feel lost of energy until today , my energy come and go in short time even when i was in school day (i remember that).
-if i don't take bisoprolol ,i feel now permanent rapid heart beat ;before 10 years rapid heart beat happen and go maybe i flight from some situations, but now i feel permanent heart beat and tension.
-even i take the pills sometimes my bp show 13/8 and heart beat 85.
-i anger much if illogical things happen and i know that this harm my situation.
-i believed at my age 18 that my mysterious condition (sweat,not motivated,lake energy,fear to handling a job) be canceled when i grow up but this not happen until today.
-i know that active people only achieve his personal goals, but im not active much.
-in the past when i was 13-24 old ,i feel that something strange happen to me i feel fear ,not taking responsibility well ,lack of challenges and at the end i flight from the situation ,at this day i read lot about cortisol , adrenaline , brain hormone stimulator , autonomic nervous system , sympathetic nervous system but until today i don't have a good solution for me ,still nervous ,still unstable in job ,still worry ,still i sweat when social situation happen my heart beat (but not strong after concor) .
-now doctor ,i feel some spasm when a light worry happen in some point of my chest especially under neck ,in the top middle of chest the pain come and go and when i press with fingers the pain raise up.
-is stress cause coronary aneurysm and this spasm that i mentioned above is a warning signals.
-sometimes i feel depressed and guilty and for not feel bad i go to sleep.
-even i sleep 10 hours ,in morning i feel lack of energy even this happen in my past school days.
-before 3 weeks ago i visited my dermatologist (about my chest "dermite séborrhéique- a ring-shaped
patches") he said when a stress come this red patches in your chest and face appear ,and he asked me why you're not making an echography of your thyroid gland nodules and see if there is a nodules shape problem, he said even you do a thyroid hormone test with normal result this unusual nodule shape worsen your case ,and he added maybe a thyroid gland surgical operation prevent you to take beta blocker but on the other side you take thyroid related pill.


Thanks
some of issues or questions that i asked is about a heart , and other issues or question is psychological but
i combine both issues to understand my case.

[tachy911]

Thanks for reply and thanks for sharing your experience info too i enjoyed to read your comment and im happy that im not alone with my case , i read carefully all the comments
and your experience with cbt i will take in consideration

some of books about cbt related
Feeling_Good_The_New_Mood_Therapy_-_David_Burns
depressive-rumination-nature-theory-and-treatment.9780471486923.30384

[sick and tired 47]

Great Posts and info, especially the info on the beta blocker reducing the chances of Post tramic stress.,,, very interesting..
What books would you recommend on cognitive behavior therapy?? Thanks.
K.

[itdood]

Hi Tachy,

I thought those reactions where were out of my control too.  The feelings, adrenaline rush, tach....that stuff always seemed to be completely out of the blue.

For me it did go away for the most part.  I'd say about 98% free of those issues anymore.  Not sure if I had a remission or the CBT helped.  When it comes back I just revert to my training, ID a source, and work on it.

CBT can help where you know you have specific triggers, like a social situation.    I think you mentioned that above, also seems like tasks with deadlines cause it for you.  Those are triggers you can help "unlearn".  Best of luck to you.

[tachy911]

Thanks itdood for reply  i really appreciate that
at first when i approached my symptoms  with other people cases  in medical related forums i discovered previously something about cbt ,even i downloaded lot of ebooks about this issues with a big hope and enthusiasm that the secret key is in this book after reading many pages i realize that there is no magic things happen suddenly and quickly, so i leave reading the book at the end i know i must discover more treatment about cbt
but my question  is with cbt can someone control his automatic reaction ,adrenaline rush's.. angry .. or he must accept and agree his physiological reactions  and agree that someone born without excessive adrenaline rush's  and other yes  

[itdood]

Hi Tachy911

When I was in my early 30s I developed GAD.  I tried the meds which worked amazingly well at first but at the first sign of tolerance I refused to increase the dosages.  That's why I started doing CBT.  

At first I did not believe in it.  I kept at it though through self help books.  This didn't work well for me at all.  

Eventually I ended up in a structured CBT program with 2 doctors pushing me and my amazing fiancée helping me with my 'Homework".  Like school, doing the  homework gave me the most gains.  I started doing "intensive exposures" to all of the phobias I developed.  For instance, I would not get on a bus or airplane anymore because I hated not being able to get out.   So, my wife (upon a therapists recommendation) drove me 35 miles away from home.  Left me with $20 and nothing else.  No cell phone, no wallet.  I was so freaked at this that I actually became angry at her.  Though I agreed to it at first, when it was time to get out of her car I fought.  She stood her ground, tough love.

Well, I made it home OK.  Hopped on a bus and got myself home.  this also cured my flying phobia, I've been back to flying no problem and even got my own single engine pilot's license.

That was a life changing event for me.  It taught me just how strong learned behaviors are and how they can be undone.

Try the CBT, remember I don't think it's effective if done alone.  You need help and you need people pushing you.  

remember 1 key thing, when you have an adrenaline rush, whatever is occurring at that time will become part of your automatic behaviors.   Studies have show that adrenaline positively reinforces behaviors and memories.  In fact, a study showed that when someone is given a beta blocker (blocks adrenaline) following a traumatic event, they markedly decreased the incidence of developing port traumatic stress disorder.     Use this to your advantage.

[tachy911]

thanks for comment
i read lot ebook about cognitive behavioral therapy and as i see that this method give best result than other medical try
but i want to understand ,is this behavioral things is resolved just by "cognitive behavioral therapy" or there is something in my genetics structure even you try to be good but without success on the other side you see other people play well with his life without any complex thinking or behavior .  

[itdood]

Sinus tach is not a big deal.  Your numbers all look fine for sinus tach.  Your blood pressure is supposed to go up when your heart rate goes up.  If it went the other way, well that could be a problem.

It sounds to me like you are dealing with generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder.

The best way to deal with it in my humble opinion is cognitive behavioral therapy.  Certain meds like SSRIs or SNRIs can help you at first but I personally don't consider them a long term strategy.  Benzos can help too, but you will quickly build up a tolerance (2-3 days) then you will be trading one set of problems for another.

How much you are dwelling on these suggests a bit of obsession with the issue.  OCD and anxiety often walk hand-in-hand.  This becomes a vicious circle that feeds on itself.  You are fearful of a fast heart beat, you get anxious and research the heck out of it, the anxiety will increase your sympathetic nerve tone and your heart rate will go up+stress hormones.  You have to break this cycle.  CBT is one method, or a combo of CBT and a med.