Pain in left arm, increased heart rate, then body shaking

Posted by ivanas @ivanas, Mar 23 5:14am

Hi,

I’m a 33-year-old female, and over the past 8 months I’ve been experiencing an unusual issue. While I’m sleeping, I sometimes wake up with pain in the left palm of my hand. Shortly after, my heart rate increases to around 135 bpm, then drops back down after a few minutes, and my body starts shaking.

I’ve had a full heart check, including wearing a Holter monitor. I was told I have mild tachycardia, but not severe enough for medication at this point. I’ve also had my thyroid checked, and everything came back normal.

Has anyone experienced something similar? And do you have any advice on what else I should check?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Heart Rhythm Conditions Support Group.

Justin McClanahan, Moderator | @JustinMcClanahan | Mar 23 2:16pm

Hello @ivanas,

I moved your message to the Heart Rhythm Conditions support group (https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/heart-rhythm-conditions/) to meet other members who have been diagnosed with tachycardia.

I'd like to invite @alphastarz, @cfcargo and @mmmerrimac who have talked about tachycardia and the difficulties with dealing with the symptoms and the tests not necessarily showing much for answers.

@ivanas, it is good that you have had some initial tests and they revealed only having mild tachycardia for the moment. Was there any discussion about what could be leading to the pain in your arm/palm? Is there anything you do to get your heart rate down or does it just go down on its own? If you are comfortable sharing, was there any discussion about next steps to keep searching for a possible cause to your heart rate and palm pain?

jc76 | @jc76 | Mar 24 6:17am

#ivanas
Not a medical professional but have had your symptoms. Sounds like could be anxiety/panic attack especially when you mentioned body started shaking.

I has a anxiety panic attack some time ago and my whole body was shaking. The body when under stress has adrenaline come into body to prepare for flight or fight. If you do neither or don't release the adrenaline build in other ways (exercise) the body reaches a point where it will go into panic attack. I am told can feel like heart attack but mine was just extreme shaking and mental stress.

Talk to your doctors about your symptoms and if they agree with anxiety/panic asked about things to reduce adrenaline build up through exercise, hobbies, meditation etc.