32 years
I often have tachycardia 100-120 bmp I sometimes even wake up feeling my fast heartbeat can this be just stress? should I consult a cardiologist?
Dec 29, 2014
Stress is notorious for mimicking serious medical conditions, causing symptoms such as chest pain, shortness pf breath, palpitations and tachycardia. It is important however to start by ruling out any organic cause for the elevated heart rate - usually we start by making sure that there is:
- no anemia: we do a complete blood count plus "iron studies" including iron level, ferritin and total iron binding capacity,
- no thyroid disease: mainly hyperthyroidism or over-active thyroid gland, by measuring thyroid hormones TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and free T4 (thyroxine)
- Heart rhythm alterations: by doing an ECG (electrocardiogram) tracing to ensure that the rate and rhythm are normal (what we call sinus rhythm) and rule out the presence of premature beats or extra beats.
If all turns out normal, stress becomes high on the list. It is recommended in such cases by starting to eliminate controllable factors that contribute to increasing the pulse, like reducing caffeine consumption, reducing/quitting smoking (if it applies), and regulating sleep. There are medications that help lower the pulse, but these are only prescribed after the evaluation of the patient has been done by a physician (not necessarily a cardiologist - a good generalist can manage your case).
•
