tachycardia or just anxiety

[ibbrave]

I am 30 yr old femane, mother of two. I did have an echoe done and it showed that i have 3 mild leaky heart valves. But i have been having a lot of problems with sudden heart racing over 130bpm. Since the very first time i experienced this problem i am obssesed with always checking my heart rate. I do have anxiety and fear of dying and when i feel that my heart is begining to race i think i make it worse sometimes by overacting about it which raises it more. My question is how can i determine if it is tachycardia or anxiety? The er once said i had sinus tachycardia but seemed very anxious. is this bad?

[ibbrave]

Thank you for your reply. I did have a 24hr. monitor on couple of weeks ago. The thing is, is the day i wore it my heart not once was racing. The dr. did tell me that it can be tricky to detect. And he told me that if the monitor did'nt show anything than he may do the 30day one. I see him this wed to discuss the results and i planed on telling him that the nervousness and anxiety is getting worse. I am on propranolol for high bp and to keep my heart rate stable but lots of times it don't seem to do anything. When i get the racing heart i don't know if it's cause anxiety or my heart itself. This is whats so stressfull. I did have an echoe done it showed 3 mild leaky valves. They said {2 dr.s{ that it is nothing to worry about. Any ways thank you for your advice!!!!

[Jerzeegal]

Your right that overreacting can make tachycardia worse.  Sinus tachycardia is a rapid heart rate but not an abnormal rhythm. My suggestion to you is to go to your cardiologist and tell him about the rapid heart rate. He can do a holter monitor for 24 hours to see what shows.  If that comes back with nothing then he may want to do an event monitor which you keep for up to 30 days and only record when you have symptoms. Anxiety alone can cause rapid heart rate or palpitations but it's always best to be checked by dr. He can also give you something for the anxiety.

Jerz