I went to bed last night with a resting heart rate of about 114. This is high for me. I'm usually in the 60's.

Woke up this morning and was in the same range. Sometimes even in the 120's. No pain, just panic and fear setting in becuase the RHR was so high.

I came to school and ended up having stomach issues and a full blown panic attack due to the fear. Think I'm ok now, but RHR still in the 80's.

Any ideas???? And at what RHR does it become dangerous slash heart attack zone?

 

 

Hi Wendy,

Sometimes if my heart seems to be beating very fast I will do the what they call cleansing breaths where you breathe in slowly with your abdomen rising and out slowly bringing your abdomen in. Putting your hand on your abdomen and feeling it rise and fall helps to see if your doing it right (I learned it from reading Dr. Ozz book) About heart attack zone I am not exactly sure but I do know when my patients HR is consistently in the 120''s and higher they monitor them on telemetry especially if their RHR is not normally high. So I guess if it continues to run high all the time I'd call the Dr.just to be sure.But sounds like your doing ok in the 80's. Hope by now things are doing better. Carol

 

Hello Wenditt,

Based on my experience higher than normal heart rates should not be ignored if they persist for an extended period.

I chugged along with my normal 55 to 65 BPM for years and one night I noticed my pulse was at 90. No discomfort whatsoever so I ignored it. The high HR continued for a week or two with me curious about what was going on and I planned to asked the doctor at my next scheduled visit which was about a month away. I didn't get to wait a month because I had a full blown heart attack that resulted in quadruple bypass surgery.

When I had fully recovered from the surgery, in about 2 months, my heart rate had returned to the 55 to 65 range where it stayed until I ran into a doctor that had a pacemaker he needed to sell and I was his victim. I wore that thing for 8 years and then needed it, as I do today. I guess the good Dr. was clairvoyant, although I still think he is an arrogant ass.

I haven't told you this to frighten you, but to emphasize my point that the cemeteries are home to lots of people that were like me and thought they would wait until it was convenient to ask what was going on, only they were not as lucky as I was.

Now for my standard spiel. If you have pain below the ears and above the belt that you can't identify or if you have other persistent symptoms that you think may involve with your heart that you can't identify, ask a doctor while you can.

Good luck,

Smitty

 

Normal resting heart rate is considered to be between 60 and 100 bpm. A fast heart rate (Tachycardia) is not the cause of heart attack, blockage of blood into the heart is the cause. Tachycardia is an indicator that something is amiss and should be checked with the caveat that if you have been under cardiac care and it is somewhat normal for you to have arrythmias with fast heart rates then chances are it's nothing urgent in nature. I have SVTs and PVCs constantly. It's annoying and very uncomfortable at times but benign in nature. A fast heart is not on the list of heart attack warning signs which are
1. Pain or pressure in the center oif the chest
2. pain or discomfort in one or both arms, back, neck, or jaw
3. Shortness of breath - with ot without chest discomfort
4. Cold sweat, nausea, lightheadedness

Good luck

 

As Cabg Patch said a resting heart rate of 60 to 100 is considered normal. However, if the person has been living with a resting heart rate of 60, 70 or even 80 and their resting heart rate suddenly becomes 100, or above, that is not a normal resting heart rate and should be checked out by a doctor. Also, while I agree that tachycardia is not considered a cause of heart attacks, we should remember that if we suddenly start having episodes of tachycardia then whatever is causing these episodes could also be a precursor to a heart attack. What it all comes down to is anytime we start having heart related symptoms for any great length of time, it should be checked out by a doctor.

I would caution anyone that reads the comments made here to remember that most of these comments are the work of amateurs. So far as I know we have no doctors participating in these discussions, although we do have some very knowledgeable nurses. But even the nurses are having to base their comments on the written word of the person and without the benefit of a visual examination, which is extremely important for making a recommendation of treatment.