Uncomfortable Heart Rate
Hello everyone,
For the past few months Ive been dealing with daily heart palpitations and high heart rates. Every morning, I find myself waking up to my heart pounding out of my chest. The doctors think its just stress and anxiety, however I feel like its other causes. I honestly dont have a panic attack until after I realize my heart rate is sky high. The crazy changes in my heart rate really scare me and make my head spiral into constant worry. Manu days, I cant seem to bring the heart rate down even with deep breathing and meditation. Has anyone else experienced waking up to heart palpitations for weeks at a time? Im really getting tired and frustrated that I cant get this under control. Im beginning to think something is really wrong with me even though the doctors dont think so. Any feedback you could provide would be so helpful.
@justaguywithanxiety I get them sometime. I just start doing something. When I get my mind off it, I don't notice it as much. It's kinda hard in the middle of the night. I know it's hard, but try as hard as you can to think about something else.
@jordanc0856 It
@justaguywithanxiety My wife has been having me drink chamomile tea (with a teaspoon of honey and lemon slice). That also helps calm me. But I do know what you're going tbrough, and it'a not fun at all.
@jordanc0856 Ill have to try the tea; at this point Im desperate to try anything. Thanks for the help and understanding.
@justaguywithanxiety Any time!
@justaguywithanxiety
Hi! I've actually started feeling them constantly too :) It seems I have severe anxiety; so I've been feeling the worst parts of it. The thing that bothers me the most is that sometimes I think I'll be able to rest from it when I go to sleep, but I just end up having nightmares that provoke anxiety attacks that make me wake up, so you're not alone in this. I started lettering as a hobby; it helps me forget about it at times since I'm concentrating in something else.
Have you tried physical activities that you enjoy per se? It could also help you.
You can message me anytime if you want someone to talk about this. :)
@relaxSea This is incredibly reassuring that others are having very similar symptoms. I also find myself having night anxiety after nightmares. I try to keep my mind as occupied as possible. However, sometimes physical activity invokes the fear of another anxiety attack. It
@justaguywithanxiety I completely agree with this. Sometimes my nightmares are not even things that I'm stressing about which makes it even worse. Sometimes I try dancing, but then I just end up concentrating on how long I've been without it, that it's uncomfortable doing it in my room, and so on. I think we can all agree that the part we hate the most is when we're feeling good, and it just strikes again randomly.
@justaguywithanxiety
Hi!
When my anxiety gets really bad my heart rate goes through the roof and sometimes I get palpitations, especially if I'm subonsciously holding my breath out of tension or if my chest muscles get tight (from anxiety) that I breathe in too shallow and quickly. I am also struggling with Health Anxiety (or Hypochondriasis, as it used to be known) and so I also pay very very very lose attention to every body sensation and possible "symptom" of any kind of disease and always find myself mistrusting doctors or blood tests - always thinking they might've missed something or I have something rare that can't be found, etc etc. After learning about Health Anxiety and how lots of people go through these thoughts and symptom fixations, it really helped me feel less alone and less like I was actually sick.
What I found useful to first get through the hardest days was to buy a pulse oximeter reader. When I'm paranoid about my heart rate I check it really quick and if its under a certain number I feel better, or if my heart rate seems super high I try breathing or watching something short and funny/cute/relaxing to take my mind off it for like 5 minutes and check it again and it always goes down again and I feel better. Also, with an oximeter, I can see that I'm getting enough oxygen (my anxiety makes it feel like my throat closes and I can't breathe, but it actually doesn't restrict my oxugen intake at all of course) and I feel better with the reassurance. At my worst, (its embarrassing to admit) I actually bought a cheap little at-home EKG machine off of Amazon and whenever I'm "sure" I'm having irregular heart activity it only takes 30 seconds and it always says "no abnormalities", which helps me relax a LOT. I always tell myself that if something comes up as abnormal at least then I'd have something to show a doctor, but of course nothing has shown up. Now, as I'm trying to get better, I'm restricting how often I use these devices to body scan and to break those unhelpful fixations, but they really helped give me peace of mind when I was having panic attacks every day. They're not a long-term solution, but they helped reassure me that I was just anxious and needed to lay down and breathe till I felt better.
I know how exhausting it is to always be worried and how frustrating it is that that worry can cause more symptoms - it feels like a never-ending cycle. But its ok, don't be too hard on yourself :)
@firebirdnonnette Thank you for sharing your story. I deal with obsessive thoughts about my health, often assuming to worst. The fear of my heart rate is based on my fear of heart problems. I completely understand the need to find immediate reassurance, something these gadgets can provide. To be honest, this seems far more reasonable than visiting an ER every time a new worrying symptom pops up (which Ive done, multiple times). I find it challenging to constantly remind myself that everything is ok, it gets really tiring and frustrating. I would love a day that I wake up without heart palpitations. It would ease my mind and make me feel like Im making progress. Instead, I dwell on it happening the night before.
@justaguywithanxiety hi! Thank you for sharing this.
I too have palpitations every day all day and I know it's hard to ignore them.ive been suffering from anxiety for a month now and it's been awful. I've been suffering from health anxiety and it also comes from thinking I have heart problems. I've gone to the ER more than 13 times and cardiologist 2 times and every time I get bloodwork and EKGs done and everything comes out fine but it's still hard to trust the dr. I'm always thinking they missed something. Just today I felt something on my chest and immediately threw myself in a panic thinking I was going to have a heart attack. Im taking atenolol for high blood pressure and it doesn't allow my rate to go high which also scares me especially at night because I think my heart is going to stop. On the 26, I have an appointment with the cardiologist to get a holter monitor just to make sure the palpitations are not anything serious. I wish I could feel " normal " again but it is very reassuring knowing we are not alone.