Important question!

[SirWence]

Now that I am in a much more rational state of mind, I wished to pose a question to you all.

Now now maybe 4-6 times since feb. I have had my heart rate jump to rates of 140-185 and without use of a beta blocker stay there for 3-4 hours each time. I have had an EKG done and have had my doctor look over me. She seems to think these rates while not healthy are caused by my anxiety. and put me on Metotoprol 12.5 mg a day. My first question was, has anyone else experienced this, and if so could you please give me any insight you might have. And secondly do you think I should take further action about this issue.

I appreciate any help!
-Wence

[blondie]

I would first make sure to get an EKG, ECG and exercise stress test if you haven't done so already.  I had a higher heartrate for awhile and they said to it was caused by anxiety.  I was put on propranolol (a beta blocker) that was supposed to help with anixeyt to.  It slowed the heart rate down and I have been off of them for a long time now. Hardly ever happens.  I think I am just relaxed now knowing it isn't my heart because I had those tests run. 

[Kate1982]

I've had tachycardia episodes for a long time.  Usually rates around 120-140, but at my worst I've been as high as 190bpm.  With me, it's SVT (supraventricular tachycardia) caused by mitral valve prolapse syndrome, which is a type of dysautonomia.  There are a lot of different things that can cause tachycardia and there are a lot of different types of tachycardia.   With you it could be AVNRT, AVRT, Sinus Tachycardia, Inapropriate Sinus Tachycardia....
What usually triggers a fast heart rate for me, besides anxiety, is dehydration.  Even just the slightest bit.  It might help you to drink LOTS of fluids, especially gatorade plain water just won't cut it. 
I think that, if all you've had done is an ekg, then you might want to consider some farther action.  If you haven't already you should talk to a cardiologist.   They'll probably want to do a stress test and an echo to make sure that your heart is structurally normal and identify the type of tachycardia you are having.   If you are determined to be fine at that point, which I'm sure you would be, and it's attributed to anxiety then no farther action would be needed.  If you are found to have some sort of arrythmia, then you can go on to see a heart rhythm specialist, electrophysiologist.  Most arrythmia's are harmless, just really annoying, but further evaluation should be done to determine exactly what you are dealing with.   Good luck!

[SirWence]

Thanks for the responces. I wanted to add that I brought this issue to my doctors attention , I of course told my pcp or gp whatever one wishes to call them. (My hearts racing up to such and such and taking  3-4 hours to fully calm down) She put me on a beta blocker - Metotoprol 12.5 mg a day (breaking the pill in half lol) To lower my heart rate and help me relax - along with my xanax and lexapro. I was curious what you thought of that Kate ? And is there anything bad about beta blockers ? I don't want to take a pill that will kill me though I have been on this dose since april 3rd of 2007. And I was also curious before medication if you use it I mean.. How long did your high rates last? Thanks ^^

[Kate1982]

In my honest opinion I think it is important to get farther assessment from a cardiologist.   That's pretty standard precedure when it comes to racing heart beats and palpitations even though 99% of the time they don't mean anything serious, it's important to get them fully checked out.   A gp simply isn't qualified to do that.   
Metaprolol is usually a pretty safe drug.   I took Toprol, same thing, for awhile myself 25mg to start and then 50mg for awhile.   You are taking the absolute lowest dose so you should be fine.  There are side effects though, as with most medicine.  With me, it lowered my blood pressure too much, I always run low anyway, but that was when I was up to 50mg.  The only really big thing about this type of medication is that your body adjusts for it.  Your heart becomes used to not having to work as hard.  Therefore, when you come off of it, you have to wean off to give your body time to adjust.  Although, at such a low dose I don't think you'd really have to worry about that, but you'd still want to talk to a doctor before just stopping it.   
I am surprised however that your gp just decided to put you on this medication without making sure exactly what was going on.   I personally don't like to take any medication unless aboslutely necessary and I don't really like to see people on xanax, lexapro, ativan, or other similar meds for long periods of time without other treatment options being employed.   Still, I shouldn't think it would harm you other than they are all highly addictive medications.   
My high rates would last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.  Just depending on what was going on whether I was dehydrated, sick, anxious, or just a random episode with no real underlying cause.  They usually only last a few minutes now that I make sure I'm well hydrated and so forth.