Pls Need help - can't lower my Heart Rate (was at hospital)

[r3ccOs]

I've reached out to friends/family and been to Emerge and just wanting help from anyone, as this is freaking me out.
I'm 38, always been fit, lift weights and do cardio sports like hockey, soccer, skiing and biking. My resting HR is generally 58-63
I don't smoke, do drugs or drink - I'm lame

long story short: Acute high HR - still going on
About 24 hours ago, I finished a long duration in my infred sauna, which is no more than what I typical for me.

Put the kids down, wife asks for help for the laundry. Before I do this I see my 50lbs dumbbells sitting beside and I pick them up to do some shoulder press. This time I get that fainting, light headed sensation but this has happened before and I push through.

I then go and try to help my wife.

I start getting these tremors and palpitations - which I've rarely had... thought they'd go away.

I start getting shortness of breath, and look at my fitbit for the HR and its flying in the 120>... I'm like ok calm down, drink water and it'll be fine.

2 1/2 hours goes by... I'm not doing Good. Amongst the Covid going on - I call the Ambulance (midnight) - they do BP and a ECG and found nothing. Said they've seen lots of heart attack but this isn't one of them and just to "calm".

OK! - this helps, but HR is still sitting at like 95-100... I do what I can to try to bring my HR down, and finally it starts dipping into the 80's, then the 70s!
Its 2:00 AM so I figure I can go to sleep, which I am able to, though I can still feel the palpitations.

Wake back up at 6:30 to go to the can... this is where its bad, and I'm having a hard time getting to go to the washroom, covered in sweat, and my HR is pinned at 122 and I'm dry heaving.

I needed to go to the Hospital and got my neighbor to drop me off. Luckily the Hospital is divided and on the Yellow non-COVID section (RED) they are able to seem me immediately. No wait, its dead in the waiting rooms. They do the BP, ECG again, blood test and a X-RAY (which I did happen to pass some Covid patients... omg it looked so dire)

Wait wait wait, scrub the shit out of everything with hand sanitizer... EVERYTHING, the chair I'm waiting for, my jacket that I had to put on a desk, etc...

Results comes back and Dr. is just like -- I don't know what to say, nothing. No proteins or infections or anything... you are not having a cardiac situation. - We have to discharge you

By this point my HR is high 80's - 100

I come home, have a nap... still high, wake up, still high, drinking water doing everything I can....

I'm feeling flushed, palpitations and exhausted - like my heart is running a marathon

everyone seems to be attributing this to Panic/Anxiety -- BUT I've never really had any episodes.
I have had a situation where after playing hockey an drinking a full monster energy, it took me hours for my HR to come back down - scary as well
My wife woke me up for a nookie a few weeks back and that too was odd and it took about 45 mins to calm down.

but this is ongoing 24 hours now

I talked to my Nurse friend who assures me that my HR is high, for some reason, but its not life threatening at this point. She thinks it may have been heat stroke, anxiety and the blood pressure drop from lifting the weights that caused all this to happen.

I'm trying all the calming techniques, and have called my family doctor's on-call to see what I can do.

With COVID and everything happening, ugh what timing....

[firebane]

I have been in the same boat and even had a monitor worn for 24 hours and found nothing wrong with.

Generally these symptoms come up due to subconscious things going on and basically you need to pull yourself away from everything and allow yourself to just relax and calm down.

For myself I find a dark room with noise cancelling headphones and really quiet type music helps.

Palpations and getting light headed is scary as fuck and not a good feeling.

[revelations]

I've had heart 'isues' but not exactly the same - PVC (pre ventricular contractions). Felt like someone was hammering my chest - kept me from sleeping some times. I wore a heart monitor thingy for several days (multiple electrodes) and a stress test on the treadmill in a lab.

In the end, nothing wrong was found (blood test was OK too) - PVC isnt ideal, but its not life threatening.

Got so tired of it that I took Magnesium/Potassium/Calcium and the whole thing cleared up in 2 days. Electrolytes are so key to active bodies. Surprised that wasnt mentioned once.

In your case, I agree with poster above - anxiety factors may need to be addressed as well. Turn off the news, if you haven't already. Anxiety is a self-feeding thing.

[ThePenIsMightier]

My take is you are stressed from the pandemic. You seem very concerned about catching it when catching it would extremely likely mean nothing more than a mild inconvenience for you.
I don't know how to tell you to trick your brain into relaxing, but I'm guessing you are over stressed.
I hope you can find a way to fix it!

[Clever]

Had something similar happen about a month ago, and I truly believe it is anxiety or a panic attack. In my case, I’ve been dealing with family health issues and then this pandemic. I’m a healthy, 41 year old and it hit me during my commute to work. Felt like I was going to pass out in the train, couldn’t breathe and my whole body was overheating, it was freezing out then. I had to get off and found a spot to sit down to just breathe and calm myself. Took almost the entire day before my heart rate went back to normal.

Try to calm your mind and body. The world is crazy right now but this to shall pass.

[Proyecto2000]

I have been going through the same stuff as most of the poster above. Done the 24 hr, 48 hr, Cardiologist visit and a stress test. Everything comes back inconclusive as the doctors have all agreed on stress being the likely culprit.

It is annoying to randomly burst out into a sweat and have BPM showing above 120 on the fit bit while sitting down and doing nothing. I guess with the economy and daily life and family stress it can take a big toll on your mind and body.

hang in there and try to de-stress as much as possible. I been dealing with this for 2 years now

[ExtraSlow]

OP, if you have Netflix, watch Bob Ross for a couple of hours. That always lowers my stress level.

[jwslam]

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Generally these symptoms come up due to subconscious things going on and basically you need to pull yourself away from everything and allow yourself to just relax and calm down.

For myself I find a dark room with noise cancelling headphones and really quiet type music helps.

Palpations and getting light headed is scary as fuck and not a good feeling.

This. Try some sort of guided meditation or breath work.

[Brent.ff]

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I don't smoke, do drugs or drink - I'm lame
.

Well.. if there's anytime to start, sounds like now

[r3ccOs]

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Well.. if there's anytime to start, sounds like now

Even the nurse at the hospital said the same thing.

Update -- after typing this out, talked a Nurse friend (who works for 811) and walked me through the course of events...
"So you were shopping, concerned about Covid risks from Co-Op, went home, disinfected, showered and wiped down everything. Then decided you would go and sit in the sauna for an extended period of time, put the kids down and without warmup throw weights over your head where you became dizzy."

Then she asked me... ok, how much water did you drink today, and before the sauana. Then thinking about it, all I had was a smoothie and a can of diet pop. She also asked, did you take anything with electrolytes? Me, "No, never thought to"

I told her I drank lots of water, was basically pissing white at this point... but she was certain that my salt/electrolyte content was too low. I told her I think I had a tub of Biosteel which is an electrolyte sports drinks. She told me to drink a few scoops and see how I do.

Placebo or not, after about an hour after drinking two scoops (1L) of this stuff... my HR started coming down more rapidly. Whereas before if I got up to move - I'd be at 102 and pinned there for 5 minutes or more, even if I saw down. Finally after that I was able to drop my RHR to around the low 80's even getting up moving where it spiked.

Went to bed early, and then woke up this morning to find my RHR was 68 (good). Moved around to get grab a crying kid, and it went up to 96, 101, then after sitting down with him, back down to 82 right away.

Its been like this since a good nights sleep and replenishing electrolytes.

Conclusion. Spoke to her again this morning and she likely thinks that the stress from shopping + dehydration and heat (heatstroke) + shock from going lightheaded from the overhead lifts put my body in a shock condition where without enough electrolytes the sinus nerve wasn't able to send a proper signal.

Feeling much better today guys, but I guess the moral of the story is to not push it, breath deep, re-hydrate and replenish. I'm 38 not 28

I'm still not 100% but definitely recovering!

[firebane]

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Even the nurse at the hospital said the same thing.

Update -- after typing this out, talked a Nurse friend (who works for 811) and walked me through the course of events...
"So you were shopping, concerned about Covid risks from Co-Op, went home, disinfected, showered and wiped down everything. Then decided you would go and sit in the sauna for an extended period of time, put the kids down and without warmup throw weights over your head where you became dizzy."

Then she asked me... ok, how much water did you drink today, and before the sauana. Then thinking about it, all I had was a smoothie and a can of diet pop. She also asked, did you take anything with electrolytes? Me, "No, never thought to"

I told her I drank lots of water, was basically pissing white at this point... but she was certain that my salt/electrolyte content was too low. I told her I think I had a tub of Biosteel which is an electrolyte sports drinks. She told me to drink a few scoops and see how I do.

Placebo or not, after about an hour after drinking two scoops (1L) of this stuff... my HR started coming down more rapidly. Whereas before if I got up to move - I'd be at 102 and pinned there for 5 minutes or more, even if I saw down. Finally after that I was able to drop my RHR to around the low 80's even getting up moving where it spiked.

Went to bed early, and then woke up this morning to find my RHR was 68 (good). Moved around to get grab a crying kid, and it went up to 96, 101, then after sitting down with him, back down to 82 right away.

Its been like this since a good nights sleep and replenishing electrolytes.

Conclusion. Spoke to her again this morning and she likely thinks that the stress from shopping + dehydration and heat (heatstroke) + shock from going lightheaded from the overhead lifts put my body in a shock condition where without enough electrolytes the sinus nerve wasn't able to send a proper signal.

Feeling much better today guys, but I guess the moral of the story is to not push it, breath deep, re-hydrate and replenish. I'm 38 not 28

I'm still not 100% but definitely recovering!

This is exactly what I posted. You are stressing yourself out or creating un-needed anxiety. You need to learn how to cope with this when this shit happens or it gets bad. I've had to physically take days off work because of it and actually left a job because the stress was too much.

[ExtraSlow]

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Even the nurse at the hospital said the same thing.

Update -- after typing this out, talked a Nurse friend (who works for 811) and walked me through the course of events...
"So you were shopping, concerned about Covid risks from Co-Op, went home, disinfected, showered and wiped down everything. Then decided you would go and sit in the sauna for an extended period of time, put the kids down and without warmup throw weights over your head where you became dizzy."
.....

Feeling much better today guys, but I guess the moral of the story is to not push it, breath deep, re-hydrate and replenish. I'm 38 not 28

I'm still not 100% but definitely recovering!

Yeah, I didn't want to sound too judgmental, but it did kind of sound like a crazy routine. I think mental stress probably got you into a poor state of mind. I'm guessing you feel like you "have to do something" to help your situation? I'm no doctor, but I think you need to carve out a couple "brain breaks" each day where you sit still, drink something healthy, and don't accomplish anything external.

I think a lot of us ignore our mental health, and that mostly sorta works in "normal" times, but when there's extra stress, from unemployment, divorce, Covid-19, or whatever, you need to take care of your mental health like you would from a phyical injury. Imagine you broke your ankle, how much you'd change your daily routine for that?

Anywhoooo, hope you feel better today, and best wishes buddy.

[r3ccOs]

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Yeah, I didn't want to sound too judgmental, but it did kind of sound like a crazy routine. I think mental stress probably got you into a poor state of mind. I'm guessing you feel like you "have to do something" to help your situation? I'm no doctor, but I think you need to carve out a couple "brain breaks" each day where you sit still, drink something healthy, and don't accomplish anything external.

I think a lot of us ignore our mental health, and that mostly sorta works in "normal" times, but when there's extra stress, from unemployment, divorce, Covid-19, or whatever, you need to take care of your mental health like you would from a phyical injury. Imagine you broke your ankle, how much you'd change your daily routine for that?

Anywhoooo, hope you feel better today, and best wishes buddy.

I think for years I've always ignored my mental health, and only one other time I dealt with anxiety (first time) was after I was attacked and had to protect myself from a homeless man who was breaking into my Thule and awaiting test results of HIV & hep (both neg)

I am definitely boarding on the Aspergers spectrum and I think everyone would say I live a mental life --- I obsess over hobbies and interests, constantly reading up, on YouTube, trying to learn and do new things and perfect them. I'm a high performer, and always put t 110% into everything... from going to the gym, cycling, playing hockey at men league at 11:30PM... and of course leaning heavily on caffeine and pre-workouts to get me through it all.

I've always received a clean bill of health from my Drs. as I go in for routine tests, including stress and did VO2s when I was training.

I get bored easily and have a hard time just unwinding to relax. Hate going to sleep, but also hate waking up.

Couple that with I'm getting older, have two kids under 5 who are constantly up throughout the night and are early risers PLUS recovering from a relatively hard year from my knee surgery (patella tendon rupture), rehab, losing my job (due being guilty of association) finding a new job, starting a new job yada yada and a shaky home/relationship situation I should have taken the time for myself.

Wrecking my knee last year was catastrophic... there goes my hockey/skiing season, but I rushed and pushed myself through rehab and rebuild, such that within 3 months of having the strongest tendon in my body tear to being able to do light skiing, light shinny and cycling. By September my left leg was as strong as my right and I was back ready for hockey. My Surgeon asked me about my injury history, and I said none - so she attributed this to wear and tear.

As to Extraslow's comment - just like a injury, with Mental Health, you need to work around your routine and find ways to not only accommodate but recover from it.

[vengie]

Jesus you sound a lot like me... aside from the aspergers.

How long are your infrared sessions? I usually don't recommend longer than 60 mins, and during that 60 min session I will hammer 2L of warm lemon ginger tea with additional lemon juice added.

A good friend of mine pointed me in the direction of a man by the name of Wim Hof, I've been following his breathing techniques for a few weeks and its helping for sure.
A supplement I also started taking is lions mane mushroom. This was more to deal with the anxiety I was constantly feeling and the burden of stress I have been under, also Omega supplement.
https://www.amazon.ca/Organic-Mushro...NsaWNrPXRydWU=

Keep that brain healthy my friend... we only have one.
Best of luck my friend, anxiety is fucking brutal.

[jwslam]

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and of course leaning heavily on caffeine and pre-workouts to get me through it all.

Do you track how this affects your heart?

[ExtraSlow]

I have people in my family with Asperger's, and yeah, I can see how that would be a contributing factor to the "trying to do too much" reaction to stress. Might help if you schedule your downtime, and list exactly what you will do.

Like: 2:00 Pm, make herbal tea and drink it in my favourite chair with instrumental piano playlist for 60 minutes. This allows my brain to process previous stimulus and strengthens me for the rest of the day "

[Pacman]

I went through something similar 4 years ago. Had a high resting heart rate (between 90 and 110) for no apparent reason. Went to the ER, and had the same tests as you and everything came back fine. ER doc went one step further and brought in a cardiologist just to be sure. That led to multiple appointments with heart tracing, stress tests, CT scans, ultrasounds and other tests to see if they could find anything. All came back ok. I bought a fitbit and started monitoring it myself and it just kinda went away. Cardiologist thinks it was related to stress or my acid reflux acting up (which is related to stress). I never really felt like I was stressed out at the time, but but looking back I think it could have been contributing.

[Brent.ff]

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like: 2:00 pm, make herbal tea and drink it in my favourite chair with instrumental phil playlist for 60 minutes. This allows my brain to process previous stimulus and strengthens me for the rest of the day "

ftfy

[r3ccOs]

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I went through something similar 4 years ago. Had a high resting heart rate (between 90 and 110) for no apparent reason. Went to the ER, and had the same tests as you and everything came back fine. ER doc went one step further and brought in a cardiologist just to be sure. That led to multiple appointments with heart tracing, stress tests, CT scans, ultrasounds and other tests to see if they could find anything. All came back ok. I bought a fitbit and started monitoring it myself and it just kinda went away. Cardiologist thinks it was related to stress or my acid reflux acting up (which is related to stress). I never really felt like I was stressed out at the time, but but looking back I think it could have been contributing.

So today I felt ok enough, after talking to my Dr.... giving me reassurances that I didn't have a heart attack as per the blood test, no pulmonary embolism as per x-ray, and my BP is "ok". No fever is also no sign of infection or a thyroid storm.

I felt good enough to jump onto a couple conference bridges today to listen and actively participate, so by the end of the day I was feeling "good". - I was averaging around 82-87 while sitting in my chair

My kiddo ask me to go for a bike ride, so I figure... maybe all this is in my head and maybe it was just the electrolyte -- I went for a very very very light spin, felt ok (HR sat around 100) but then stupid me not thinking I bunny hopped a curb, and then... out of nowhere my HR just spike.

We get home, go inside for dinner, and heart is pretty high and I have to breath. Even though I. manage to get it down into the 90's... I feel like I can't concentrate, no appetite.

I go upstairs to the bedroom, and the wife puts on a calming meditation thing where I actually pay attention to, and while lying down I manage to get my HR down into the mid-70s.

I go and check my BP - its good 127/86

but it feels like my arms, my legs everything is fatigued like I just ran 10k... WHAT is going on...

sigh...

[ExtraSlow]

Bud, I'm not a doctor, but if your HR is "82-87 while sitting in my chair" then maybe you aren't back to normal yet.