Post Covid increase in anxiety and palpitations

Posted by misska @misska, Apr 14, 2023

New to this board but after struggling for three months, I need some support. I tested positive for covid in December 2022 for the 1st time; I'll note that I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I experienced "mild" symptoms including the loss of taste and smell. I ran a fever for one day and generally felt tired. But just a couple days after I was no longer considered infectious, my issues began. My anxiety went through the roof; I began experiencing heart palpitations at an increased rate. My medication, that I had been on for well over 10 years, was not making a difference. I finally caved and visited my doctor after 3 weeks where she prescribed me some anxiety medication to add on to my current medicine before ordering me a holter monitor for a 2 week period. Over the monitoring period, my sleep was awful, my anxiety increased and I experienced some type of twitch or palpitations almost every day. It got to the point that my quality of life had decreased so much, my mom became very concerned with my behavior. When I finally submitted my monitor, my results came back normal. I had no afib and only a few instances of tachycardia which coincided with my mini panic attacks. My doctor discovered that I was experiencing PVCs or premature ventricular contractions that are most likely a result of stress and anxiety. I was put on a beta blocker to help with the symptoms. It's been about 2 months and while my symptoms have decreased significantly, I still experience pvc's which increase my anxiety which then increase my pvc's. It's a vicious cycle so I cling to the knowledge that my tests for my heart have been normal so that I can function. I would really like to know if others have experienced the same thing as me? Because I feel like I'm the only one who had such an experience with covid and it's impacting me. It doesn't help my anxiety or depression. At only 30 years only, it leaves me dreading the next few years fighting the symptoms and looking for solutions that may not be there.

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You are not alone
I have had severe anxiety shaking
I have the calm app now that has helped me
But I still have wild heart rate sometimes doing nothing shoots up to 189
Then when I walk it’s normal
I’ve worn a holter and did a zio patch
All show an average but no cardiac events when it’s increased
They told me to start a beta blocker
Have you the same senarios ?

REPLY
@ginalambiris

You are not alone
I have had severe anxiety shaking
I have the calm app now that has helped me
But I still have wild heart rate sometimes doing nothing shoots up to 189
Then when I walk it’s normal
I’ve worn a holter and did a zio patch
All show an average but no cardiac events when it’s increased
They told me to start a beta blocker
Have you the same senarios ?

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I have definitely noticed when I am active, I do not have an increased heart rate or palpitations. It's usually when I am in a state of rest that I start to experience the anxiety and sometimes, a rapid heart rate. I too wore a holter for 2 weeks and it showed no severe cardiac activity, besides the pvcs. I will say the beta blocker has helped with my heart rate, especially when I start to get stressed or have too much caffeine.

REPLY

You are not alone. I have had covid twice and suffered LC after each round. The anxiety was the worst part. Now that I know what it is and that it will subside made it a little easier on the second round. I just had so many other symptoms with the second round, along with the anxiety, that it made anxiety seem minor. For whatever it's worth, you are definitely not alone!

REPLY
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