hi chaps.

about 3-4 months ago i got tests done on a few things like, heart disease, cholesterol, thyroid gland and another thing or two. these tests were done cos i am a "few pounds over weight" im not obese, just over weight.
...well all the tests came back ok, so i was delighted.

im 31, scottish, asthmatic, allergic to house dust mite and apart from that im ok.

BUT...for a while now i have been getting a racing heart, not palpitations, just fast and racey. and not to the extent where its real bad, just annoying.
and this seems to happen at night whilst trying to get to sleep, and not everynight. i have been to see the Dr 3 times with this, and he said my heart is fine, and not to worry, he sent me to the hospital also once to double check, and also they said although it was "slightly fast" there was no problems...they but it down to anxiety or panic attacks, so i thoght ok...
thing is i dont feel anxious or panicy.

so the question is, after all these tests, and with my illnesses listed...

...WHAT COULD THIS BE ?

any help or understanding would be lovely, and id even ship over some haggis to the best reply.

here is a pic of me for no other reason that i wanted to...

THANK U !!! :jester:


http://www.footballforums.net/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=1051187

:wave: Scotishperson :)
I have a racing heart myself. I had no idea mine was racing until a Dr. clocked it at 121 BPM for over a month!
I apparently had gotten so use to it I didn't even notice.
Sometimes you have to go get second even third opinons.
They ran a slew of test on me from tyroid to Chest Xrays to Echo Cardio Gram and Adrenal functions and found zip nada nothing! They think it is panic disorder and bad aniexty but I am wondering if this is what they tell you when they can't diagnose? I am a high stress type person and do get anxious more than most but my instinct tells me there is something else going on? I went to four Dr.'s YEP 4 Dr.s in a three month period.
One thing I did for myself is buy one of those wrist monitors that will tell you your heart rate. They are pretty cheap and very good. I take a beta blocker as well as a aniexty med which has been somewhat normal.
Good Luck, let us know how you make out xxoo

My Dad had the same exact thing. He's 80 and has the body of a clean-living, healthy 30-yr-old, no blockages, no major health problems, nothing!! He was on beta blockers for a while and they didn't do much good. Now he's taking something called "Slow-Mag" which I assume is a timed-release magnesium supplement of some sort. Guess what - no more palpitations.

Could it be related to your asthma or medications that you take for asthma? Might be something to question before dismissing it as anxiety... though sometimes anxiety can manifest itself in physical symptoms without the mental feeling of anxiety. When you say your heartrate is fast, do you know how fast? One thing I would advise against personally, if you *are* the anxious type, is continous monitoring devices (unless reccommended by your doctor of course). Self-monitoring when the cause is anxiety related, tends to make one constantly think about it and constantly nervouse about it, and thus the entire problem becomes an increasing cycle. But hey, that's just in general. If it works for you, Bell, then that's great :).

Could it be related to your asthma or medications that you take for asthma? Might be something to question before dismissing it as anxiety... though sometimes anxiety can manifest itself in physical symptoms without the mental feeling of anxiety. When you say your heartrate is fast, do you know how fast? One thing I would advise against personally, if you *are* the anxious type, is continous monitoring devices (unless reccommended by your doctor of course). Self-monitoring when the cause is anxiety related, tends to make one constantly think about it and constantly nervouse about it, and thus the entire problem becomes an increasing cycle. But hey, that's just in general. If it works for you, Bell, then that's great :).
My Dr. told me to get one as it's vital to track it. I am supposed to check three times a day but often forget. Like I said I am not convinced mine is aniexy related. It is better (for Me) to know rather than go to ER, it's also good to know things that may trigger it and times of day in which it races :wave:

I have racing heart that I felt only at nite. For me. I was on Effexor 75 mg and I had my first panic attack so they moved me to 150mg and gave me Xanax at nite. I only every had 1 attack. At my next visit to the Dr, I mentioned that I dealt with panic issues, but my heart still felt "funny" at nite. She wrote for more Xanax. A couple months later. I went in and told her that I knew it was not anxiety (totally different feel), but yet my heart some nights felt like it could pound out of my chest. She did a 24 hour heart monitor. Clocked heart rate at 180 beats for 8 minutes. Saw cardiologist. I have Supraventricular Tacacardia or SVT. Cardiologist says its from birth defect. I questioned if it was from increase in Effexor. Very concidental that it stared when it was increased. Plus I always had low, low blood preasure. Effexor can raise. 75 mg. raised to low average and 150 mg put me at 120/80 or 132/88 and I was always 86/60 kinda person. Anyone else with this on Effexor might want to think of changing meds. Cardio put me on Toprol XL 25mg and GP changed Effexor to Lexapro and no more heart issues. Still going to do additional tests, but if all checks out with my heart, I'd like to go off Toprol and see what happens. Don't all assume its anxiety. Listen to your body and mind and really think about anxiety symptoms (nervous stomach, crying etc) and heart rate. The biggest problem I had was when my heart started to pound so badly, I would start worrying I was having a heart attack and then I would start getting anxious! I'm sure you can relate!

I have IST (inappropriate sinus tachycardia). I didn't know I had it either, until it was caught by an ekg. It was 170 bpm and I didn't feel it. I was however exhausted! Checking to see if it is related to your asthma med is a good idea. If it's not med related or anxiety related, maybe it is IST. To better figure it out you should see a cardiac EP, they specialize in arrhythmias.

I ended up at the hospital this past weekend with my heart racing aat 178 beats per minute. They brought it down, kept me over night and then sent me home with a prescription for Toprol XL to be used as a Beta Blocker to ward off any other attacks. I am 64 yrs old and have not taken medication in many many years, just vitamins. The eletrocardigram and all of the other test don't show any heart disease and my family history has none. However there is high blood pressure issues and low blood pressure issues in my family history and unfortunely I have a history of blood clots when I have had surgery. The hospital MD.FACC was upset that I took vitamins and so is my regular doctor, in fact one called me as much as an idiot because they felt my palpitations could have been a direct result of the herbs. I spoke with my nutrionist who put me on certain vitamins and she said that is riduculous. She feels that because I have a family history of Diabetes in my sister and my mother that this could be a sugar issue. So, I am so torn now. I want to never experience what happened to me this weekend again, it scared me to death and my family came unglued. I am on 25 mg Torol XL and I feel terrible, my left foot is numb, I feel like all I can do is drag around (I think some of it is the weekend scare and my body has to adjust, but I know some of it is side effects from the medicine), my mouth is dry. I don't do medicines well anyway. I tend to agree with my nutrionist and want to get something done for sugar so I am going to monitor that with a machine and monitor my blood pressure. I really don't want to take the Toprol at all and I am very tempted to stop but now I am scared because they say that can be worse. Can someone help me?