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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think resting heart rate 96 for a 32 year old (me) is alarming

79 replies

PussInCoutts · 05/03/2017 13:57

I have been suffering from weird fatigue on and off for a while now.

GP measured my resting heart rate - it was 96. The normal range is within 60 to 100. No matter what the age!

I'm only 32, surely my heart rate shouldn't be at the borders of something acceptable for an octogenarian?

What to do? I'm desperate. Going to some hospital tests soon but quite anxious as per what is going on in my body.

Any knowledge or advice would be much appreciated, and also your own experiences. Thanks a lot.

OP posts:
lougle · 05/03/2017 14:33

You're within normal range. 60-100 is normal range. That's why there is a range.

Crispbutty · 05/03/2017 14:35

I'm 47 and my resting heart has been in the upper 70s for many years. My blood pressure is absolutely perfect though which considering I am at least 2 stone overweight and a smoker is amazing I think. I'm very active though and walk miles each day.

nocoolnamesleft · 05/03/2017 14:36

Have you checked your own heart rate at home, when relaxed? A lot of people have a higher H/R when at an appointment...

iloveeverykindofcat · 05/03/2017 14:37

White coat syndrome?

If not, increase cardio and try to lose some stomach fat

The opposite isn't all fun and games. I have naturally low BP like all the women in my family and it can be quite inconvenient.

Northernlurker · 05/03/2017 14:38

I think you need to look at your anxiety tbh. I struggle to believe somebody with a BMI of 22 has 'alarming' tummy fat.

Original poster
PussInCoutts · 05/03/2017 14:42

Thanks everyone!! Really useful comments.

Northern I wish it was so but I have been told this over the years in waist to hip measurements and whatnot. Everything I eat seems to go to my stomach. I look slim from everywhere else. My tummy looks like I'm 6 months preggers...

Tummy is the worst place to have fat, I have heard, because most of our organs are there. But I have such a sweet tooth...

OP posts:
HelenaWay · 05/03/2017 14:44

I'm 32 also. My resting heart rate is around 102bpm. Always has been.

ProfessionalPirate · 05/03/2017 14:44

OP I think you're being a bit paranoid, your HR was normal.
In any case, HR (and blood pressure for that matter) taken at GP is rarely truely resting - you will inevitably be tense or stressed even if you don't realise, plus you've been up and walking around. All these things will increase the rate. And as PPs have said, it's not related to age - it's about fitness and individual variation.

Original poster
PussInCoutts · 05/03/2017 14:45

Thanks Professional,

I wouldn't care about the heart rate unless I felt like an octogenarian half the days... The fatigue is sucking the life out of me.

OP posts:
blankmind · 05/03/2017 14:47

Try cutting down on caffeine (it's in lots of other things besides coffee) and any other stimulants before a reading and try a lower carb change to your diet to combat the belly fat.

agedknees · 05/03/2017 14:49

Have you had your vit b12 levels checked? I was always tired, resting pulse of 120. Had my levels checked, low vit b12 detected. Am now on 3 monthly injections and feel a lot better. Pulse now down to 70, and no longer have so much hair loss.

Original poster
PussInCoutts · 05/03/2017 14:50

amazing tips here, thanks so much blank and aged

OP posts:
ProfessionalPirate · 05/03/2017 14:52

I agree you need to get the fatigue looked into, but there are lots of possible explainations for that, and many are sortable thankfully. I just don't think you need to be worrying about your hear rate as well. The doc will have been listening for murmurs and irregular rhythms too, so the fact that he didn't detect anything abnormal is obviously a good thing.

Good luck with the tests, I hope you get some answers.

Hulababy · 05/03/2017 14:52

I have tachycardia and palpitations fairly often too. Have done for years and never really found a trigger. I know excess caffeine, alcohol and tiredness doesn't help but not actually triggering it as such from what we can gather.

Been the same regardless of weight and exercise rates. My resting HR is often in the 90s (have Apple Watch so can check it as and when) and goes higher many times. With palpitations it reaches 200+

However it's been investigated over the years including 48 hour HR monitoring and a 3 night spell in cardiac care in hospital. Nothing abnormal has every been found and it's found to be just one of those things. It is in my medical notes too as when I've been in hospital they can reluctant to release me due to a fast heart rate! I have regular hospital appointments due to arthritis and have blood checks and blood pressure taken pretty often and none of them ever pick up any specific issues either.

ProfessionalPirate · 05/03/2017 14:53

*heart not hear!

Hulababy · 05/03/2017 14:53

I do have fatigue at times but that is linked to the arthritis and related medication I think, not the heart rate. Only time the HR causes me tiredness/fatigue is after a bout of palpitations.

reallyanotherone · 05/03/2017 14:59

I have a high resting heart rate, and an even higher exercise rate- about 80 resting, 150-160 with about 70% effort exercise.

But my blood pressure is low- 100/70. DH is the opposite- high blood pressure low resting pulse. I've often wondered if my low blood pressure means pulse is higher to compensate for blood pressure, and vice versa for DH. So

iloveeverykindofcat · 05/03/2017 15:04

Northern some of us are just unlucky like that. I'm small framed, apple shaped, and mixed race (for the ethnicity I take after physically, healthy BMI only goes up to 23). I really need to stay around BMI 19-20. Even a doctor has told me that I 'don't have much leeway' when it comes to things like diabetes risk. Not saying that's necessarily the case for the OP just that it's possible.

KoalaDownUnder · 05/03/2017 15:05

The normal range is within 60 to 100

Just before anyone panics about this - it can be lower and you can still be healthy. Last time mine was taken at the GP it was 46, and I'm not dead. Wink

daisychain01 · 05/03/2017 15:09

By no means a stealth boast but I have a very low HR (never more than 40 resting rate). I used to think it was good but actually I've been told lately it isn't good for it to be so low. Low BP as well, which as you say iloveeverykindofcat can come with its own set of problems.

I feel fatigued a lot of the time. I do regular exercise, but difficult to know if low or high BP/HR is inherited, so can sometimes take a lot more effort to change (but definitely worth making good lifestyle and diet choices)

I wonder if we are all permanently fatigued nowadays, our lifestyles with work/home pressures are so stressful.

Bottlesoflove · 05/03/2017 15:10

By virtue of the sheer fact you are in a gp surgery feeling concerned about your health (and sitting up presumably having just walked in) your heart rate is going to be at the upper rate of normal. I really wouldn't worry

daisychain01 · 05/03/2017 15:11

Ah koala, I too am definitely still alive Grin even though any new HCP / nurse is very offput when they check me the first time. I have to stop them from fainting!

haveacupoftea · 05/03/2017 15:13

Some people just have faster heart rates. All the women in my family do.

MrsGotobed · 05/03/2017 15:15

Trying checking it when you're resting at home as it may have been the fact that you were at the doctors that raised it.

My Fitbit is saying mine is currently 64 (aged 50, feet up on the sofa MNing)

StarryIllusion · 05/03/2017 15:17

I am obese and get puffed out if I have to sprint for 30 seconds for a bus. Mine is 72. 96 would alarm me tbh