Hello. I just wanted to create this post as a way to cope and vent since I’ve see a lot of people share their stories. I, 29 M, have no official diagnosis or anything, but since March 18 life has been a bit more difficult. That night I was just sitting down on my couch unwinding with a good RPG game when all of a sudden I felt blood rush to my head and my heart rate just shot up to 130-140. Thought it was a surge of energy that I could walk off, but my heart rate was not lowering whatsoever. My partner, bless their soul, was telling me to not worry and tried their best to soothe me. Tried going to bed, but my heart rate was pounding and still hovering around 120-130 and that’s all my brain could fixate on. This was the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this so decided to take my first ever visit to the ER.
Went to the ER, no insurance, and thought this could all be anxiety. Doctor on duty gave me a tablet of Valium and discharged me shortly after. Valium dropped my HR down to about 110 and heart still felt like it was still pounding but eventually I was able to sleep. Woke up the next morning with my heart rate between 110-120 and, thankfully, was able to see a PCP that same day. Told them all about my experience the previous night and their main concern was bringing my heart rate down and checking my labs (thank goodness). Completed my first ever EKG, and they said it looked normal but I was experiencing sinus tachycardia. They drew my blood and prescribed propranolol to take as needed. Propranolol was amazing immediately bought my heart rate down under 100bpm, and I actually cried because of the relief from the scary ordeal. Not too long after, my pcp got my labs back and aside from elevated cholesterol and high iron, they thought the labs were fine and referred me to a cardiologist just in case.
Scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist, but the days leading up to it were dreadful. Was taking the propranolol at least twice per day with an additional third dose as needed. Woke up with that same racing/pounding heart rate that would only ease with the med. I work remotely thankfully, but my body started experiencing things like shocks/pins all throughout. Felt throbbing in my legs and arms. The scariest thing was the sharp left arm and chest pain that would come and go. Tried vagal maneuvers and breathing techniques to no avail. Avoided certain foods since I was scared of triggering whatever that first episode was. Eventually saw the cardiologist and they thought it might be just anxiety and weren’t concerned with my labs results, but they conducted another EKG test and just like my PCP visit, looked normal but with sinus tachycardia. Got scheduled for echo ultrasound and heart monitor not too long after. Echo came back fine and heart monitor was the same. Cardiologist said I have a normal healthy heart.
Since then, I’ve been experiencing chest pain if I over exert myself, like going to the gym or going up the stairs, as well as pain that radiates to my back and clenches my jaw. I’ve bought up my concerns to the cardiologist but they think it may just be gas or anxiety, but due to the recurring chest pain, they have ordered a stress echo just in case.
All in all, I’ve been working on trying to feel like myself again prior to March 18th, but it’s so hard to do so when I encounter a roadblock. One week I felt so much better, but then I randomly got a sharp stabbing pain in my left chest towards my armpit. Went to the ER and did a chest xray, EKG, and checked tropinin and everything was fine. Another week I got some food poisoning and the dehydration spiked my heart rate to be about 120-130 for a good 12 hours before coming down after taking anti nausea med and hydrating with pedialyte. My most recent roadblock was this past Monday when I may have pushed myself too hard on a workout and experienced what felt like heart burn. Since then, the last few days I’ve been experiencing dull chest and back pain with what feels like an electric shock every once in a while. Cardiologist isn’t too concerned but recommended stress echo to be safe. Some days are good and some days are bad. I just want to get back to being myself again.