Needing a distraction...badly - Anxiety Message Board

Diane720 · 10-18-2006, 10:37 AM

Well after almost 9yrs of this anxiety crap.....you'd think I would be used to it by now. Here I am getting ready to go to therapy...and my heart feels like it's racing. I checked my pulse and its 102 (is that high)? You would think therapy would calm me down, but everytime I have to go, I become a nervous wreck. I am agorophobic, so maybe it has to do with that.
Does everyone here have a high heart rate? Mine seems to go up and down a lot.

I'm headed out the door....hopefully I will make it there and back without falling apart.

Diane

trg247 · 10-18-2006, 04:10 PM

therapy is a good thing especially when dealing with agrophobia. Your pulse rate is on the high end of the normal. Most people with anxiety tend to have a flucuating heart rate

trg247

808Lion · 10-19-2006, 05:04 AM

more informative for you to know what your "resting" heart rate is...
the 100+ number sounds like (from what you wrote) the heart rate you're experiencing during an anxious episode...
increased heart rate is one of the more common symptoms of anxiety so if this is why it's happening, it doesn't sound like something to be overly concerned with...
i think a normal resting heart rate is on average around 70ish...

Diane720 · 10-19-2006, 05:39 AM

Thanks for the replies. I made it to therapy, and started feeling a little better once we started talking. I'm not real sure what my resting heart rate is....but I do check it sometimes during the day when I'm just sitting here at my computer...and it's always around 90. My anxiety is so high already, I try not to check it very often so I don't add more worry. It just seems like it goes up an awful lot, even if I just stand up. I know I need to be exercising, but I can't get started out of fear my heart rate will go up too much. I do see a cardiologist and have had ultrasounds, and ekg's and had the stress test done (which I hyperventilated on) and he basically just tells me to start off slow walking. I wish I could stop being so anxious about my heart so dang much, and just go out and do it. ANXIETY SUCKS!

Diane

Leela_C · 10-19-2006, 07:28 AM

Hi Diane. I would say that more than half of the people that post on this message board have heart worries. I am one of them. I'm actually totally obsessed with my heart. My heart rate fluctuates daily - one minute it can be around 50 (I take beta blockers) and then next minute it can be around 100. Mine is at it's worst when I first wake up in the morning. I have been checked out thoroughly and was told to exercise. I have started going to the gym. I get nervous every time I go, but it gets better each time. I'm sorry you have to go through this too. If your doctor thinks you should do some walking, that will probably be good for you. Do you have someone that will walk with you? That would probably make you feel a little less nervous. I hope you feel better soon.