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Tachycardia - high resting heart rate

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
When I was fit and healthy (if I ever truely was) my resting heart rate was 66 bpm.
Now, it's 106 bpm.

Tachycardia is a common symptom of ME/CFS as far as I can tell, which a number of ME/CFS docs talk about in relation to muscle and mitochondria dysfunction.

Anyone else care to post their readings?
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
66 for me was very healthy - I was swimming several miles a week, playing football, squash, all sorts and eating right etc. I always felt like I had an oxygen problem though, and my heart rate would frequently run at 212 while playing football - my heart was working hard to get me oxygen, but I think there was a problem somewhere (mitochondria maybe)...but now, obviously, things are much worse.
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
66 for me was very healthy - I was swimming several miles a week, playing football, squash, all sorts and eating right etc. I always felt like I had an oxygen problem though, and my heart rate would frequently run at 212 while playing football - my heart was working hard to get me oxygen, but I think there was a problem somewhere (mitochondria maybe)...but now, obviously, things are much worse.

Funny you should mention that.

My low heart rate back then was probably a lot to do with a healthy lifestyle and swimming 1.5km per day. But .... even then it never felt easy, even after years of this routine, and I always ended up very red and flushed and took a very long time to cool down again.

Obviously with a current heart rate around 70-80 I'm not experiencing resting tachycardia (it does rocket with anything approaching aerobic exercise) but my heart always feels as its thumbing in my chest and very audible when lying down.

Hey ho!
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
I always ended up very red and flushed and took a very long time to cool down again.

Funny you should mention that. I also had a major overheating issue, even when swimming in cold water. I seemed to generate an unusual amount of heat.
 

sianrecovery

Senior Member
Messages
828
Location
Manchester UK
I have low BP and a high heart rate; jumps about too much to be worth posting in detail. Worse on T3. Doc says my low BP means my heart has to work harder. POTSy type thing? Poor mito function?
 

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
Messages
19,935
Location
Albuquerque
snowathlete

Have you ever monitored your oxygen saturation? I had been curious about mine and got it monitored the hard way yesterday via emergency medicine. It was 97-98 (course I was having major tachy), but they gave me oxygen anyway and it actually felt better and also brought it up to 100%

Sushi
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Funny you should mention that. I also had a major overheating issue, even when swimming in cold water. I seemed to generate an unusual amount of heat.

Hah! Well funny you should mention that. (This could go on :)).

My exercise intolerance started in mid 1986 on saturday during Ju Jitsu practice at a local leisure centre. It was warm but not overly so and we had just started warm up (sic) exercises with arms about shoulder level and boom - I went down like a sack of potatoes and out like a light.

Since 1997 a major problem for me has been severe heat intolerance. Anything over 17°C or so and I start to suffer and higher temperatures can cause a full crash regardless of any activity or lack of. But activity just adds to the build up of heat.
 

caledonia

Senior Member
Marco - 17C? That's 62F which is on the cool side. I'm guessing you mean 27C, which would be 80F. The reason I'm saying that is because that's the temperature where I start to have problems.

My mom (also ME/CFS) had a heartrate that would go very high at random. She took a beta blocker to control it. I remember her making several trips to the ER because of this. Although our ME symptoms were very similar, I'm glad this is one problem I don't seem to have (knock on wood).
 

Marco

Grrrrrrr!
Messages
2,386
Location
Near Cognac, France
Marco - 17C? That's 62F which is on the cool side. I'm guessing you mean 27C, which would be 80F. The reason I'm saying that is because that's the temperature where I start to have problems.

No Caledonia, I'm afraid that's accurate - or was at the time I was still working and had to wear a suit and tie. 27°C generally has me prostrate or immersed in cool water for most of the day.

PS - I forgot to mention (probably mentioned it before) but before he passed away my dad mentioned that he had never been able to tolerate exercise since he was a kid. He said he always loved playing football but just couldn't keep up. He was also always thin as a rake so it wasn't a matter of being 'the overweight kid'.

Which is rather interesting.
 

maryb

iherb code TAK122
Messages
3,602
Location
UK
My resting heart rate was in the 90's a few weeks ago, going up to well over 100 after just getting washed and dressed slowly - since reinstating my magnesium (I've been taking it for 7yrs
stopped it a few months ago) it has come down to being in the 80's and up to 90 when getting ready. I am more than pleased with this - I was also getting the atrial fibrilation sign regularly on my monitor - didn't get it for over a week but its come back now so seems like its an ongoing problem. Someone mentioned that taurine had helped someone with AF so have started on that - time will tell.

Maybe its something you need to get checked out with your doc. I have had several 24hr ECG;s since getting ill never showed anything but its important to do it I think.
 

Lotus97

Senior Member
Messages
2,041
Location
United States
I get very hot sometimes when I'm sitting at the computer, but as soon as I lay down I cool off. I also have problems with getting too hot and too cold in general.
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
snowathlete

Have you ever monitored your oxygen saturation? I had been curious about mine and got it monitored the hard way yesterday via emergency medicine. It was 97-98 (course I was having major tachy), but they gave me oxygen anyway and it actually felt better and also brought it up to 100%

Sushi

Yes, I tried that for sleep and found it was very intersting, so I did it in the day a few times. My oxygen was about 95 on average but dropped to 90 once or twice. That drop isnt great really, but it was short lived. At night it would drop into the 80s on downward spikes. That isnt great either. I found that losing weight did resolve the larger drops at night though, but no real difference in the day. My breathing is terrible. When the DWP came and did an accessment on me, the doctor who came said "I haven't seen you breath yet."
I do breath, but very very shallowly unless I make a big effort, but I can't keep that up and if anything it makes me feel worse. I suspect, as Cheney suggests, that my body has adapted to do that as a prevantative measure. I used to be quite skeptical of mitochondria having much to do with it, but after more research I'm coming around to the idea that there is involvement there.
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
Hah! Well funny you should mention that. (This could go on :)).

Since 1997 a major problem for me has been severe heat intolerance. Anything over 17°C or so and I start to suffer and higher temperatures can cause a full crash regardless of any activity or lack of. But activity just adds to the build up of heat.

Funny you sho...only joking!

But I find I am hot even when I am cold. What I mean is that my limbs get cold but my torso always feels like a furnace. I find it difficult to wear jumpers, even in winter, because I overheat, even though my arms are cold. It's all wrong...
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
Maybe its something you need to get checked out with your doc. I have had several 24hr ECG;s since getting ill never showed anything but its important to do it I think.

I agree it's important to get checked. I had a few ECGs done, and all fine. *sigh*
 

Tally

Senior Member
Messages
367
My resting heart rate when I was healthy was around 60. Now it's somewhat higher, and I definately have tachycardia when I crash. I also get pounding in my chest even when I haven't crashed and it's quite disconcerting.

This is really interesting because since I've gotten ill my mother has been insisting that as a child I would get flushed in a strange way when running around with other kids and that she could never see that kind of reddness on other children.

Also, a few months before I've gotten ill (at the age of 22) my martial arts' trainer pulled my aside and asked me what is going on. I was perplexed until he brough me in front of the mirror to show me nasty red blotches on my face.
 

ahimsa

ahimsa_pdx on twitter
Messages
1,921
When I was fit and healthy (if I ever truely was) my resting heart rate was 66 bpm. Now, it's 106 bpm.

Tachycardia is a common symptom of ME/CFS as far as I can tell, which a number of ME/CFS docs talk about in relation to muscle and mitochondria dysfunction.

Anyone else care to post their readings?

When you say "resting" what does that mean? Lying down flat? Semi-reclined (head up but in a recliner)? Sitting in a chair? Standing still? For people with orthostatic intolerance the posture makes a huge difference. Bigger even than walking vs. sitting still.

When I'm standing still, first thing in the morning, before taking any of my meds (midodrine, florinef, etc.) that help support my blood pressure (I have NMH, Neurally Mediated Hypotension) then my heart rate can be as high as 150 bpm (110-150). If I'm sitting down in a chair it's lower. If I'm semi-reclined it's lower. If I'm lying flat it's lowest.

I don't have measurements for all the different positions (not worth the effort at this point). The only reason I know the number for standing still first thing in the morning is that I took my blood pressure while standing up. I did this for about 10 days in a row to see what the pattern was. My plan was just to check out my BP so I was surprised to see my heart was going so fast.