HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Elevated resting heart rate and increase in blood pressure

Support Forums
>
Heart & Cardiovascular Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 12/26/2021 12:16 AM (GMT 0)
Good morning,

I'm a 34 year old "healthy" male. Never had any problems with my heart in the past. Had a panic attack once three years ago. No other conditions. Diet okay, exercise could be better although historically fit (running, playing football etc.). Last time I weighed myself I was 70kg. Stressful last year.

Over the past few weeks I've noticed what feel like heart palpitations. They were coming and going and not always noticeable and in particular were not happening at night time in bed. I noticed at times of stress they were there and worse.

But, over the past few days, they have been constant and I've also taken my blood pressure a few times at different times of the day and it's been elevated also. I have not had any particular stress over the last few days but they are persisting.

My blood pressure is usually 110/60 however it is now 120/80. My resting heart rate at bed time is usually about 50 however is now 70. I've had swollen neck glands and pain swallowing in line with the increase in these heart symptoms also. My neck glands are not as painful today as they were yesterday but my HR has not come down.

I visited my local walk in centre this morning and they did an ECG which they said was normal and recommended that I follow up with my local General Practitioner on Wednesday when they re-open which I will do of course. They say I need to have blood tests done to look for things like iron deficiency, thyroid levels etc. but I've not changed my diet or anything like that so I don't know why I would suddenly become anaemic or have a thyroid problem.

I have searched on the internet and found lots of possible causes, from thyroid issues to heart failure.

I have been feeling a lot of stress over the past six months and I understand this could be a possible cause (have read Gabor Mate's excellent book "When The Body Says No") but in the past when I've experienced stressful times, the main thing I get is acid reflux which I have not been experiencing, although I have been experiencing some abdominal bloating from time to time over the past few weeks.

I also have a general feeling of weakness/not feeling well, and my pulse feels weak too and just a general strange feeling in my chest that I can't put my finger on. When I stand up from sitting for a long time I go a little dizzy which I HAVE experienced in the past when I used to exercise heavily and then after a hard run, a few hours later, after sitting for a while, would get dizzy upon standing, but I've not been exercising like that for a long time and over the past six months have not been exercising much at all.

Summing up, sudden unexpected increase in resting heart rate, what feels like a "weak" pulse, increased blood pressure, strange feeling in chest, slight dizzyness when standing, swollen glands in neck, and generally feeling weak.

Any advice / words of encouragement welcome.

Best wishes,
Ross from Blackpool, England.
Posted 12/26/2021 1:02 PM (GMT 0)
One, swollen glands, usually indicates an infection.
Stay of dr google internet searches.
hr goes up and down.
Weakness, hmmm, diet, hydration, iron.
Dizzy......many things.
Reduce stress, reduces hr.
See ya dr. HT
Posted 12/27/2021 9:47 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for getting back to me HT. I think logically I agree with you, but that pesky fear part of my brain took over and got me worrying thinking something bad was happening to me. It was also in the back of my mind that I've read quite a few worrying stories about a certain medical procedure that I took earlier this year that most of the population have also had (I won't name names). So I was worrying thinking my heart might have been compromised in some way as I've never had any problems with my heart before.

I am aiming for reduction in stress by perhaps having some time off work, starting to exercise more, eat less meat and more vegetables, and hopefully I will start to feel better.

Thanks again for your reply, it was re-assuring.
Posted 12/28/2021 8:05 AM (GMT 0)
Keep strong. Hearts are wonky things, very finicky too, sometimes have a bit of attitude.
Your okay, good move on the adjustments, keep stinking thinking at bay, this promotes stress, bp spikes and the heart gets cranky.
HT
Posted 12/28/2021 7:50 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks again. I agree that hearts have attitude. The more I ponder over the wonders of the human body, the more I realise that all systems are linked and all organs have their own personalities that are susceptible to changes in the physical and emotional environment. I have been experiencing a lot of stress, and more recently that has turned into bouts of depression with episodes of immense sadness and crying. I know for example that such a thing as dying of a broken heart is true. The thing for me though, I have a young son, and dying is not acceptable for me at the moment. There is work to do. I need to protect him, guide him in this world as it's getting more and more alien to me. I am taking some time off work and I'm going to do everything I can to correct my course and hopefully that will lead to physiological changes within my body and mind.

I work in mental health so it's now a case of practice what you preach.
Posted 12/28/2021 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
Me, mental health, peer support, advocacy and some teaching in lived experience space, and some
higher end stuff in the same space. I live with Bi polar, mixed mood. HT
Focus on them priorities. HT
Posted 12/29/2021 3:51 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks again. I appreciate your reply.
Posted 1/19/2022 3:09 PM (GMT 0)
Just posting as it's been a few weeks since I originally posted.

I'm still having some trouble that I think may be related to my heart. I went for a "light" jog yesterday, one that ordinarily would not cause me any problems at all with breathlesness or elevated heart rate post-run but when I got home, I felt iffy and my heart rate stayed elevated at around 70 when resting all day. I have a Garmin watch that tracks my stress using HRV and my stress levels were high all day, even when I was sitting watching television.

I've had a two minute ECG at the doctors that didn't throw anything up and I've had some blood tests which also haven't thrown anything up.

Today, the day after I went for the run, I'm noticing that my heart rate will increase up to 90 BPM if I stand up from the sofa and walk to the kitchen. It goes up very quickly to 90 and will then return back down to say 60 within a matter of seconds after sitting down. Usually if I stand up to go to another room it will increase to maybe 70. It's like it's not able to pump enough blood per pump or something, I don't get it.

I'm having a 24 hour heart rate monitor fitted at some point which has been requested by my doctor. I'd like to have an echocardiogram at some point if this doesn't get any better to see if there is anything wrong with the chambers of my heart or the valves. It's very strange. I've previously been very fit. I ran a 40 minute 10k not that many years ago and I've recently played high intensity football, stopping around six months ago, where I could run at very high intensities for up to an hour and be absolutely fine. The jog I did yesterday was an average pace of 9.5 km/hour which for me is quite slow but it really knackered me out and at one point I even had to stop.

I'll mention it to my doctor again but thought I would post on here to see if anybody had any suggestions.

Summarising, it started a few weeks ago with heart palpitations, elevated resting heart rate, blood pressure slightly increased, particularly diastolic which had increased from 60-65 to 75-80. I was sometimes waking up in the night feeling dizzy (only happened a small number of times). Nothing seemed to change with my BOLT score (how long I can hold my breath until I feel the urge to breath, around 30 seconds, this still seems the same). I feel a slight pressure in the right side of my neck if I push myself like on a run or fast walk or walking up stairs (carotid artery?). I have an injury that I sustained when I was in police training where something popped in my ribcage on the right hand side and this suddenly started to be really painful around six months ago out of the blue; I just woke up one morning and the pain was going from my breast bone round to my spine and also up my neck. This is also where I seem to feel the chest discomfort, on the right hand side. I think related. Doctor doesn't seem interested in the injury though.

Have had a chest x-ray that was "normal".

Anyway, if you've read this thanks. I'm not going to be doing any runs any time soon; I'll stick to walks.

Best wishes,
Ross
Posted 8/3/2022 2:40 AM (GMT 0)
I've been feeling better of late but have been having heart palpitations over the last few months, has eased over last few weeks.

Last night I did a bit of exercise, push ups, pull ups etc. Nothing majorly strenuous, but I did push myself more than usual.

Since finishing, HR been elevated, won't get down below 60. I feel red hot. I feel "anxious" in my chest.

I've been cycling to work last two weeks and been absolutely fine. Its like when I push myself a bit my heart gets tired and then loses it's ability to pump strongly and so has to pump faster.

Very frustrating.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply