super high heart rate and fainting

Definitely go to a different doctor. Sometimes people have to go to several different doctors before one of them can figure it out!! Sadly doctors are just people too lol




This.
I work in a Hospital, I know a lots of doctors and even them sometimes recommend to look for a second opinion. I always pay for a PPO medical insurance so I can see a physician without referral. What you have is very serious and lowering your calories is not the answer. I am a woman and your weight is same as mine and a lot of people already said and that I am skinny. Also ask for blood work too.

Um, eat!

Food is our friend.

I had chest pains a few years ago that freaked me out. Anything that involved increased adrenaline brought it on. It ended up to be something like acid reflux. It didn't feel like that. It felt like heart problems. But testing showed that my heart was fine. The doctor tried me first on diazepam (valium) daily for a month, which reduced my problems but didn't get rid of them. Then we tried Zantac twice a day for a month and that finally got rid of the pains completely. Coffee, alcohol, fatty foods and stress can bring them back. Good luck.

The best solution would be to see your doctor again and tell them to explore more options, or go see another doctor for a second opinion. I'm sure we've all seen The Biggest Loser where they start to exercise and they work themselves too hard and they end up passing out - but they're all seriously obese. If you were very obese I wouldn't necessarily be as concerned about what you're saying, but because you were never obese in the first place, this doesn't make sense to me (obviously keep in mind that I am not a doctor).

The pain in the left side of your chest though sounds like my asthma. When I get asthma pains it's generally concentrated on the left side, although sometimes it can be on the right, but it's not normally. I'll get pains that are sort of hard to describe. it kind of feels like the pain is branching out from somewhere and spreading across the side of my chest. There's nothing that I can do for it other than take my inhaler and breathe through my nose and that generally helps. Asthma would also make a bit of sense because when you exercise, a lot of people do not continue to breath properly. Asthmatics already have issue with getting oxygen throughout their body so when we exercise, we have to be more careful that we're breathing through our nose and focusing on getting enough air in. And because of that, my heart rate tends to shoot up while exercises more than other peoples'. However, my heart rate generally spikes to maybe 150 and then it normally doesn't go higher than that. Here's some info from WebMD:

During normal breathing, the air we take in is first warmed and moistened by the nasal passages. Because people tend to breathe through their mouths when they exercise, they are inhaling colder and drier air.

In exercise-induced asthma, the muscle bands around the airways are sensitive to these changes in temperature and humidity and react by contracting, which narrows the airway. This results in symptoms of exercised-induced asthma, which include:
Coughing with asthma
Tightening of the chest
Wheezing
Unusual fatigue while exercising
Shortness of breath when exercising


But arrhythmia also sounds like a possibility. There are certain symptoms of that that can overlap with symptoms of asthma.

And of course, you should definitely be eating more food to fuel your workouts. Regardless of if it's happened before, it's clearly contributing to your symptoms from this morning.

RN here...a few thoughts:

Start by eating more calories and cutting out the exercise. Walk if you must exercises.
Call your doctor back, see a different doctor, or go to the ER next time it happens. Get a referral for a cardiologist (heart doctor). Chest pain has been ongoing...seen a cardiologist? Had an exercise stress test? EKG's are just snapshots of what your heart is doing AT THAT MOMENT. Exercise Stress Tests - you get on a treadmill and exercise while they watch your heart - fail it and they have a few options - usually an IV med to stress your heart and/or a heart cath. Since you're fit enough that you shouldn't fail the Exercise Stress Test, I'm guessing they'd want a heart cath. Dude, you got SOMETHING going on with your heart.

Again, eat something...'normal' people might not get sick from cutting calories that severely BRIEFLY, but YOU have some underlying problem. NO ONE should be passing out or feeling fainthearted, and NO ONE can sustain a heart rate above 160 - eventually something is going to give.

(and this doesn't sound like Afib to me. A fib is more irregular than what he is experiencing).

I work out with my heartrate 170-180 all the time. Heart rates are relative.

Listen to what people are saying here.

You are down to 151 lb. I don't know your height, but for most males, that isn't overweight, so eat more. If severe calorie restriction is possibly contributing to this condition, or complicating it, why keep on doing it? Go up to maintenance calorie levels while you figure this out. You can always cut again later (at a more moderate level) but heart stuff is SERIOUS BUSINESS. People die from stuff like this. Even relatively healthy 33 year old males.

Then go back to your Doctor. Find a new Doctor. Get a referral to a specialist. Whatever you need to do. Get the exercise stress test and other things others here have suggested. I had one episode of (what was later diagnosed as) vasovagal syncope (basically, just fainting) a couple of years back, and my Dr was all over the testing to try and figure out what was going on and to make sure I was OK. EKG, stress test, blood work... just for passing out one time. If I did it again, I'm sure I would end up in a hospital with all sorts of tubes being stuck into me, but I'm OK with that. I would want them to!

This is your health - your life, quite possibly. You have to be your own advocate here, so push for what you need. Don't leave the Drs office until you have a plan for how you are going to figure this out.

I think everyone is saying (not to harp on your diet further) but the lack of nutrition going into your body is stressful to the heart. Anorexics often have heart damage due to this very thing. (OK - off the diet thing).

I see in your list of tests you have NOT worn a 48-hour heart monitor. I suggest that and do a workout while you have it on. I have DYSAUTONOMIA where my blood pressure drops but my heart rate increases resulting ins syncope (fainting - or near fainting). This is a "short circuit" in my autonomic nervous system - and apparently I've had it all my life but it wasn't diagnosed (or really giving me problems) until after my 1st child was born (I was 31 y/o). I had to wear a monitor and walked up a hill and my BP dropped and my heart rate increased, and I almost passed out. That's when they saw it and diagnosed me. Medications, minor diet changes (I was told to eat more salt and increase my water intake to balance the increased salt) and time helped it subside (It never goes away, it just goes into a "remission" type state). Oh - and it was the Heart Center (cardiology) that got me the monitor to wear.

Good luck!

Oh tests done so far

ecg stress test
eco stress test
x-ray's
Ultra sound of heart and lungs
blood work - showed high cholesterol but now under control.
had slight asthma since I was a child - this is a different pain

all of these tests were done last year in Australia. will get a second opinion in Canada.

Sorry mate even though our government likes to brag about how great our medical system and doctors are here I can imagine the run around you got...

-Presented at hospital with chest pains,result: blood-work, ECG, X-ray clear so you were sent home with a referral to your GP for a follow up with a Cardiologist...probably told you are too young for heart problems.

-Waited for a surprising long time for Cardiologist appointment (if you saw one) had stress tests, ultra sound etc done now you had to wait for the results to go back to your GP.

- Cardiologist's report says to GP their is nothing wrong with your heart, GP probably reassures you there is nothing wrong since a trained professional has put it on paper and sent it to his office.

-You leave feeling both relieved and confused as you know the problem has not abated but tests that have been done says you are in the clear.

Sound familiar? On going problem needs ongoing diagnostic tests and hopefully treatment, good luck in Canada!

I reiterate get more opinions, tests etc eat properly and hold off on the exercise till you have seen a medical professional.

now during my ecg stress test I had a episode and had to be seen to. my doctor ignored the results. eg to me it must not be important

Sounds about right! f%$ken medical system here has become a joke! (Australia)

700 calories? And you workout? Sorry man, but there's a reason why people who eat like this and over exercise die of heart complications. Your view of how to lose fat and get fit are skewed.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

It was a plan to try get rid of the body fat that caused it in the first place. with 6 months of tests and no results it seemed like it was worth a try. now this is not a long term plan

Eating and working out this way will eat up more lean muscle than fat and losing that muscle will only lower your metabolic rate even more.
Start by just eating your BMR daily for a month. Then reassess. Let's do this the safe way.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Based on what you are experiencing, have you had a coronary calcium scan to check for any blockage/placque?

I would request one ASAP - even if you have to pay for it.

Hello all.

So I know this might not be the place to get medical advice but no harm in trying.

Pretty simple question that doctors can’t seem to answer, I am a somewhat healthy 33 year old, but over the last few years I have been having constant chest pains on my left hand side (stick with me this becomes about working out I swear). Have had my heart and lungs tested and everything seems to come back ok.

Now for why I am here, I keep passing out during my workouts and my heart rate goes through the roof (191bpm). Then light headed and down I go. I have always been a runner so for this to happen seems weird to say the least. I thought I was ok(chest pains lessening but seem controllable with diet) then this happened again this morning. Now I was doing a very brisk walk at 6.8kph for 50mins. Weird part of this morning is once I realized it was happening I jumped of the tread mill and my heart rate dropped back to 92bpm in about 30 seconds.

Any help would be well appreciated.