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Q: Strange Patterns In My Heart Rate

asked by: Michael Ratcliffe on April 24th, 2006

New User

Over the last 6 months I have started to have occasional palpitations which tend to last an hour or so. Often, if the palpitations are less than 160bpm I perform the valsalva manouver, my heart rate goes slightly faster and then drops back to normal. I have had these palpatations spike up to 196bpm on occasions. The palpitations usually take around 2-3 seconds to reach their maximum speed, remain for a few minutes and then return to normal within 2-3 seconds.

I have noticed that these palpitations usually occur when I am at rest and suspect that there is a problem with the way my heart responds to changes in blood pressure. The doctor was very dismissive and said they are just panic attacks but the palpitations are not accompanied by anxiety or panic, I am a very laid back person. To make an attempt at monitoring this problem I bought a pulsemeter and managed to catch one of these attacks.

My weight is 101kg and I am 172cm high, I am 32 years old. Two weeks ago I had my blood pressure measured at 123/80 but a couple of days ago it was measured at 160/100. I would like to lose my excess weight but these palpatations make me very nervous about exercising. I have not drank alcohol, tea, coffee or smoked tobacco for around 10 years. I am also vegetarian but do eat seafood.

My doctor does not seem to think that the 'flatline' pulse has any relevance but it does not seem very common and I suspect it does have some significance.

Is there any conclusion that can be drawn from these results?

Replies(2)

symmetryconsult

replied on April 25th, 2006

New User

I can't see your excel chart for some reason but hearing your description of everything it kind of sound like you are going into states of ventricular tachycardia. The only way for you to be sure would either perhaps get a referak for cardiac rehab (most sites monitor on a simple lead 2 ekg and would be able to see it if it happens, have a stress test done and see if it shows up (it may not but many times stressed exercise will cause it to come up) or they have cardiac monitors that you can wear for a prolonged period of time (say 24hrs) that will record your ekg throughout that day...And see if and when you have palpitations if shows up. Other than that I am not sure...A fib is always a possibility but very unlikely by your description, plus pulsemeters usually record your ventricular rythym. Well thats my thoughts anyway....But I am not a doctor (though I do work in cardiac rehab and am hoping to go to medical school to become a cardiologist)...But perhaps you could bring these suggestions to your doctor/cardiologist.

Ps.Usually vt does not last for an hour, but I did have a pt. In rehab that had non-symptomatic sustained vt so always a possibility..Best of luck with that.

Michael Ratcliffe

replied on April 26th, 2006

New User

Thanks for the reply. I wore a holter monitor yesterday and did manage to have a small palpitation (i broke all of the rules to do it, chocolate, junk food, no liquids etc. So I feel terrible today). It was only for about a minute and would have only been around 120bpm but hopefully was caught by the monitor.

As far as ventricular tachycardia, maybe, I do not know for sure. Because the palpitations can be anything from 120-200bpm, cause no chest pain and always feel very regular I am not sure about that but I guess I need to wait for my results to find out. It does seem to 'miss a beat' and that is when it goes into overdrive but I think there are hundreds of causes for that kind of thing. The very regular rhythm when it beats fast does seem unusual though. My brother and mother have the same problem but the doctors just told them they are panic attacks and performed no tests ... I feel no panic or anxiety with them, I do not even get lightheaded.

I suppose I should also begin to monitor my bp after the 160/100 result but I was not feeling good so maybe that was the result of a flu virus I had a week before (when I had the flu my bp was 100/?, they could not find the bottom reading). My blood pressure is normaly very close to the perfect 120/80.

I have a stress test on tuesday and I can see then how safe it is to begin exercising again. I guess you could not see the excel sheet because it is an excel 2003 document and you would have had to wait a minute or so for it to finish downloading.

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