Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Personal Experiences => Topic started by: toffeecushion on January 02, 2015, 06:44:29 AM
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Has anyone else woken up in the morning with a fast heart rate? I woke up feeling jittery, did my pulse and it was about 110. Over the last half hour it has gone down to 94, but it is worrying me. Anyone else had the same?
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Yip definitely toffeecushion......sometimes it lasts all day....its very annoying and I have found it difficult to relax...I ialso get dome chest pain with it x
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It's horrible isn't it. I don't get any chest pain but it really scares me. I've started a healthy eating plan today and am going to try and do lots of walking. I am hoping that losing weight and having more exercise will help.
Thanks for replying, it helps so much.
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Ye I've had this too, not a nice feeling and worrying, I have had checks all fine but that doesn't put my mind at rest. It happens to me during the day out of the blue feel a flutter then heart races I find myself watching TV relaxing and checking my pulse! My husband hasan app on his phone and I hate when he uses it cause he's a runner and got low heart rate about 45 and mines is about 75 relaxing and shoots up the minute I move. Adrenalin / anxiety must have a lot to do with it I'm jumpy where as my husband is so laid back, nothing bothers him. Hope you feel better soon and find a way to cope with it
X
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Yeah I plan to do the same this year Toffee....more exercise, better diet and planning nice things to look forward to throughout the year.....for Jan I have a jazz night planned :-)....lol Millykin, well sure not many of us have his heart rate....maybe more exercise would help us all lol x
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Forrest Gump dosent have a look in with him lol he has stopped smoking, changed diet and lost weight now super fit! I'm 44 and was sporty but when meno kicked in and palpitations started I stopped stupid I know but health anxiety just consumed my days. I hope you both stick to your lifestyle changes you will notice a difference
X
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Hi yes I get racing heart too it's funny as I have it this moment them read your post - I'm going to see a cardiologist next week for tests mauve scares the hell out of me x
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It's been between 80 and 90 all day, occasionally going down to 78. It really scares me.
Good luck with your cardiologist, let us know how it goes. Ask him if it can be meno related. I have had ECGs and echocardiograms in the past couple of years and they were fine, so I am guessing this is all meno related.
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Hi Toffeecushion
Ive had two ecg's they were fine too, I will let you know how it goes x
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Me too and it's horrible - possibly the worse symptom of all as it's so scary. Sending you big sympathetic hugs :)
Does anyone else have that feeling when you can kind of hear/feel your heartbeat in your head and right across your body? That scares the life out of me too and makes me go all faint. Not sure if the the light-headedness I get from it is real or psychological, a result of the fear of feeling my heart beat. (How crazy does that sound? I'd have more to worry about if I couldn't detect my heartbeat!!!).
x
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That's how I felt this morning. I am also not sure if my anxiety is because I am worrying about the heart rate or because I have anxiety. I wish this meno business would hurry up and finish, can't face the thought of years of this.
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That's what I keep thinking especially when somebody it work with me keeps telling me my menopause went on for ten years! X
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I really don't think I could cope with ten years of this, it's the not knowing how long it will go on for that is hard.
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I guess, when the palpitations next strike, we have to tell ourselves it's normal ... even if it's only "our" normal! ???
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That doesn't work I've tried it lol
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Don't tell me ... you also get the 'but this time it's different/worse/fatal/they'll all see I wasn't making it up when I die' feeling too? x ;)
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It never reassures me knowing it has happened before.
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Here are a few tips that might help, I tried the Bear Down one and it did work........
Techniques to Stop Heart Palpitations Immediately:
Cough. Yep, a plain o'l cough can supposedly reset the rhythm of your heart. I have tried this with limited success, but others seem to think it works great.
Bear Down. There is no real polite way to say this, but the whole idea is to clinch your stomach muscles to mimic the act of going to the bathroom – pushing out a bowl movement (careful here…you don't want to mess up and do the real thing…). For some reason this reroutes the circuits and the palpitations sometimes go away or at least slow down a little.
Cold Water. Splashing cold water on your face or taking a cold shower shocks your body and resets your normal heart rhythm. I am sure this works for some people, but I hate taking cold showers, so I usually pass on this one unless the palpitations are really bad.
Valsalva Maneuver. A large cause of heart palpitations is the vagus nerve. So stimulating the vagus nerve, which can affect heart rate, will sometimes stop palpitations and possibly restore your normal heart beat. To do the Valsalva maneuver you hold your nose and close your mouth while attempting to breathe out with some force (think of blowing up a balloon). Another technique is to make a fist and blow into it like you are blowing up a balloon. If done correctly, you may experience immediate relief from your palpitations. This technique is similar to “Bearing Down†mentioned above.
Deep Breathing Exercises. Deep breathing exercises are great for reducing anxiety and can certainly help slow down your heart rate, which can reduce your palpitations. So do your favorite deep breathing exercise and see if that does the trick. I really enjoy deep breathing exercises, but when my heart is skipping a whole lot, it is hard to focus on my breathing.
Exercise. I prefer this technique best. I cannot alway exercise when I have a bad run of heart palpitations, especially at night. But if I have some time in the morning or afternoon, a good cardio workout where I can get my heart rate up for an extended amount of time does wonders to restore my normal heart beat…at least for a while.
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Thanks so much, that is very helpful. I'm going to print it out and keep it on me :)
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It never reassures me knowing it has happened before.
I am just the same, Toffeecushion. It's like I become a different person as soon as they start up Good idea about printing Ellie's suggestions x
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Think my husband must be getting fed up off of it all. Spent most of yesterday taking my pulse. But the symptoms are very real and it scares me. Wish I could just get on with life and not worry about every little change in the way I feel but I can't.
Thought I might start a diary of how I feel, it might help to look back on.
Have a good day, it's wet here so will probably be stuck indoors festering today.
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Toffeecushion
I was this way last year now it is not as bad, don't know if I learned to ignore a bit or its getting less, I do feel for you cause it is real and so scary. I used to spend days taking my pulse and because we have BP machine and one of those little finger things that take pulse and measure oxygen (family member with health problems at one point) I had them out constantly. I would be secretly sitting at night with it on my finger scared to move in case it went higher. I was sent to AE 3 times by GP because it was high 3 ecg, all fine, and sent for stress test which they couldn't do because heart rate to high! So that knocked me a bit, sent home with 24hr monitor but they said it just showed palpitations, and few extras beats but nothing unusual. Still I panicked. I was put on a beta blocker just to try and calm me and it did work I knew my heart rate couldn't go that high on them. I stopped them in July and have been ok few blips. As Ellie suggested try a few of these things, I used to always go to bathroom brush teeth, wash face in cold water I even tried the coughing sometimes helped, x
Ellie love the avatar !
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Excellent tips Ellie
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Diary could be a good idea, especially if you take it with the results of your saliva tests. When do you send those back to the company? x
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The last test is on the 1st day of my next period, on day 7 now so hope to have the results back in about 4 weeks.
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I find while I'm listening to slow, gentle music, it can be quite helpful to breathe in and out with the music. I don't actually mean breathe in time to the music, just to ebb and flow with it.
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I've just experienced a couple of weeks of tachycardia (pulse 110) as well as periods of dizziness (my temperature went up at times too).
Long story short - I increased my Oestrogel dose and symptoms settled within 48 hours.
This hormone juggling is not an easy thing x
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Hello toffeecushion.
Another technique you might want to try to reduce a fast heart rate is to hold your breath and immerse your face in cold water as doing this invokes the Mammalian Dive Reflex. This action has the effect of slowing the heart rate by ten to twenty percent.
Hope this helps you.
K.
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Thanks Kathleen, will give it a try :)
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I get that. It's caused a major problem for me in that my GP doesn't believe that it's a result of his forcing me to come off HRT and now I can't get travel insurance as a result.
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I've had trouble with travel insurance as well because of palpitations, if my gp would link them with menopause then it would help.
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Do palpitations affect travel insurance then?
Is it only if a problem is found? What if like myself all tests are clear and they relate it to anxiety?
X
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I was diagnosed with super ventricular tachycardia and so have to declare it, but I think it is hormone induced. It only started about 5 years ago.