High Pulse - over 100 at rest

[snowathlete]

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I had a nice time, until yesterday when i had a bad day when i felt dreadful.

The last four days ive measured my pulse alot and its consistantly been about 105, give or take 5 either way.

Do i put this down to a lack of fitness - no exercise for three years, or is it a common symptom for ME? What does it mean?

 

[SOC]

I've had a high resting pulse rate (>100 bpm) for years with ME. That's sitting, not laying down, btw. I think it's pretty common in ME.

 

[hurtingallthetimet]

hello im not sure what it might mean...but if its unusal for you you should call or go to your doctor....maybe strees? you mentioned having a bad day...
i hope that you are doing good and that you find out whats going on...take care

 

[Frankie Dene]

Yes when I was really sick my pulse rate was in the hundreds. Now I'm better it is back to 70 - 80. However I am taking a prescrition drug called sotalol. I was also having a racing heart - also one of my ME/CFs symptoms (usually associated with a relapse) and finally they took me to hospital where after tests a knowledgeable Dr put me on it and the racing bit went away, my GP says it also lowers the heart rate. It has nothing to do to being out of condition as far as I am concerned as since I have been on the sotalol I have had big relapses and my rate just goes up above 80. I get long serious relapses of months and am on complete bed rest so get very out of condition, but as I improve I naturally get stronger, so don't go racing off to get fit, please!
I find that taking my heart beat and pulse rate when sitting then standing is a good indicator of how I am. If it raises when I stand I know I'm much better and if it goes down when I stand I know I need to take it easy as I'm more MEish. This helps to monitor my ability to exercise. If it goes down I go back to lying around and reading.

 

[November Girl]

In my case a high heart rate is a good indicator that I'm exerting too much. Sometimes that exertion is sitting up rather than being in bed! There is a good video explanation of this on the ME-CFScommunity.com The 4 video series is on exercising safely with CFS, but they give a good explanation of using our heart rate as an indicator of safe activity.

http://cfsknowledgecenter.ning.com/group/theexercisegroup

There are also a lot of discussions here on pacing with a heart monitor that show how to estimate a heart rate that will not worsen your CFS. Of course when our heart rates are elevated even in bed, all we can do is wait to get better! In my case, a few days in bed usually clears it up, but that isn't always the case.

 

[Sallysblooms]

Pretty common, especially with POTS. Good to make sure by telling your doctor.

 

[November Girl]

Many of us do better with a beta blocker. It slows the heart rate, thus increasing the fill rate of each beat. (my layman's explanation) I can't take them due to asthma.

 

[floydguy]

Mine is consistently above 105 @ rest. As someone who is relatively active, I think it's unlikely it has anything to do with "de-conditioning". I've had cardio-pulmonary testing and there is clearly something wrong in the respiration/vascular department. I am not sure what it is - hasn't been explained adequately to me yet.

 

[snowathlete]

November Girl - thanks for the link, thats interesting.

Im going to mention it to my GP at any rate. I have a lot of new stuff to tell her.

 

[m1she11e]

My resting pulse has been over 100 since I first got sick. I remeber in school we would take our resting pulse, then we would run and take it again. My PE teacher got mad at me and insisted I was taking my pulse wrong. He couldnt believe it when he took it too. Now every time I go to the doctor, if I get a new nurse they are alarmed at my resting pulse. My doctor feels it is my body working over time to fight all of these pathogens that have gone wild.

I have thought of asking for something to slow my heart rate down. I believe my heart is beating so fast for a reason though. Im afraid if I just slow it down and dont figure out the reason that it might be a bad thing in the long run.

When I am VERY sick, my heart races so fast and beats so hard that it feels like the bed is vibrating. This has been the case for the 30 years I have been sick.

 

[Artstu]

All those beats are rather worrying, I was lead to believe a heart has X-amount of beats, so the quicker you use them up the sooner you die

We need a way of slowing them down, exercise does help if you're able to.

 

[Waverunner]

Many of us do better with a beta blocker. It slows the heart rate, thus increasing the fill rate of each beat. (my layman's explanation) I can't take them due to asthma.

Hi November Girl,

can you tell me what the connection between beta blockers and asthma is? Why can't you take them?

 

[snowathlete]

I have thought of asking for something to slow my heart rate down. I believe my heart is beating so fast for a reason though. Im afraid if I just slow it down and dont figure out the reason that it might be a bad thing in the long run.

Couldnt agree more. I will be reluctant to slow it down by force, without first understanding WHY it is high in the first place. Though i wish it was slower, as i have also read that the faster your heart, the less time you live, typically. Still, I think my body knows better than me. It knows why it wants to beat fast, probably a good reason i figure..

Interesting what you say about the bed vibrating. Since i have had ME, if i hold something like a small book for a read, the book basically beats with my heart, because its so hard that it shakes it all the way to my hand. Its almost like it rocks.

 

[Emootje]

You could buy a dog, it lowers your heart rate :Retro smile:
http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/content/77/1/45.full.pdf

 

[Waverunner]

Still, I think my body knows better than me. It knows why it wants to beat fast, probably a good reason i figure..

I don't think that you can be sure about this. If someone with a peanut allergy eats a peanut, his body will do exactly the wrong thing. It will fight the peanut with all allergic means possible, even if it kills the person. That's not very clever.

 

[adreno]

Hi everyone. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. I had a nice time, until yesterday when i had a bad day when i felt dreadful.

The last four days ive measured my pulse alot and its consistantly been about 105, give or take 5 either way.

Do i put this down to a lack of fitness - no exercise for three years, or is it a common symptom for ME? What does it mean?

This sounds like POTS, very common in ME. Take your pulse lying down, and then standing. POTS is defined as an increase in HR >30 bpm upon standing.

 

[snowathlete]

I don't think that you can be sure about this. If someone with a peanut allergy eats a peanut, his body will do exactly the wrong thing. It will fight the peanut with all allergic means possible, even if it kills the person. That's not very clever.

You make a good point. But for every one of these types of scenarios, arent there a hundred, a thousand, where the body responds approrpiately? That makes me think that my body is probably doing it for a reason. Having said that we know that we are broke, and being broke, the liklihood of the body responding inapppriately must be higher...

So who knows. Im left not knowing what to think. I do know that i want to avoid taking as drugs wherever possible.

 

[Waverunner]

So who knows. Im left not knowing what to think. I do know that i want to avoid taking as drugs wherever possible.

I get your point. As long as we don't know what really causes ME/CFS we always take a risk when we start certain treatments because we don't know what the long-term effect will be. Everyone has to decide this on his/her own.

 

[November Girl]

Hi November Girl,

can you tell me what the connection between beta blockers and asthma is? Why can't you take them?

Waverunner, beta blockers tend to make asthma worse. I don't know if they do this to everyone. I took them for years, and felt better on them. I don't remember all the reasons my doc took me off them about 10 years ago. I tried them again last fall. Unfortunately that was the same time that the first real cold spell came through. That always triggers some asthma and makes me feel just awful all over. I may try them again another time of year.

 

[Waverunner]

Hi November Girl,

keep us updated then, please. I also have asthma.